DEATH

DEATH

Towards the end of October news came that the daughter of the President of the Villa 14 Association had died.  Ignacio is a nice man and Robert went to see him the day of the funeral.  The girl was 15 years old and pregnant.  The schoolteacher had forced her to stay behind after school. Then he took her out of school and had her at his house (Her cousin who was also beginning to receive the same sort of attention opted to drop out of school).  This goes to show the kind of power individuals with a certain social standing (and that of schoolteachers is not so high) have in the community.  When she died her hands were completely red and green stuff was coming out of her breasts so the suspicion is that she was trying to take something to abort.  

Ignacio was absolutely distraught. He said to Robert.

"I had so many hopes for her.  In our lives you must have hope.  That is the very last thing you can lose.  She had been to school since she was five and she was clever, and now ....... look what we have come to.  She is dead."

Robert went to see the doctor to find out if he had seen the girl and what he thought of the strange symptoms when she died, but he said that he had not treated her and knew nothing about it.  There was no autopsy.

The day before the funeral was a bit of a drama because the family wanted to operate on the girl to extract the foetus.  This is an ancient Aymara practice now imbued with Catholic ideology.  They believe that a pregnant woman should not be buried with the foetus still inside, because the foetus should receive a separate burial.  If not the soul of the baby will go to limbo and will not settle and keep trying to come back.  Cleto Rodríguez, a Quechua, and the manager of the Association's plant which is in the project, managed to convince them that this was an old-fashioned idea and that there was no need for it.  So the girl was buried and life goes on.

However, in view of the behaviour of the schoolteacher which can only be classified as gross professional misconduct, Robert had a chat with Cleto and he is going to start a campaign to have him removed from the village before he does any more harm with someone else's daughter.  He also went to the house and removed the girl's things which he had there: 4 photographs, an apron and a pair of shoes.

What a pity.  What unnecessary suffering and all because the social structures are feudal giving excessive power to insignificant individuals against whom the families have no power to act.

November is the month when the dead are commemorated.  The week leading up to November 2nd. there is feverish activity at the cemeteries.  The vegetation is cleared away from around the graves and people decorate the tombs. On November 2nd., All Souls' Day,  the centre of activity is the cemetery:  in the morning everyone goes there to light candles at the graves and lay flowers.  The day before, the children shape babies out of flour dough and these are taken and deposited on the tombs.  The family also prepares the favourite meals of the dead people whose graves they are going to visit and the meals are carried to the cemetery where a plate with their favourite food is laid on the tomb of each dead person.  Then the family sits down around the grave and share the same meal with much celebration.


Rather than a cause for mourning, this is a day to celebrate with the deceased.  After the meal at the cemetery everyone troops off to certain spots where swings have been set up.  Two tall tree trunks are set into the ground with a crossbar to make the swing structure.  Then  a long rope is tied to this to form the swing.  There are two side ropes attached to the swing so that it can be manoevred.  In front and behind two other smaller "doorframes" are erected and decorated with coloured ribbon and flowers.  On one of these frames a number of small woven baskets containing goodies are hung.  The idea is that the girl who gets on the swing is swung up higher and higher by the two women pulling the side ropes.  When the person is high enough (if she ever gets that far) she must stick her legs out and try and grab one of these baskets with her feet. This is for the diversion of women only and they all wear a new pollera (skirt) for the occasion.  There is much merrymaking and music, although the music is special songs and tunes for the dead, not cuecas and other rhythms which are played at weddings.  This festivity involves the women much more than the men who are bystanders.  The idesa is that the young men can have an opportunity to see the young marriageable girls and should he like one he can “robar la cholita” or steal the girl.  They then set up home together. Tankers of chicha are brought in from Cochabamba for the occasion so that there will be no shortage.

I am told that the similar festivities will take place on November 30th, St. Andrew's Day.