HOW NAMES CHANGE

Over the past two decades or more we have seen indigenous names of towns, lakes, physical features and so on, replace previous English (or Spanish, etc.) names. Presumably this was undertaken as a sign of respect. Bombay is now Mumbai and in Canada the names of First Nations groupings have been changed to reflect indigenous languages.

One day a friend wondered aloud when the term P’urepecha (also spelled as Purepecha) became common in reference to the local indigenous peoples of Michoacan and the Spanish term, Tarascan, (perhaps derived from a mishearing of a native word) became less common. Both terms can be used to refer to the people and to the language group. It is clear, however, as you look around the state and listen to news that the term P’urepecha is now the preferred term.

One way to begin to track this change would be to look at the terms used in classic anthropological ethnographies. Ethnographers (mainly English speaking by birth) have been in the region for almost 70 years so there is a solid database. I reviewed a few of these.

Ralph Beals was in the region from about 1941 and published an ethnography on the pueblo of Cheran in 1946. He uses only the term “Tarascan”. The 1998 edition contains a forward by the other grandfather of ethnographies in the area, George Foster, and he only uses the term “Tarascan”. (I expect Foster’s ethnography of Tzintzuntzan, published in 1948, also uses this term, but I cannot confirm this). George West (1948) describing the cultural geography of the area known as “once pueblos” only uses the term “Tarascan”. Donald Brand, writing in 1951 about the pueblo of Quiroga, only uses the term “Tarascan” (pp. 1-3, 9) and at times refers to “Indians” (p. 11). Michael Belshaw (1967), describing the pueblo of Huecorio, avoids the problem by only referring to the people of Huecorio or Huecorians. Stanley Brandes (1988), a student of Foster and also studying Tzintzuntzan since 1967, uses the term P’urepecha in his index where it says “see Tarascan”. The first mention of Tarascan says “..known in their own language as P’urepecha”. Cynthia Nelson, also a student of George Foster and arriving in Erongaricuaro in 1960 does say in her 1971 book on this pueblo “.. a Tarascan people or culture (properly known as Purepecha). (p. 10) This does seem to indicate the beginnings of a shift in thinking or at least an awareness of appropriateness. However, if we jump forward to the 2006 book on Day of the Dead in Mexico by Stanley Brandes we find he uses only the term “Tarascan” and no longer gives the indigenous equivalent. Another recent authors, Martha Works and Keith Hadley (2000), review the 1948 work by West (see above) and make use of his photography. But they say in the first footnote: “.. Tarasca and Tarascan are now considered to be Spanish colonial constructs” and they always use the term Purepecha. This line suggests the use of Tarascan has a moral implication but a local anthropologist says that this is not so. Perhaps as some confirmation of this when we picked up two village people needing a ride we heard them chatting for some time. They then apologized and said they were speaking Tarascan.

This post may not have clarified anything but it has narrowed the search somewhat. This type of investigation could also be considered for tourist guides to the area, folk art histories, historical reports of the area and so on. Or it might be interesting to compare English speaking authors and Spanish speaking authors.

WHAT WAS THAT EVENT? A WEDDING?

This post is very speculative and I would appreciate any comments.

We were walking around the town of Paracho (the guitar town) when we heard a rather alarming noise behind us – much shouting and horn honking. We turned to find two or three trucks loaded with young men and women and the men with blackened faces. Was this the coming revolution! Upon asking we were told it was a wedding and the large group was going to pick up the bride. The trucks stopped on a side street and a young man in the traditional dress (white cotton shirt with embroidery and white cotton pants) appeared to be dancing to accompaniment of shouting and clapping. What was going on?

In search of an answer I turned to the ethnography by Ralph Beals (1946) on the town of Cheran which lies about 10 km to the north. Beals describes a traditional Tarascan wedding but his information comes from the 1930s and early 1940s and is an ideal portrait of weddings as he never witnessed one that fit this description. Let me summarize his description by identifying the main events in a sequence of activities.

1. The groom “steals” the bride. This is usually by consent and according to plan.
a. Parents of groom visit the bride’s house to ask for “pardon” and entice the father to consent with gifts.
b. If the father accepts, the neighbors and family are called together and much drinking occurs.
2. A few days later both families assemble and exchange bread and tomales. Much drinking occurs.
3. The couple makes application for a civil wedding. They almost always marry prior to the religious wedding.
4. Religious marriage.
a. Very early in the morning the bride’s parents hire a band and go to the groom’s house to take him clothing. He must dance once dressed.
b. Parents and godparents of groom go the house of the bride and take her clothing.
c. Parents, relatives and band take the couple to the church (still very early).
d. Bride and family go to her house.
e. Remainder of the group goes to the groom’s house.
f. All then go to the bride’s house and then back to the groom’s house for breakfast.
g. Bride returns to her house.
h. Band plays in the groom’s house and more and more friends drop in for food.
i. Meanwhile the sibling, cousins and grandparents of groom hire a band and go through the streets, ending up at the groom’s uncle for something to eat. They then proceed to the godparents of the bride where they sing outside the house and then enter to seek permission to take the bride.
j. The group then goes to the house of the bride and immediately asks for permission to take the bride. If the bride’s parents consent they take the bride back to the groom’s house along with gifts of clothing.
k. At the groom’s house there is the traditional distribution of bread.
l. All begin to drink and the gift clothing is distributed.

Now perhaps we can make some sense of what I saw on the street. The event observed appears to relate to 4(i) above. We observed the event in question around 1:00 so if the wedding occurred early in the morning and people have had time for breakfast and then some further food it seems reasonable that the picking up of the bride would be around this time. The groom was dressed very differently than others and his cloths may have been the gift from the bride’s parents and the cloths he was married in. The event on the street may have been the serenading of the godparents of the bide and obtaining their consent. Many of those in the trucks were drinking heavily and as this was the last major event of the day prior to the exchange of gifts and more drinking, it seems right. However, Beals makes no mention of the blackened faces. So perhaps my speculation is off course or this is a new addition to the tradition in the last 60 years. Any suggestions?