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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAl, ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 2 



with faith.' " Private prayers almost always take 

 the form of specific requests, especially for aid in 

 illness or other personal crisis. Protection is also 

 a prominent theme. "They say you should pray 

 when you get up, before each meal, at noon and at 

 night," said a farm woman. "In the morning, to 

 protect you from every peril, a snake, or anything 

 like that ; before meals, to give thanks for the food 

 you are having and also to make certain you will 

 never be witliout food; at noon and at night, to 

 protect your body and to keep it from all harm." 

 With a few exceptions, prayers are addressed to 

 the Santos, either to a specific santo or, occasionally, 

 to all the Santos jointly. "I pray to all the santos 

 at the same time," remarked a farm woman, "be- 

 cause it's easier." 



Many mothers teach their children to pray at 

 night before going to bed. The children of a few 

 families pray every night, others more irregularly. 

 "Ever since I was a small boy," said a man in the 

 village, 32 years old, "I haven't been able to sleep 

 well without saying my prayers. AVlien I remem- 

 ber to say them, I'm asleep in an instant. But if 

 I go to bed and forget them, I keep waking up, 

 startled, wondering what is the matter." 



CONFESSION AND COMMUNION 



Two rituals in which initiative lies largely with 

 the individual are confession and communion. 

 Confession usually precedes communion and con- 

 sists in relating in private to tlie padre, who is 

 seated in the confessional within hearing distance 

 but unseen, sins of commission or omission and 

 receiving through him absolution. After 12 

 o'clock that night, no food or drink must be taken 

 until communion. For this reason, the sacrament 

 ordinarily is observed at the 7 :30 Mass, rarely at 

 the 10 o'clock Mass, although an opportunity to 

 take communion is always offered at that time 

 also. Communion consists in accepting from the 

 hand of the padre a wafer Avhicli, after being con- 

 secrated, is thought to become the actual body of 

 Jesus, and whose acceptance on the part of the 

 worshiper "puts him in a state of grace," in which 

 "there is neither sin nor a sense of sin." 



The wafer is received as the individual kneels 

 before the communion rail at the front of the 

 church. If the worshiper is a woman, the head 

 is covered by a veil, white for virgins, black for 

 married women. If a woman does not own a veil 



or for any reason fails to have one with her at 

 Mass, she may borrow from a friend. If an 

 unmarried girl loses her virginity, she is expected 

 henceforth to use a black veil. 



Confession ordinarily is heard by the padre after 

 the Saturday night reza. It may also be heard 

 immediately preceding the ceremony on Sunday. 

 The expected behavior from the point of view of 

 the church, as stated by the padre, is to take com- 

 munion "as frequently as possible," but in any 

 case "at least once a year." This expectation ex- 

 tends to all persons in the community who have 

 reached "the age of reason," which is considered 

 to be about 7 years, and who have been trained 

 in the catechism. 



The number of persons confessing and receiving i 

 communion at the village church, in any given 

 week, however, is relatively small, considering that 

 there are more than 2,000 persons in the distritc 

 for whom the only regular opportunity is that af- 

 forded in the village. At the 7 : 30 Mass on Feb- 

 ruary 22, 19-18, for example, only 12 persons toot 

 communion. Of these, three were women anc 

 four were adolescent girls; three were men anc 

 two were adolescent boys. Three of these hac 

 made their confession immediately before th( 

 morning Mass and the other nine after the reza or 

 the preceding evening. At the 7 : 30 Mass, on De 

 cember 5 of the same year, 21 persons took com 

 munion : 3 men, 8 women, 5 boys, and 5 girls. Oi 

 the succeeding Sunday, one woman and one mai 

 took communion. At the special midnight ]Mas: 

 on Christmas Eve, 42 persons took communion 

 including 20 women, 5 men, 13 girls, and 4 boys 

 On the following day, which was Sunday, i 

 women and a boy took communion; and on thr 

 subsequent January 9, 2 women and 3 girls. 



The attitudes with reference to confession anc 

 communion vary considerably. "I take com- 

 munion every 2 weeks, regularly," said a younj 

 woman. "One should never fail to do that.' 

 "Confession relieves you of sin," said a villager 

 36 years old, "and the taking of communion after 

 wards, strengthens your spirit." "I think w( 

 should be careful to confess and to take com- 

 munion," said a 15-year-old girl. "I do so, regu 

 larly, once or twice every month." 



On the other hand, another villager remarked 

 "I've never confessed nor do I want to confess 

 The padre can't forgive you anything." "In con 



