FRAGMENTS: PILGRIMS, DOCTORS

#4 Continuing with my some time theme of fragments, a brief comment on pilgrimages.These are common the world over and watching religious pilgrimages I am struck by how common it is for people to entertain long walks. One walk close to where I live covers a distance of perhaps 15 kilometers where the pilgrims must walk in the ditch at the side of the road. Nevertheless, hundreds of very ordinary people do this , sometimes in family groups or with friends. Some parents carry children on their shoulders or even push strollers (although these are very uncommon). They take on this duty early in the morning or after work. Some are enticed I am sure by the fiesta which is present in the town for pilgrims and visitors alike. Sometimes there will be a special mass for the pilgrims - at one event the pilgrims travel on bicycles and at another on horseback. One very special pilgrimage covers about 72 kilometers and many do this over several days, often camping by the side of the road at days end. Other will take the bus part way and then walk the remaining distance. At another there is a fiesta for the returning pilgrims who bring back religious images which appear to be in some way related to, or blessed by, the more important image in the distant town.

What continue to strike me as interesting is that these feats are given no status because of their exercise value, no certificates are awarded on completion, no names appear in the newspaper. That is, walking is not given a physical significance, rather it is the journey that is given religious significance. In the west, feats of walking or running are only given physical value or sometimes a social value for representing groups we would normally think unable to perform these feats (survivors of cancers, the elderly, etc.) for drawing attention to these people in our regular lives.

#5 A visit to the doctor

A visit to our Mexican doctors leaves two immediate impressions. First, there is no bank of patient files behind the receptionist whose major task appears to be acting as gatekeeper, collecting money and watching the soap operas. There are no patient files because information is always the property of the patient and the doctors themselves keep computer files. In Canada she would be busy making appointments, tracking down lab reports, making arrangements with specialists, attending to the enormous bank of files, and so on. The other, is the presence of images of the baby Jesus. In this waiting area there are three images. The largest is of Jesus dressed in white, carrying a doctors bag and seated in a chair. In the other he is dressed in a blue dress like garment and carrying a small basket. The third is a photo of an image dressed in white and again carrying a very small doctor’s bag. In addition there is a very small image of Guadalupe set again he photo. In Canada one might well find a religious image but I would think it quite uncommon.

Once in the office again you find a very small image of the baby Jesus seated in a chair. It is placed beside a souvenir from Alaska and amongst family photos. Almost hidden to the back of a shelf is a small wooden crucifixion cross. You know you are in good hands!

LOS NEGRITOS, OR THE BLACK DANCERS

I have already talked a little about the dance of the negritos and the importance of the negrito in the Purépecha culture. Now I am going to describe the negritos of San Lorenzo. This dance is described in some depth by Essler (1988) and you might want to read that as well.
The dance occurs on January 1 and is primarily about the transfer of care of the image of baby Jesus to a new carguero. The cargueros not only care for the image but they must organize the dance and transfer responsibility in the next year. For this reason it is perhaps the biggest event in the community and being associated with the image and the black dancers appears to bring status to community members. The dance itself is substantial with perhaps 50 male dancers with masks and costumes and a few women without masks but in fine clothing and hats of rancheras. The smallest contingent of dancers were the maranguillas ( who I believe represent Mary) wearing pink masks that were very feminine and included earrings and a few short ribbons hanging part way down their backs. They also wore bright skirts and wide brimmed hats with four artificial tulips standing on top. The next group of dancers continue to confuse me. Essler claims these dancers were viejitos but the masks were pink and very feminine, some had earrings and had finely embroidered aprons that looked a little like skirts and all if not most wore blond wigs. All wore cowboy boots and jeans and carried something which looked like a short whip. All had a few colourful ribbons attached to their heads which came a short ways down their back. Perhaps all of these dancers were maranguillas. There was one dancer who wore a mask that may have represented a viejito with a mustache but the mask gave no indication of old age. These two groups were the first to appear and performed a very typical two step and on occasion danced with members of the audience. This was clearly the preliminary act.

The negritos arrived to great fanfare. They wore beautiful black masks with flowers on top of their head and colorful ribbons hanging from the head almost to the ground. They wore traditional white pants and shirts. There were only five or six of these dancers and it was obvious that they were important from the crowd, almost entirely mature men, that pushed around them. These dancers made only a brief appearance in the courtyard before everyone took to the street to begin the procession through town. Although the negritos lead the procession they were not at first visible perhaps having withdrawn to a house until the procession arrived there. The other dancers were second in the procession followed by young women in beautiful traditional clothing carrying nine alters (four women to each alter) with images of the Virgin surrounded by flowers. These were followed by community members.

When the negritos appeared at the head of the procession it was clear they were honored, not only because one of them carried the baby Jesus but because they were in direct contact with the cargueros. The negritos carried a bottle of tequilla and a basket of sweets as gifts for the carguero. The negritos had linked arms with what I took to be the chief carguero as he carried a wand representing his authority (perhaps this was this the new carguero). Another carguero was always in front giving instructions on how to make the procession and the day the best possible (was this the old carguero?). To increase the number of negritos in the procession perhaps, two or three of the other dancers put on black masks in order to be close the cargueros.

Once the procession returned to the courtyard the negritos again were absent, arriving sometime later to great fanfare. As they had through out the procession the negritos clapped their hands rhythmically as if imitating a version of African rhythm. Upon entering , continuing to be surrounds by mature men, the negritos gathered in the centre of the yard where they appeared to have a contest of rapid dancing, usually in sets of two. On occasion the carguero would invite another dancer into the group but they donned a black mask before taking on the challenge of dancing with the negritos.

A wonderful introduction to the negritos in Purépecha culture but leaving a lot mystery as to what was really happening.