Camilo JiménezApril 11
Carmen Andrade (the wife of Silvestre Cuevas) died yesterday. According to the law she must be buried today.
Funeral Procession
RML
The procession passed by at two in the afternoon. Trying to take a photograph, I slipped and fell. Everyone laughed. The two Prayer Leaders walked in front of and on the left side of the coffin. The women, each with a lit candle, walked in front and along both sides. The mother of the deceased was on the left side with a can of burning incense.
Funeral Procession
Funeral Procession
Behind the coffin [were] the men. The Prayer Leaders sing, and the women answer in a minor key. The men are silent. The husband walks with the other men, also silent. The coffin is made of cedar, with an engraved border and a figure carved on the front, sitting on an armature of four poles. The lower part of the coffin is narrower than the upper part, and for this reason it’s securely in place.
The deceased enters the church feet first. The armature is lowered and each carrier puts his hat on a corner of the structure. The women are seated around the coffin. The men stay close to the entrance.
Before sitting down, the Prayer Leader sings, the women cross themselves and extinguish their candles.
Funeral in the Church
After opening the lid of the casket, the family-- the mother, the sister, and two aunts of the deceased-- sit to the left of the coffin. The women take care of the cadaver, staunching the liquid that runs from her nose. The eyes are closed, but there are no coins on them. She is wearing a huipil, with a western kerchief on her head.
In front of the head are wide, blue and green ribbons, and on each shoulder a rose colored tulip. She had no shoes. There is a candle on each side, and, according to Modesto Diego, the candles indicate that it was a free union: the candles sort out the situation. Family members removed the tulips and covered the cadaver to her chin with a white cloth.
The Prayer Leader prayed and the sister of the deceased leaned over and bowed over the face of Carmen. She sang and cried in this way, ending the phrases with the same sounds. The song rises and falls, rises and falls. During this song the women showed the first signs of emotion, some of them singing with a nasal tone, and even some men as well.
Then they covered the eyes and forehead of Carmen with a folded kerchief. They put on the lid and nailed it shut. Later the family sent someone to look for the musicians, who came a half hour later. While this was going on the men drank alcohol.
The husband of the deceased seemed indifferent. He asked me the price of my camera, etc., though later he explained to me that in the last two years he had lost his father, father-in-law, and his brother-in-law. He told me that he has spent “thousands of pesos” (“miles de pesos”). His father died in New San Martín and he offered 350 pesos to his brother to help him with the burial. The municipal leader came pretty drunk, but no one paid him much mind, even though he was talking very loudly.
Four musicians arrived-- a bass drum, a snare drum, a trumpet, and a clarinet. With the snare drum playing a continuous 1, 2, 3, the bass drum added the 4. The trumpet and the clarinet played a high harmony. After ¾ of an hour of playing and singing “traditional songs” (“tradicionales”) (according to Silvestre Cuevas) the casket was raised on the shoulders and they made a circle so that Carmen would leave feet first. Before raising the casket, the women re-lit their candles.
Leaving the Church
Funeral procession to the graveyard
Arriving at the cemetary
Then they continued on to the cemetery, the musicians behind the casket playing various tunes. In the cemetery the casket was lowered to the left of the grave, the head to the south (as in the church).
The mother threw herself on the casket and placed her head on the head of the casket. In front of them are placed three small candles, a thick candle, and all are lite.
Her mother embarcing the coffin
The Prayer Leader
Then the young men placed a rope under each end of the casket and lower it into the two-meter grave. The people show no emotion. Some aren’t paying attention, even laughing.
Lowering the coffin
The Prayer Maker takes a bunch of marigolds from the cup of holy water and makes the sign of the cross three times over the grave, sprinkling water on the casket. The musicians begin to play, and at that moment the mother began to cry and dab her eyes with her kerchief. The Prayer Maker sings, each time blessing the grave when starting a different section (4-5 blessings). When he finishes, the people, both men and women (but not everyone), throw handfuls of gardenia pedals on top of the coffin. The gravediggers begin to fill the grave. The people do not show any emotion.
When the grave had a foot of earth on top of the coffin, the mother opened a kerchief that she had with her. Then, with the help of the family, she took the contents and threw them at the foot of the grave-- ribbons, necklaces, earrings, combs, bottles of cosmetics, and a black purse.
Letting the personal effects fall
The gravediggers filled the grave, two young men using the large poles of the armature to tamp down the earth. When the grave was short an inch of earth, they stopped and the mother placed a small marigold in the center of the grave. The mother placed one of the candles there—then a discussion—with the same result. They burned every bit of the candle because, according to Camilo Jiménez, one could use them to do “evil things” (“maldades”). They did the same in the church. The people departed, little by little. When they filled the grave the people offered the women, and even the children, cigarettes and a bottle of “Habanera.” The men, including the husband, drank alcohol.
Modesto Diego
When someone dies, the people give them chickens, etc. to alleviate the pain.
When they step on a grave Modesto says “now the little girl is sweating—poor little one, since she is bearing that much earth’’ (“ahora la muchacha está sudando, pobrecita, porque lleva tanta tierra”).
Melchor García
The husband asked to borrow a casket. In the old days people used to have a casket ready when one died. If a person suddenly died, one could use one of these caskets. The woodwork costs $50, and the complete cedar casket costs $300.
Camilo Jiménez
One always places a candle in the grave, either on the chest or the true center, never on top of the head. If a person has dirty clothes when he or she dies, they are washed and buried in the grave. If a person was living in a free union, two candles are placed on either side with the wick toward the head. The wick is lit and extinguished first (why is that?).
People are not accustomed to putting water in a grave, but it’s true one commonly puts four cacao seeds on each corner of the headboard, or a pile of seeds of “joy” (“alegría”) on one side of the headboard. The “joy” (“alegría”) and the cacao serve as money. One does not use sesame seeds. [“Seeds of joy” remain unidentified.]
RML
“The four days” (“Los cuatro días”) of Carmen Andrade. There were more or less 50 people: 15 young men, 15 men, and 20 women. The man helped cleaning and plucking the chickens. Women tended the pots, etc. in the outside fireplace and worked in the kitchen making tortillas. There was a table that served as the altar on the left side of the principal room. In front of the table and to both sides were two posts covered with green leaves, and they hung a bunch of lemon grass above the very center of the altar from a beam of the house. The altar was covered with religious images in back and food offerings in front. They placed things that appealed to Carmen—sardines, an egg wrapped in a cornhusk, coffee, water, tortillas, and cigarettes. They also put some candles, incense, and a plate for money. The plate had approximately $10, six in bills of $1. There were two large candles, various votive candles, and many red tulips on the table.
Beneath the table was a plank on which was an 8-inch ash cross, the head towards the north. In front of the cross (was) a can of burning incense.
People either give money directly in private or by means of the plate [on the altar]. They [the family] are helped with chickens, corn.
The Prayer Leader prays the three mysteries and the other Prayer Leader to his left leads the women in their refrains.
The Principal Prayer Leader first bows on the straw mat spread out in front of the altar. Then he sits down on the chair. Only women entered the house during the Three Mysteries. They kneeled in front of the altar. After the First Mystery (at 7:30) the people have supper. Another Mystery, then a break, and the Third Mystery after midnight.
The men are seated outside of the house. Some sleep, others talk, sometimes with the bereaved, at other times not paying him any mind. The young people play cards. The children are lying on the ground, or on mats or cloths, sleeping to one side. Later in the night the women do the same.
The bereaved, together with some young people, serves dinner. We [the anthropologists, RML and Armando Aguirre] and the Prayer Leaders eat at the table—coffee, tamales, tortillas, and chicken soup (eggs for me). Everyone else eats standing up. The bereaved does not have supper.
Melchor García
The Prayer Leader prays if the bereaved has sufficient riches to feed the visitors, and if he asks him to pray.
RMLApril 13
Silvestre Cuevas took us to the house where Carmen died. The bed was broken apart, the poles spread out on the ground. Silvestre said he was going to return to the house to sleep after twenty-seven days, but his father-in-law took a number of things and it is certain that he won’t continue living there.
The house where Carmen died
Camilo JiménezApril 13
A wake can be just nine days. In this case, they are the first nine days after death. The prayers are not very long. The family offers a meal each night, and the visitors do not spend the night, but leave after eating. This kind of wake is not the customary one, but is known to both indigenous as well as Ladinos.
The mourner, when going to the Prayer Leader, offers a cleaned chicken placed in a dish, with leaves of posol and covered with a cloth. A load of firewood, brown sugar, coffee, and a third (measure) of corn are also given.
| Chicken | $10 |
| ½ Kilo coffee | $5 |
| Bags of brown sugar | $2 |
| 100 ears of corn | $11 |
| - | |
| Total: | $28 |
The people give to the bereaved “whatever they find” (“lo que encuentren”): firewood, coffee, corn, chicken, etc. They give $5, $10, $15.
Camilo JiménezApril 14
The Prayer Leader comes to the house when the person is about to die, and stays there until the cadaver leaves the house. They bathe the person before they die because they should not enter Purgatory “dirty” (“sucio”). A woman’s hair is oiled.
When the cadaver is in the house, flowers of death are put on the altar and on both sides. When the coffin arrives the cadaver is put in immediately. The casket is never put on the floor, but always on a platform or a table.
The cadaver is dressed in new clothes, or at least in clean clothes.
A candle is placed in church or on the grave on birthdays, Holy Week, and Todos Santos [All Saints Day-- November 1st].
Juan Florentino
When one dies a little palm cross is placed beneath the clothing on the chest. This cross is cut from the cross that is kept in the home since Palm Sunday.
Camilo JiménezApril 15
During the wake the family is in charge in the kitchen, but they are not permitted to cook. “They are not clean.”(No son limpios.”) Their friends help in the kitchen. The family buys the candles, etc. and their friends arrange things according to the desires of the family. When the family directs their friends, they do not ask, “Is there such and such a thing?” (“¿Hay tal cosa?”) But instead demand, “We need such and such a thing!” (“¡Necesitamos tal cosa!”) Dark mole is often prepared for a wake. They do not use black wax candles. No one should cook beans during a wake, not on account of poverty, because the darkness of the bean obscures the light so that the dead cannot reach Purgatory. If mourners pay no mind and cook beans, they will pay when they reach Purgatory. People who come to a wake are obliged to eat something, be it bread, coffee, or whatever. If they do not “comply” (“cumplen”), “Then why did they come?” (“¿Por qué vinieron?”) “It’s clear that they must be enemies who have come to do some evil!” (“¡Claro que deben ser enemigos que han venido para hacer un maldad!”) Suicides don’t happen in San Martín, but they do in Ixcatlán.
RML
Friends of the deceased lend the family chickens, pigs, etc. if the family does not have sufficient [money and resources] for the wakes [plural because it is celebrated over several days]. They can slaughter them and pay later by selling the burro, etc. of the deceased. When someone dies either their animals are slaughtered for the wake or, if there are many, they are saved for All Saints’ Day.
After the burial, the leftover food from the wake must be consumed—either the family invites friends to come to the house again or, if they are not at their [own] house, they leave some food there. The leftovers of the meal (what was on the table) are given to the domestic animals.
Friends and family of the deceased “attend to her well so she does not return”(“le atiendan bién porque ya no vuelve.”) The people “help” (“ayuda”) the deceased by giving her a good festival. If the family is careless, people speak very badly of them.
It is a sin to view a murder victim before four days pass—if this happens, then the same fate will come to the viewer or to someone in his family. If somebody kills someone, the family should observe abstinence for twenty-seven or forty-seven days (according to the sex of the deceased). It is the same for a natural death. If the mourner has sex with a woman in violation of abstinence, then the woman will be killed in the same way as the deceased (it happens to the friend of the violator, whether man or woman). Three or four such cases are known.
RMLApril 17
At times the husband seems happy, and smiles when the rest of them make jokes, etc. But suddenly he starts to have a serious, anguished look.
The godfather raises the cross to his left shoulder and the procession leaves the cemetery. The people go one by one, seeing the path by the light of their candles. When they get to even ground the procession stops and the women walk together, with the godfather and the men behind. The husband offers alcohol to the women – some do not drink. Then the godfather and everyone else [drink]. While the godfather and the women sing the hymn, the husband continually offers cigarettes to everyone during the entire procession. When the procession reaches the doors of the church, the godfather, with the cross on his right shoulder, kneels on his right knee. There they sing for a while, and then continue to the cemetery.
The cross is laid on the grave. It is done in the same sequence and the rocks at the head are removed. Five candles are put on the rocks that border the grave. They are placed in the same sequence and location. Then they dig a hole for the cross with an old machete. They throw paper with lime, etc. in the hole and then bless the paper and the cross with the flowers from the vase. The cross, dried flowers of death, and a dried rose are placed above the chest of the departed. The people are very subdued and seemingly passive. The husband asks Armando Aguirre to etch the date into the gravestone. As Armando was doing this, the mother watched with an expression of desolation and infinite sadness. They placed the stone and the people left. The husband, accompanied by some friends, stayed behind. He was crying.
RML, Melchor García
There was a procession to the house of the godfather of the Cross (M.C.). Later they went to the house where Carmen died. And finally they came to the house where they laid out Carmen after she died. If the godfather had not had time to make the cross, it’s possible to delay the placement for twenty-seven days, when the spirit leaves the house. If the cross is not raised, the spirit stays in the house.
The altar was arranged the same as before, with offerings of tacos, soda, etc. A box covered with a cloth was placed in front of the altar. On top of the box was a cross parallel to the cross of ash, its head to the north. The cross was painted blue (though any color is fine). A cardboard crown was tied to the cross, covered with verdant blue silk paper and adorned with cutout stars.
At the foot of the cross at the far side of the altar were four flowers of death with a cup of holy water. There were also mounds of these flowers on each side of the cross.
The Prayer Leader sang the First Mystery. Then a dinner (at 10: 30) that consisted of tortillas, coffee, chicken soup, and, in addition, for us, beans! [RML was then, as he is today, a strict vegetarian.] The Second Mystery, a break, and then the raising of the cross. At one in the morning the Prayer Leader took the candles from his bag and, with his fingertip, tapped the piece of wood above the head of the cross of ash, in this way cleaning it by removing the ash.
Then he lit a candle and stood it up in that place. He did the same with a second candle.
Silvestre Cuevas [This entry also appears under Witchcraft]
If someone (‘fulano’) gets sick it is because he is a “tiger.” A shaman puts a leaf of shkandah nisé beneath his straw mat while he is sleeping, without him knowing it. When the shaman leaves, the tiger comes to the house and rubs the patient with the leaf. After four days the shaman returns to the place where he harvested the leaves and leaves a payment of four cacao seeds there.
Silvestre was next to Carmen’s grave when they placed the cross and he asked Armando Aguirre, “Professor, why does one die so soon?” (“¿Profesor, por qué acaba uno tan pronto?”) And before, in the procession, “Why does one sigh?” (“¿Por qué suspira uno?”)
Melchor GarcíaApril 19
The cross of lime is placed to protect the “soul” (“alma”). It defends against the rebel angels who come from hell to contend for the soul.
When the cross in the graveyard has rotted, the godfather must make a new cross. They “raise” (“levantan”) the cross the same as for the novena [nine day funeral ritual].
Silvestre Cuevas [This entry also appears under Witchcraft]April 19
There are two potions one may take when one wishes to become a shaman, shkah Maria (‘the leaf of Mary’) or tonahschuh (‘the seed of the Virgin’) [Very likely Turbins corymbosa, commonly known as Morning Glory.] Silvestre says that he is going to take shkah Maria to learn why his wife died and what he should do. One can see the past and the future by taking this medicine, even to the point of speaking with San Pedro. One can see as plain as day. Sixty “heads" (“cabezas”) or pairs of leaves are crushed and boiled for the potion. Whatever is left over (pieces of leaves) is rubbed on the body. When one takes the Seed of the Virgin the dosage consists of 200 seeds, crushed and boiled. The husks are rubbed on the body. But the seeds must be blessed by the priest beforehand.
Women take these medicines as well. They take them to learn why they are sick. Incense is burned, but not copal.
Juan Ramírez
When the people come to a wake in Ixcatlán they come to help the family, but the people of Soyaltepec think only about whether the food, and the mole, are well cooked.
Silvestre CuevasApril 14
One may procure the seed of the Virgin (likely Morning Glory, see above) from a shaman or buy it from one who had it blessed. One purchases the leaf of Mary. The shaman attends so and so (always at night) listening to what he or she says while they are sleeping. A trusted person also attends, making sure that there are no noises that could wake up the person and end the dream. Sometimes, when so and so is brusquely awakened, he goes crazy for little while. All that is needed is for the shaman to suck him to return to good health. After drinking the potion the person remembers everything that he dreamed under its influence. Following this the person should stay in bed for four days and should not eat chili pepper. People do not fear the shaman, although he is able to do evil.
If a child is born dead it is because a shaman has caused this evil.
Melchor GarcíaApril 25
After four days, and in the early morning of the fifth day, an elderly woman (70-75 years old) who is a friend of the family should come to sweep the entire house.
Christ rose after forty days. For this reason the wake continues in this manner.
The water and incense that is used was blessed by the priest during the priest’s the most recent visit to the village.
On All Saints’ Day one puts on the house altar offerings similar to the wake, together with skulls of bread. On the grave one puts a crown of flowers and a lit candle.
Altar of a wake
Ambrosio JiménezApril 27
Donato Vásquez is the chief of the shamans in San Martín. When a shaman cures a woman, he kills a hen; but when he cures a man, he kills a cock (for the soup).
Silvestre CuevasApril 28
When one dies all of the dirty clothing is buried in the grave.
There are five shamans in San Martín. Fulano I, who just lies-- “pure lies” (“puras mentiras”) and Fulano II, who deceives. Also, Fulano III, who deceives as well. Fulano IV, a recent arrival, whose talent is still unknown, and Fulano V, who does not lie. The shamans are farmers (members of the ejido—ejidatarios) and also work the land. There are many more now because they know that it is lucrative work—they profit day and night.
Silvestre CuevasApril 29
Silvestre went with me to the graveyard and did not commemorate the twenty days [of mourning] for Carmen—he said that no one would see this in a bad light. Later Melchor Garcia told me that they were unable to observe the twenty days for lack of money.
RML, Melchor GarcíaMay 3
For José Guadalupe’s little girl of five months, who died today: few people came “because everyone is planting” (“porque todos están sembrando.”). [There were] eleven women, five men. The little girl was put on an altar made of wooden poles, the head to the south.
The child was dressed in a white dress with a black hat, a kerchief over her mouth, her hands with interlaced fingers and wrists tied with a green ribbon, a gardenia placed in her hands. On her chest (was) a little palm cross “to protect her soul” (“para proteger al alma”). On the altar, framed religious pictures, marigolds, bougainvillea, candles, a cup of holy water, and bougainvillea flowers. Behind the altar a white clothe.
If the deceased is an adult, the hands are tied with a black ribbon.
The Godfather and Prayer Maker grasp a metallic cross with their right hands and make the sign of the cross four times over the dead body —“in the name of the Father, etc.“ (“En el nombre del Padre, etc.”) Then the godfather adjusts the cross, placing the string around her neck and the cross on her chest. The godfather had not done this when they had dressed the child, as is the custom.
The Three Mysteries and a Blessing (at dawn).
The mother expressed a little milk from her breast in a cup to place as an offering. When a child is older they put their usual food on the altar. If the mother is nursing when a child dies she should not throw out her milk, but she wrap her breasts with a kerchief so that they dry by themselves. It is very painful for the woman, but as long as the spirit of the child is in the house, it would not be good to throw it out.
The flowers of the benediction can be of whatever kind, if marigolds are not flowering or the flower is very small.
Early in the evening, before the First Mystery, the godfather sprinkled the cross of lime without any ceremony. Later a pile of gardenias was placed on the body of the deceased.
The family first served us, seated at the table (the godfather, the prayer makers, RML), then the men standing, and later the women (each one wherever they wanted to be).
On account of the couple’s poverty the soup was a hot chili with eggs— not a bit of chicken. After supper, some, including the godfather (Tomás Jiménez) left.
Of those who stayed the night, the women were going to remain in the house the entire next day. Their attitude was cheerful. Only the family members showed their sadness. The father was silent, the mother obviously anguished, the grandmother also with a very sad expression.
Every so often the mother would stop in front of the altar, holding the back of her head with her hands. She sings and cries in this position as if she will never forget her little girl, how empty the house feels, and so on. The song always ends with the sounds of ‘aay’ or ‘aah.’ At times she bows so that her head almost touches the child, always singing. Once she left the house and kneeled, singing her sadness alone. Later that night the grandmother stopped in front of the altar and cried without stopping more than half an hour. Everything is improvised.
At four in the morning everyone tried to sleep. The only sound was the sawing of planks for the coffin that they were making in the other house. At this time they brought the casket into the house, but without putting it to use.
Silvestre Cuevas
On the day of the wake no member of the family ought to work.
Ruperto Jiménez
Fulano is a shaman who is no good (although Servín, a Ladino, went to him to cure his daughter.) Ruperto is going to Ixcatlán to get shkah María from a shaman who lives there. With this potion he will learn who it was that did this evil. In good time the other will catch Ruperto’s cough or Ruperto will become well. Silvestre Cuevas confirms this.
There are women who refuse to bathe while there are “spots” (“pinta”) in the water. The spots have “animals” (“animales”), so that’s the reason.
Silvestre’s father killed himself with a knife to his stomach -- in Nuevo San Martín.
Melchor GarcíaMay 4
A “good” (“bueno”) shaman is the shaman who knows which saints have influence over each disease.
Silvestre Cuevas
A good shaman is the shaman who knows herbs. For this reason Fulano is the best in San Martín.
Silvestre only believes in herbs and not in the prayers of the shaman. Referring to Ruperto Jiménez he says, “Shamanism is not for certain, but what is for certain is the cemetary!” (“¡No es cierto la brujería, pero sí es cierto el panteón!”)
RMLMay 5
When one refers to a deceased, a common expression is, “He died, the poor one!” (“¡Se murió, pobre!”)
Procession on Friday of Sorrows