Religion

The State Religion

The Tarascan or Purépecha religion centered around a three-part universe: sky, earth, and underworld. Honored above other deities were three supreme gods. The most important was Curicaueri, god of war and of the sun. Offerings to the sun god included self-sacrifice (blood-letting), human sacrifice, and the burning of firewood. Kurikaweri’s domain was the sky; he was associated with falcons, hawks, and eagles. Of other deities known, Cuerauaperi and Xaratanga were also very popular and had the greatest number of temples constructed in their honor. Cuerauaperi was the goddess which represented fertility, including rain, birth, and death. She was the mother of all the gods. Xaratanga, the daughter of earth creator and wife of the sun, was also associated with childbirth and fertility. A number of the minor deities were given little or no role in the state religion. These gods represented the major cults. Other gods that are mentioned are the Gods of the Four Quarters, who might represent the brothers of Curicaueri; the Gods of the Right and Left Hands, believed to be associated with deities from the south (left) and north (right); and the Ucumu, the lord of the underworld or death who was associated with the mouse, gophers, moles, snakes, and caves. All of the deities were considered active spheres in lives of human beings and could communicate with people on a personal and group level. They were also believed to be able to take the shape of either a human or an animal and that humans could be possessed by the deity. This state religion is unlike other central Mexican belief systems in that it does not indicated any dualism as a fundamental principle of ordering. Few of the deities have male/female counterparts and the major deities relate to a divine family. The Tarascans also felt no need to record their beliefs in written for or pictorials predating the Spanish conquest (Pollard 1993: 45-50). At the main religious complex in Tzintzuntzan, religious ceremonies took place on the main platform (picture right). The five large structures, called cues were dedicated to Curicaueri's four brothers. These structures were also used for burials of high-status individuals. It is likely that there would have also been skull racks and large sacrificial stones located on the platform. There are also four other sites near the main religious complex that suggested there were used as local religious centers within various residential zones of the settlement. These temples would have performed rites for each of their zones. They also consisted of "yacata" or a temple containing royal tombs and "echecuahta" other temples. Death and burial of the dead were congruent with other Mesoamerican groups. The dead were cremated and there seems to be no indication of cemeteries. The only burials that have been identified have been those of nobility, war captives, and sacrificial victims that were buried in funeral celebrations. These burials were normally associated with tombs adjacent to major temples. There were also secondary burials in ollas, ossuaries, and isolated skulls or skulls added to primary burials. Infants are thought to have been treated differently by scholars, but as of yet there is no archaeological data to support this hypothesis. (Pollard 1993:155). Head priests, or //cazonci,// were the head of the state religion. They were able to have many wives and slaves but the first wife, //yreri//, held a special position over all of the other women. The //cazonci// wives were supposed to be absolutely dedicated to him and were required upon his death to commit ritual suicide. The job of the head-priest was to look over the temple fires and procurement of sacrificial victims through ritual warfare. However, unlike our definition of modern warfare, the priests did not utterly destroy their so-called enemies, because that would have left them without a supply of victims. Next in line under the the //cazonci// were the high chief priests who ruled over the priestly cast, the //petamiti//. They were the principal administrators of justice. Under them were minor religious specialists, the //curitiecha//. These were in charge of the purification rites and marriage ceremonies (Verastique 2000: 17-35).

Evangelization
The first inhabitants of **//Michoacan//**, the state where **//Janitzio//** is located, thought that because of the extraordinary beauty of this lake, it was the door to heaven and that through it the gods used to come down to earth. However, upon the arrival of the Spaniards in the 16th century, evangelization of the Meseta Purepecha took place by religious orders and secular clergy. Franciscan and Augustinian friars, with the help of the first archbishop of Michoacán, Don Vasco de Quiroga, created hospital-towns (which encompassed more than merely an infirmary) concept unique to New Spain as part of the evangelical effort. Unlike what took place in other areas of the country, the evangelization process in Michoacán was distinguished by the foundation of towns around hospitals. The architectural design incorporated a convent or curate who religious congregation depended upon the hospital. The Catholic faith the the Spaniards brought with them led to major changes of which the exclusion of many deities was replaced with the one True God announced by Spanish priests. Although these other deities were far from forgotten, many of them were incorporated into the modern Mexican religion to create a unique Catholic faith.

Modern Religious Practices
Catholicism remains rich in symbolism in Michoacán and for the Purépecha. A major axis of Tarascan religion lies in individual rites of passage. Baptism, ideally, takes place a week after birth: A man and a woman, usually spouses, become the child 's godparents and, more important, the ritual co-parents (Span., //compadre;// Tarascan, //kúmpa//) of the child's parents. At two or three subsequent rites, notably that of confirmation, the parents acquire additional but less valued //compadres// who, in particular, help with obligations in religious ritual. The major individual rite, the wedding, includes a ceremony in a Roman Catholic church and a great deal of folk religious ritual—conspicuously the climactic and widespread //kúpera// dance between the couple and their siblings and cousins, who successively dance up to each other, exchange drinks, and lightly scratch each others' faces with rose thorns. This wedding also invokes and creates ties of ritual kinship (kinship and religious ritual are largely thought of and acted out in terms of each other). Death is celebrated by a night-long wake, with much drinking, and a funeral procession through the entire village. (If the deceased was an infant or a child, the body is borne on a table .) The main way the Tarascan relates to the supernatural, however, is through familial and communal ritual. Every town stages an annual fiesta for its patron saint; most towns organize four to six such affairs each year, each for a different saint; and at least one town, Ocumicho, puts on a fiesta every month—with a correspondingly great expenditure of time and energy. These fiestas are run by elected officials or //cargueros// (Span., "load bearers"), who, with the support of dozens or even scores of kin or ritual kin, may spend huge amounts of pesos on the bands, elaborate fireworks, alcohol, ceremonial dishes, Catholic masses, livestock for slaughter, and other elements of the fiesta. While these expenses are often said to be ruinous, the average person is quite ready to incur them, or at least resigned to them because of the social status they imply. Also, the debts can be a source of prestige that links the //carguero// into a larger human network. In some of the more conservative towns the offices of the different saints are ranked in terms of prestige, forming a sort of "ceremonial ladder," in which the //carguero// who sponsors the associated fiestas gradually ascends a series of metaphorical rungs. Although most //cargueros// are men, women do most of the work of organizing and preparation. Some annual fiestas—for example, to Our Virgin of the Assumption—are purely religious, but the great majority involve commercial and market functions (these functions constitute the primary emphasis of some festivals). Nevertheless, the Tarascan share a network of explicit and implicit understandings, symbols, and attitudes that have been synthesized and transmitted largely by word of mouth. Every village, family, and individual holds to a different subset of these beliefs—pagan, local, Catholic, and secular—but there is cohesion in the area as a whole. This is in large part due to the fiestas. "Because of the fiestas," modern industry has attracted few Tarascan; "because of the fiestas," Protestant missionaries have made few converts; agrarian reform has had to compromise with the fiestas; and work and the family are strongly motivated by their roots in the fiestas. Fiestas, not as symbols or surface phenomena only, but as vivid, primary experiences, are the basis of Tarascan religion (Fiesta de Muertos en Mexico, videorecording).

The Dance of the Old Men
The Dance of the Old Men has many different scenarios of where the legend began. It is normally performed on the Christmas day or New Year's day. The story is told in Uruapan that in the time of the birth of Christ, the old people had no gift to give to the holy child, so the devised a dance as a gift and when the child saw the dance he smiled at them. However, in the Sierra Tarascan, the elders are very solemn and serious in counterpart with the clowns that proceed after them. In the village of San Juan Parangaricutrio, near Uruapan, the old first appeared on Christmas Eve. After the Mass of Grace, the group of dancers (three or four dozen) entered the church and knelled before the image of the the Holy Child.

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The Day of the Dead
To the indigenous peoples of Mexico, death was considered the passage to a new life and so the deceased were buried with many of their personal objects, which they would need in the hereafter. Many times even their pets were sacrificed so they would accompany their masters on their long journey. This is a very special ritual but other cultures sometimes view the practice as gruesome, terrifying, scary, ugly, and sad. This couldn't be farther from the truth. The Day of the Dead is a beautiful fiesta where relatives can remember their loved ones by visiting the graveyard and eat, drink, and leave flowers and presents for the dead. media type="youtube" key="SZXM-UZs6gc" height="315" width="420"


 * The Day of the Dead at the shore of the Lake Patzcuaro**

Lake of Pátzcuaro and its island, Janitzio, are another traditional scenario to spend Día de Muertos, under the shelter of Purépecha customs and with the hospitality of a fishing region. Everything starts when the church makes its bells tall, announcing the time to get out dressed in black towards the cemetery to deposit the offerings of food, candies and bread, over the graves. Thus, the tradition starts with prays and Purépecha songs, that request for the eternal rest of the absent souls. The island lights up with candles that are lit to illuminate the way of the souls. Purépecha, combining gastronomy, folklore and art show up. This causes a mosaic of colors, smells and flavors causing the astonishment of those visiting Michoacán.

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Helpful links and information
All most all scholars reference "The Chronicles of Michoacan: The Description of the Ceremonies, Rites, Population, and Government of the Indians of the Province of Michoacan, 1540-1541" translated and edited by Eugene R. Craine and Reginald C. Reidorp. Unfortunately I was unable to obtain this text and had to use other secondary sources who quoted this book.