WEST COAST SOUTH AMERICA SERIES Vol. XVII No. 4 (Bolivia)

THE CONCEPT OF LUCK IN INDIGENOUS AND HISPANIC CULTURES

by Ricliard W. Patch

Bolivian beliefs about luck and destiny are clearly illustrated in the Feria de Alacilas, when people buy in miniature those objects they wish to possess in real- ity. The association of Alacitas with the Ekeko, a stylized dwarf-like figure laden with worldly goods, links present beliefs to precolonial ones.

FIELDSTAFF Reports

[RWP-2-'7O] WHSTCOASI LATIN AMKKKAS1 KIIS Vol. XVII No. 4 (Bolivia)

THE CONCEPT OF LUCK IN INDIGENOUS AND HISPANIC CULTURES Alacitas and the Ekeko

by Richard W. Patch March 1970 Do you wish to have an extra $2,083 during There is no such intriguing interpretation of Latin year? You may receive a bill of tender American Catholicism, particularly as it is mixed mised for this amount by the Feria de Alacitas with pre-Columbian beliefs, perhaps because the sending an addressed envelope, stamped with conclusions lead to ideas of predestined and ivian postage (1.40 pesos), to me at Casilla unalterable fate, indifference, and resignation to 50, La Paz, Bolivia. You will receive an Alacitas the will of an unknown. for 50 pesos (cincuenta pesos bolivianos) which I increase a thousand times in value during the Neither concept of destiny exists in pure form r to 50,000 pesos, or $2,083. The bills are apart, perhaps, from beliefs held by some individ- ted according to "the law of January 24." The uals who have become marginal in their own 083 will be yours if you believe in Alacitas and societies. Especially in Bolivia beliefs in destiny are law of January 24. The front of the bills carry uncommonly varied-from the entrepreneur who epiction of a campesino, his head covered with a risks everything to build a thirty-story building in UCHO,1 issuing a stirring call by sounding the La Paz to the UKURUNA (Quechua), the out- TUTU. On the reverse there is a genuine lander, the man who is still an Indian in the remote iroduction of the Tiahuanaco Portal of the Sun, highlands, who will not risk changing the centuries- I the assurance that the bill is indeed "Fifty old style of his clothing. »os of Good Luck." Life as Luck ck and a Dwarf Alacitas is the purest representative in the Andes of the phenomenon of life conceived as The miniature money is a basic part of the Fair luck, a luck which can be manipulated by cautious Alacitas which is held each year for a week selection of miniatures which should become real- ginning January 24 in La Paz. The basic premise ities. It is an attitude toward fate, a fate which can that everything bought in miniature will become be influenced by small plaster objects but not by reality during the year. A model of a house will individual effort. Fate and destiny are beyond the come a real house. A small truck, provided it is reach of the individual and in the hands of the ided with tiny freight, will insure plenty of supernatural, by an association of the Ekeko with erything during the year. But beware of the Alacitas. If the theory of a Bolivian archeologist, :eko.2 The Ekeko is a dwarf with elfin face Carlos Ponce Sanjines, is correct, the Ekeko and lose back is loaded with packages, baskets, a Alacitas predate the arrival of the Spaniards and oom, bales, buckets, and a feather duster. He have a special importance in persisting as an image list be bought but not kept. Given away, he and a celebration which neither Catholicism nor ings luck; kept by the buyer he brings ill luck. any other religion (except perhaps the ancient fear of TUNUPA [Aymara'-god of thunder, storm, and There exists, of course, a multitude of ideas lightning], has been able to affect.)3 iout destiny. Two quite different views are held I United States Protestants and by Latin If Ponce is right, and his argument runs to 288 merican Catholics. Weber and Tawney have given pages plus 149 illustrations, the Ekeko was origi- teresting interpretations of the Protestant ethic. nally an Aymara god of fertility and love, as well as

Copyright © 1970, American Universities Field Staff, Inc. RWP-2-'7O -2-

typical indigenous and criollo boxes, bales, ant! houshold items. It strikes me that if Ponce can link TUNUPA with the EKAKO, I would be justified in deriving the freighted truck, another feature ot Alacitas, from descendents of the Ekeko.

Alacitas

There is more, below, on the origins of Alacita^ and the Ekeko. But the reader should have an idc; of the Fenade Alacitas of today and the role lucl plays in life each January 24 in La Paz.

The Church has little to do with Alacitas except toilless the trucks, houses, bills, and othc miniatures in a spectacular ceremony in the Metro politan Cathedral of La Paz. There is an attempt t( identify Alacitas with Nuestra Senora de La Pa/ but aside from the single ceremony of January 24 few persons except some older women make an; connection between Alacitas and the Saint of L Paz.

The Mayor's office (the Alcaklia) is not happ about Alacitas. It is another opportunity fo drunkenness, sleazy games of chance, and smal makeshift restaurants which serve out heaping bv possibly poisonous servings of such things as cu A modern three inch Ekeko made of plaster (guinea pig), fried with head attached. Furthe; and smoking an outsize cigarette. His load of more, there is no place for Alacitas except on abundance is typical. In the center is a guitar, public thoroughfare, which in the past few yeai although reduced to three strings. Above are has been Avenida Montes, the main artery to enU the usual broom and parasol. Left are a or leave the city. And La Paz has too few tourist suitcase, candy, a house, a silver pitcher, and a especially in this cold season of torrential rail soup bowl. Left is a basket containing a bale of (summer), to make Alacitas into a substanti; coca, a ceramic chato or pitcher, more parasols, economic enterprise. Thus the Fair is made u and tied to the basket a bar of soap. almost exclusively of transactions betwee campesinos and townspeople. luck. I do not have the twelve volumes of The Golden Bough at hand, but I can think of no other The stalls of Alacitas line the Avenida MonU male god of fertility in the world, in history, or in for about a third of a mile. They are four deep i prehistory. The Ekeko is definitely male, with the sense that there are two lines of stalls facit early pre-Columbian figures exhibiting a pro- 4 each other along both lanes of the avenue. Eat. nounced phallus. All figures are of hunchbacked stall is formed by three sides of muslin or old sug; dwarfs, with pathological spinal curvature, a slight sacks suspended from a simple frame, and roofc hump, and hunched shoulders which make a neck with pieces of corrugated iron. impossible. Through time the figures become in- creasingly stylized, with only slight representation .': ' of a phallus, until it finally disappears in colonial The Fair is divided into several sections. Upc times, and the hump is replaced by an enormous entering the Avenida Montes, one first encountt burden of earthly goods. The present Ekeko is a miniature representations of money, and tv plaster dwarf, a few inches high, loaded with recent innovations small checkbooks and litt

Left: A modern representation in silver of the pre-Columbian ancestor of the Ekeko. Half an inch high. Modern copies are rare and are sold as "an old god of the Incas." The originals are not only pre-Columbian but pre-Incaic. They demonstrate the primordial fertility function of Ekekos before and after 1781.

Bottom Left: The proto-Ekeko showing identi- fying hunchback.

Bottom Right: Rear view of the proto-Ekeko. R\M"

United Suites. So again I fell victim to the spirit of would be incredible in llie United Stales. Axles Alacitas (which means "buy me" in Aymara), break, brakes fail, and about a (ruck a week t'oes bought a truck and loaded it. This is supposed to over a precipice. Sometimes thirty persons ride be general "good luck," and reflects what is atop the cargo. Nineteen persons were killed this probably the greatest single aspiration of the week, including the pilot, when a truck failed to agricultural campesino to promote his position- to make the hairpin descent into Cochabamba and own and live by driving a loaded truck among the rolled down a precipice of 200 meters. commercial centers of Bolivia: La Paz, Caranavi, Oruro, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Sucre, and per- Here religion does become mixed with luck. All haps even Potosf. However, a stranger who buys a trucks have names. Mine has the unusually religious truck without cargo is fated to drive an empty "Apdstol Santiago" painted on the front panel of truck and end in bankruptcy. One has to be careful the overload which extends above the cab. Other in Alacitas. names range from "Superman" to "Flower of the Cloves." Having names, trucks are baptized. The Truck is Luck miniatures are blessed en iriasse in the Cathedral on January 24, but a priest usually gives an individual My truck (S3.00 with load) is a remarkable ceremony for the actual truck which is supposed to miniature of the monsters which grind up and appear during the year. down the mountains. It is made entirely by hand, and does not resemble toys in the United States. The "Apostol Santiago" carries a somewhat Some campesino began with empty cans of dried larger than usual Alacitas load. On the back are milk and fashioned an entirely credible truck with roped two five gallon tins of sugar alcohol from the a hood that opens in the old way (from the sides) Santa Cruz mill and distillery of Guabira'. Presum- to disclose an improbable motor. But the license ably this is for easy access by the pilot, along with plate (27333) is in its position and, as required by the shovel and pick also roped to the back. Within law, is painted on the doors. On the stakes is the truck are miniature cans of marmalade, painted the "Cap.Max. 150gg. " In other words the "Campo Verde Whole Milk," with some eighty theoretical maximum weight to be carried is 150 words of directions; "Marina" sardines packed in quintales or 1.08 tons (not much of a monster). tomato sauce; and "Quaker" white oats, again with But Bolivian trucks are overloaded by factors of detailed instructions. There are also packages of two, three, and more. Drivers, called "pilots," drive "Quaker" white oats "de cocimiento rdpido"; as much as sixteen hours a day over roads which starch "Kokito" ("Puede tanto tan poquito!" [So

Flora Palza Romero with her wares and shrine. A- R\VP-2-'7O

The "official" private Ekeko in the back of a shop conducted by Dona Flora Palza Romero on the Calle Sagarnaga. The Ekeko is moderately old. Flora insists that he cannot be moved except on January 24, the day when all Ekekos wander. As always he is smoking a cigarette and the ashes fall into trays in the foreground, one borne by a stuffed lagarto or small cayman usually translated into English as "alligator." The Ekeko is only moderately burdened with a SAMPONA, the Aymara equivalent of panpipes; a PUTUTU, a cow's horn overlaid with silver used by Aymara"'speakers to sound a low eerie tone to announce a death or summon a meeting. On the Ekeko's left shoulder can be seen four pegs to tune a hidden charango. The charango is a uniquely Bolivian instrument fashioned from the desiccated plates of an armadillo. An actual charango is double strung and requires ten pegs and a fine talent. On the Ekeko's left, with no relation to him as an Ekeko, is a hand-woven alpaca poncho and a collection of colonial keys. certificates of marriage. The checkbooks are evi- Fair. I was irrationally attracted to an eighteen- dence that banks and their operations are now inch model of the University of San Andres, and familiar to campesinos. It is tempting to think that finally bought it on the third day of the Fair! "or the blank certificates of marriage demonstrate a S2.40. According to my sources this will getjme persistence of the fertility and erotic characteristics nowhere. No one can own a university, and I have of the Ekeko. The idea of some symbol of marriage no desire to be rector, dean, or professor at the during the year may be old in Alacitas. University of San Andres. But, with a bulb inside, the thing lights up like a Christmas tree and would Then come row upon row of stalls offering be a remarkable acquisition for someone with little plaster houses. Most are crudely made and sell peculiar notions of decoration. for a peso or a peso and a half. Others are more elaborate, with trees and outbuildings, for Interspersed among the various plaster houses campesinos who want a small farm as well as a are roosters, chickens, sheep, and cows. These sell house. And there comes another innovation-board for less than five cents and are intended for the and plastic models representing the most modern campesino who wants more animals. I saw no La Paz architecture. They are expensive, selling for horses, burros, or llamas. a dollar and a half to two dollars. This year there was even a model of the most modern building in Finally, one enters a section where each tall La Paz. "El Petrolero," complete with the exclusive brims full of trucks and their possible cont nts. ami expensive restaurant. Las Vegas, on the top The truck may be a descender)t of the Ekeko, but floor. This was for the really ambitious buyer and, there is no ill luck attached to buying one and, in ;il the price of five dollars, went unsold during the my case, keeping it for eventual display in] I the RWP-2-70 -6-

The Ekeko of the sanctum sanctorum of Dona Flora on the Calle Sagarnaga. It is not for sale, it is not exhibited, and it consumes three packages of cigarettes a day. At the bottom of of the pile of cigarettes in the foreground is a miniature bale of coca—to be consumed, not carried, by the Ekeko. This particular Ekeko is the focus of belief in the Ekekos and EKAKOS of Bolivia. His burden is light. He carries only a suitcase, a basket, a pitcher, a silver bull, a PUTUTU, and three items carried by no other Ekeko. They are a scepter, a doll-child, and, on the left shoulder, a wooden bowl with two yoked oxen in the center. Many years ago, and still in a few remote parts of Bolivia, the wooden bowl with oxen is given to an Aymara couple at their wedding, to drink from and to symbolize their joined relation. Not carried by, but provided for the Ekeko of Sagarnaga, is a truck and a ship under full sail.

The same Ekeko of the sanctum sanctorum, showing that he is pro- vided not only with cigarettes and a scepter, but with a woman-at his left. The female doll is not a prerog- ative of the other, lesser, Ekekos.

•mm • 7- KWP

little can tin so much I); "Maizena." corn starch Probably the campesinos, as much as anyone else, from Argentina; "Fab." " Crusader Pure Ceylon have a desire to relieve the terrible desolation of Tea," and a tiny box of matches. There are sacks the altiplano. Yet to me it was a pathetic sight to of sugar from "La Belgica" in Santa Cruz, "Perla" see a KM A JHAQUHEJ MANKAHANQU1UA. a rice, wheat, flour, salt "for table use," coffee, ragged, Indian-clad, man of the furthest parts of pellets of candy, confetti, larger pieces of candy, the altiplano, coddling a single little plant in his coca from Yungas, three kinds of noodles, "noodle poncho for a trip which would probably take a rice," rolled wheat, fine rolled wheat (taken from night and a day. Many, such as myself (and 1 have the United States Food for Peace Program), more been called an UCURUNA, the Quechua equivalent confetti, semola, and peanuts. There are bales of of the same Aymara' phrase -Ifombre de adentro) red aji (chile peppers), and a sesto (sewn bale) of bought the cheapest plants: small pine trees, for coca. The truck also contains burlap bags of chuiia eighteen cents. In six years they may have a (potatoes dehydrated by freezing, on the altiplano, firewood value of thirty-eight cents. But even for a single night, with water trampled out the next Aymaras do not live by chitno alone. They, like the morning); tunta, (potatoes soaked, frozen, and Little Prince, cherish a tree or a flower. dehydrated for a month); and potatoes. The load is topped by "thirty-seven pounds of pork lard, Trees grow and flowers grow. Miniature houses imported by Isnclda Gomez' "; five liters of and model trucks may become realities, with luck. vegetable oil "Fina" for "table and kitchen use"; a long, leaf wrapped, package of chaiwaca (unrefined Little banknotes may turn into fortunes. Life is brown sugar); an envelope of "Na Pancha" (a luck, and luck is fertility. In Alacitas the appeal to detergent from Peru); a demi-john of "Concha y fertility is not direct. The Ekekos no longer have Toro" wine from Chile; and two bars of Fatherland phalli, there are no little plaster babies, and the ("La Patria") laundry soap. Somehow, for three small plants sold are for decoration not for crops. dollars, this seems a bargain and a good beginning There are nearly life-size plaster black babies but for 1970. (On the other hand, I'll sell the Univer- they are interpreted as variations of the Ekeko in a sity of San Andres cheap.) country where Negroes are almost unknown. The appeal for luck, fertility, prosperity, and material possessions is general, not specific. The freighted Down, appropriately, from the Avenida Montes truck and the Ekeko are the best examples. No is the API section, where persons so inclined are ordinary Bolivian wants a thousand cans of marma- served a thick liquid constructed of purple maize, lade, a thousand boxes of starch, or a thousand flour, and water. It is supposed to serve as feather-dusters. But the truck (retained) and the breakfast, and is indicated for inception of diar- Ekeko (given) promise general luck and prosperity, rhea. while the plants promise a more life-like fertility. Individual endeavor is not discounted, but the Fertility and Flowers miniature symbols give more hope of success. And crops, livestock, and children are success. Up from Montes there is a narrow winding street which tends toward the Plaza Murillo. At Alacitas is not purely a luck market. It has also first it is a succession of small restaurant stalls, become an outlet for Bolivian handicraft. There are some displaying outside a flayed, uncooked, un- stacks of hand-woven, brightly dyed cloth used by eviscerated, opened guinea pig. Yet many people the campesinos to carry loads on their back; and remained with appetites. ponchos for men and women (but only upper class and foreign women use ponchos and they are Further up the street, beyond the cooking becoming less common among campesino men). stalls, begins .Mie of the strangest parts of Alacitas. There are silver objects from medallions to foot- It consists.oi" many blocks of stalls selling nothing high soup tureens. Many stalls are filled with but decoratiu- plants. Most of the sellers and the handmade ceramics of every description. The most majority of the buyers are campesinos. The buyers unusual product I saw was in a stall selling have no more use for snapdragons than they would incredibly twisted roots from the Atacama desert have for a Picasso. But they are bought and near Arica, polished into lamp bases beyond the nurtured as if they would yield pears and plums. dreams of most surrealists. RWP-2-70 -8-

The most extensive contemporary treatment of Alacitas and the Ekeko is Ponce Sanj'meV Tunupa y Ekako. Ponce's interpretations are not reliable, but he is careful to cite other writers from his large library, many of whose works are otherwise un- available. One book of particular interest is M. Rigoberto Paredes: Mitos, Supersticiones y Super- viviencias Populares de Bolivia.5 Ponce paraphrases from Paredes that Alacitas is a remnant of the "sacred festival" of Ekeko which was observed in pre-Hispanic times for several days centering around the summer solstice.Ponce solstice. Ponce also quotes the thoroughly unreliable but always provocative Arthur Posnansky6 that the culture of Tiwanaku (usual spelling, Tiahuanaco) carried out its fiesta about December 22, "the date on which they held their rogations to their gods so that they might bring good luck, offering miniatures of things which they wish to possess or to bring about. On that day the sun reached its furthest southern extremity and returned again ... to offer its beneficent beams, giving life, happiness, warmth, and food to men; its sons" (my transla- tions of Posnansky through Ponce).

More to the point, Ponce quotes Federico Diez de Medina (1952) that a fiesta was held December 22, "the summer solstice, and the beginning of the A modern, foot and a half high plaster image of agricultural year of the Aymarjls." Ponce proceeds an Ekeko. He may be found on the Callc to relate Alacitas to the principal fiesta of the Illampu after passing alleys lined with stalls Incas, or Quechuas, the KAPAJ RAYMI; to reit- selling herbs, thistles, Scottish broom (Quechua erate the coincidence of the summer solstice; to CARHUAS, yellow flower), and the omni- cite Luis Valcarcel (dean of Peruvian present, wretched llama foetuses. This Ekeko archaeologists); and to cautiously note that the carries nothing except his own pouch for coca. chronicler, Guaman Poma de Ayala makes no The tortured facial expression is typical of mention in his extensive tome of any ceremony present Ekekos. using miniature figures during KAPAJ RAYMI.

The variety of Alacitas-from the ancient Ponce says that Parades wrote that in the Ekeko to the present day lamp bases-derives from colonial period Alacitas was celebrated on October its pre-Spanish origin, its apparent demise, and its 20, the anniversary date of the founding of La Paz. restoration in the colonial and republican periods. Only in 1781 was the date fixed at January 24, the beginning of the week in which Alacitas is observed The Pre-history of Alacitas today. "AJacitas" is derived from ALATHA or Ponce returns to Parades for the explanation, ALANA which, according to the very incomplete this time quoting and making a part of the dictionary of Padre Diego de Torres Rubio, pub- connection between Alacitas and the Ekeko. "Don lished in 1616, mean either "buy" or "sell"; and Sebastian de Scgurola, Gobemador Intcndente' of from ALASTHA or ALASINA which means "buy" La Paz, who saved the city from the terrible siege or "buy it". In modern Aymura. ALAC'ITA means of the Indians in 1781 ... as an act of gratitude to "huv inc." the Virgin of La Paz, to whom he was fervently KWI'-: u

devoted and lo whom lie attributed his victory, re-established I lie liesta in her honor, lie trans- ferred the date of the market of miniatures from October 20 to January 24, ordering that the customs of the former be transferred to the later date. The fiesta became one of much greater solemnity and emotion than in former years. The Indians of the countryside and the nearby villages came bringing small objects, as had been the custom, selling them for money of stones. They secretly took advantage of the opportunity to reintroduce the cult of the legendary EKHAKO, distributing his image in great quantity, no longer made of stone but of plaster." Ponce expresses doubt about this interpretation. The doubt, I think, is only about who gave thanks to whom. Apparently the Governor of La Paz gave thanks to the Virgin of La Paz and the Indians gave thanks to the Ekeko.

The Ekeko, Alacitas, and the Guerrilleros

A short historical digression will illuminate not only the relation between the Ekeko and Alacitas A modem, stylized, and corrupted version of but will explain a very modern phenomenon: why the Ekeko. Silver, one and a half inches, price the guerrilleros in Uruguay call themselves the S45. The facial expression is one of stupidity, "Tupamarus" and why the Paceno guerrilleros not of the potentially beneficent agony of —who have robbed two banks and killed several traditional Ekekos. He is indicated as indig- persons in La Paz during the last few weeks-call enous by the LLUCHO worn on his head, but themselves the "Tupac Cataris." this is belied by the republican silver boliviano coin on which he stands. On his right are the Francisco Pizarro did not kill all of the royal usual musical instrument, house, and kettle. On Incas when he killed Atahuallpa in the Conquest of his back is an unusual press to make chocolate. 1532. The surviving members of the royal family and their retinue retired to the remote mountains On his left is a shovel, a degrading implement of Vilcabamba. It was not until forty years later, for a respectable Ekeko. however, when the Viceroy of Peru was Francisco province of Tinta, near Cuzco. He claimed to be de Toledo, that the Incas attempted a serious the imperial family. There was a general conflag insurrection against the Spaniards. Viceroy Toledo tion of Indian insurrection. Jose' Gabriel Tur was determined to eradicate all vestiges of Inca Amaru was captured, also taken to Cuzco, a culture and the royal Incas themselves. He sent two sentenced there. But that did not end the gene emissaries to Vilcanota, the first of which was not rebellion sweeping the Indian population. T received by the Inca. The second of the emissaries brother of Jose7 Gabriel, Diego Cristobal Tur was killed. Toledo was infuriated and sent an army Amaru, assumed leadership. But a more power to crush the last of the Incas. The last Inca was figure, an Indian or criollo named Julian Apa Tupac Amaru, whose army was decimated by that was able to dominate the Intendency of La I of Toledo. Tupac Amaru was taken as a prisoner to and, in March 1781, proclaimed himself Viceroy Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Incas, and was Peru and took the name "Tupac Catari." Trip killed there in 1572 by order of Toledo. Amaru flooded the town and destroyed the Sp; iards of Sorata. Tiipac Catari laid siege to the c Two centuries later a leader called Jose Gabriel of La Paz. He held it without a break for three a Tupac Amaru inspired an uprising of Indians in the a half months when troops from the Audience RWP-2-70 -10- tan

A small part of a wall of the workshop on Calle lllampu. The owner and his wife work days and nights casting figures in plaster and sewing garments. The shop specializes in devils not Ekekos. The diablada dance in Oruru has reached a form of art. Costumes and masks can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars paid by Aymara campesinos who promise their participation a year in advance, and who may spend the rest of their lives in debt. The wall is eclectic, ranging from a devil's head in the center to an apostle at the upper left. La Plata briefly broke through but were obliged to Town and Country Views of Luck retreat to Oruro. It finally took an army of 7,000 Spaniards under the command of Colonel Reseguin Cargo cults in Polynesia are relatively recekit to break the siege, disperse the Indians, and free La phenomena. Indigenous restoration cults havel a Paz.Tupac Catari suffered, in the town of Perias, longer history, dating at least from the time iof the same fate as Tupac Amaru in Cuzco. He was Handsome Lake (1735(?)-1815), a Seneca religious quartered alive. Don Sebastian de Segurola, who prophet whose movement had a profound effect had remained besieged in the city, might as well among the Iroquois tribes. have thanked the army of Colonel Reseguin as Our Lady of La Paz, but he chose otherwise. But restoration cults pit an indigenous culture The Indians had achieved the greatest and last and distinct race against "the White Man." of their revolts against the Spaniards. Tupac Amaru • and Tupac Catari were slain, but the Spanish Alacitas, in contrast, is an indication of the Empire in America would never be the same. meld of cultures and races in Bolivia. All classes Successful revolt against Spain would begin in the and persons participate, from the KHA JHAQUEJ future Bolivia only twenty-eight years later. MANKAHANQUIA, the conservative Indian who is According to some writers, the Indians gave thanks now almost beyond the pale, to the "bianco," who to the Ekeko, and when de Segurola, at the same buys a little plastic house every year until the time, restored Alacitas and moved the date again acquires a real one worth $30,000 or more. closer to the summer solstice and the beginning of Alacitas is also one more indication of the com- the agricultural year, the Ekeko became a per- patibility of the Iberian belief in luck and the manent symbol associated with Alacitas and with power of the saints, and the indigenous belief in luck. The Ekeko and eventually the whole spirit of luck and the power of not only the saints but of Alacitas may have been one of the earliest known the Pachamama, the Pistaco, the Ekeko, and ej/en manifestations ol what today are called cargo culls. of the distant Zeus-like Wiraeocha. This is iho particular lesson of Bolivia and most persons as the reason for observance ol Alacitas. "I he cultural blend of Iberia, the Aymanf, January n. But the Black Wise Man is lucky, and and of the Incus began long ago in the Andes. The taking him down from the creche is worth far more races also became united in fact if not in theory. than buying the whole plaster trio in the market Thus the Bolivian-Revolution of 1952 was able to before Christmas. bring a great part of the speakers of indigenous languages (Aymara' and Quechua), 60 per cent of The significance of Lent is either not known or the total population, into the national life without major violence. is not observed. But the days preceding Lent are Carnavules—fu\\ of fun, fortune, and luck. Actually Carnival is "played" beyond Tuesday and in some More beliefs are shared than is recognized by parts of Cochabamba it continues through Lent either the people of the cities or of the villages. and, in Cliza, beyond Easter. There may be two or The village campesinos are probably more devout three persons in a hundred who abstain from meat in the outward manifestation of Roman Cathol- during Lent, among campesinos and city dwellers icism than the folk of the cities. Yet neither have alike. Holy Week is another period of outward the vaguest idea of recorded Hebrew-Christian observance by many people. A number carry palm tradition. Christmas is the time to buy a creche, fronds from Sunday Mass, a few bear the mark of but the figures of the three Magi are at least as ashes on Wednesday, but Easter is pure holiday, important as the figures of Jesus, Mary, and neither lucky nor luckless. Joseph. In fact the Bajada de Reyes, the "taking down of the Kings," on January 6, is almost as important as the celebration of December 24-25. The catalog of practices which demonstrate the Bajada de Reyes is the name of the fiesta centering cultural blending of Bolivia could be long. about the disassembly of the creche in which each Campesinas and "White" women touch a small person contributes anywhere from a few pesos to bundle of dried ears of maize before venturing to "take down" a sheep to as much as a hundred the early morning market. Campesinos and persons pesos to remove the figure of the black Wise Man, of the cities both take food and sometimes a brass Baltazar. For some reason, which deserves further band to the cemeteries on All Saints Day. Taxi investigation, far more importance is attached to drivers who speak broken Spanish and those the Negro Baltazar than to the Kings Gaspa'r or dressed in suit and necktie have an image of Christ Melchdr. The names of the Wise Men are known on the dashboard-or a bird, or a doll. And the only to a few and their significance is as obscure to demise of St. Christopher means nothing here.

Care lavished on the devil on Calle Illampu is illustrated by this two and a half inch model of a Satanic mask. Money forthcoming, a life- size mask will be produced. R\\T-2-'7O .12-

Limited Opportunities England, toilet soap from Argentina and England, shoe polish from Argentina and England, Worcest- The Ekeko, the loaded truck, the miniature shire sauce from South Africa, gas stoves from house, and Aiacitas mean much to everyone in La Italy, telephones from Sweden, trucks from Japan Paz and to those within traveling distance of the and Czechoslovakia, cars from Germany, prescrip- capital. True, a man may work and must work. tion drugs from Switzerland and Italy. These Most often the product is not merely insufficient articles, produced on a mass scale for a large for a modest house, but suffices only to provide a market, can make it over the Ancles and into meager diet of bananas, rice, and sometimes Bolivia more cheaply than they could be produced potatoes. Guinea pigs, relished by campesinos and in La Paz. The government even had to take firm Spanish speakers, are now a luxury. Kitchens are action to prevent contraband and sale of Peruvian bare of the scraps which were the staple of cuys. matches (produced in Sweden) in Bolivia. And the Traditional foods, used by all highland Bolivians, government has now almost entirely stamped out are disappearing. Chuno, a partly dehydrated pota- contraband in North American cigarettes and to, now costs 30 U.S. cents a pound. Tunta, a Scotch whiskey. Legally imported products are dehydrated potato which requires a month of impossibly expensive. processing, is prohibitive at S1.20 a pound. Chick- ens are raised by campesinos for sale, not for Thus, the governments of Paz, Barrientos, Siles consumption. A medium size chicken costs $3.00. Salinas, and of Ovando have attempted to clear the Campesinos and the majority of city residents way for industry in Bolivia; but the road is steep cannot even eat eggs, which cost eight cents each. and even potential rewards are not great. Arab- The monthly wage of most residents of La Paz Bolivians have made a success in textiles (although hovers about the minimum legal wage of 205 most textiles are still imported). A match factory pesos, or $17.00. Rice and bananas are cheap, but has finally become a going concern, but the the head of an average family of five, earning matches are dangerous and the profits are small. perhaps $20.00 a month, needs a lot of luck. The Bolivian cement plant in Sucre cannot cover demand for construction in La Paz. In agriculture, Roads to economic improvement and rewards rice, bananas, and sugar are in oversupply and there for economic initiative are not closed in Bolivia. is no economic way of exporting them. The rice One of the great fortunes of the world was and banana planters of the Yungas and Chapare, accumulated by Simon Patino, a Bolivian "cholo," and the sugar planters of Santa Cruz, feel that luck (a lower part of the class of "mixed-bloods")-The has failed them and there is no bottom to the fortune was based, however, on the accidental depth to which they can descend. Even an Eco- acquisition of the first important tin source in nomics Minister under Victor Paz Estenssoro de- Bolivia precisely at the time when tin became an clared that devastating fires in unharvested sugar important world commodity. There was luck there, but the cutting edge of the wedge was used to cane were a national blessing. build an international financial empire. There are a * few smaller, simpler, routes, such as the family What then is the fate of a wage earner who which has prospered on soft drinks, the persons brings $20 a month to his family, or perhaps $35 if who established the National Brewery, and a large he has an elder son working, or if his wife spends quantity of individuals (mostly foreigners) who half a day selling vegetables in a market or working made a success of importing firms. half a day as a domestic? The normal pater familias is neither desolated nor more than faintly angry. Although Bolivia is a large country, however, its His life is according to his luck. And luck is nearly population and its market are small, and operations everything. So he spends ten pesos, or nearly a other than importing require great imagination, dollar, on a third or a sixth part of a lottery ticket. skill, persistence, and usually an unavailable If God, the saints, Tunupa, the Pachamama, the amount of capital. Only a part of the city dwellers Ekeko, or a truck named "Apostol Santiago" wills and a few of the campesinos use products con- it, he will become rich beyond dreams. Otherwise sidered basic in other parts of the world. For these he has made some mistake or "has no luck" and few people toothpaste must be imported from must try again. KUI"

)thcr Forms of Luck o\' the neighbor means dial the Iwo will lose their friendship and become enemies. (The Iberian and The lottery is a faint modern cousin of Alacitus. Indian concept of "friend" and •'enemy'" is a t is played by both campesinos and city dwellers, theme which would require another paper of ome of wliom insist upon playing the same considerable length, and has been treated in part lumber for as many as twenty years. Selection of a by the anthropologist, John Gillin.) lumber comes from a dream, a wife's dream, a ©incidence with a birthday, a hunch, or by the Various cacho games are played by Spanish and icket seller's machinations. The lottery ticket by indigenous language speakers. The cacho is a ellers are either old professionals who carry leather cup containing five dice. It is used for a Kindreds of dollars worth of tickets for selection, variety of games. In all of them the cacho is shaken >r children who may try to sell S10 during the day. by the player and the dice rolled on the table. Sometimes the seller is a child hardly out of arms From poker dice to generala, the dice are always ,vho carries a folded, ten peso third of a single replaced in the cacho only by the player. The range icket, thrusting it at possible buyers for most of a of games is stunning: dice, ordinary playing cards, iay for his small comission on its sale. and the ancient Spanish naipes—the forty-eight card deck with large medieval figures, used to play Some sellers are very sophisticated. They will such games as rocambdr, an ancestor of whist, and ;hoose a likely looking face and clothing and the source for much of T.S. Eliot's punning 'accidentally" drop a ticket. The supposition is imagery in "The Wasteland." Craps has also been that the hopefully honest man will believe the introduced to Bolivia and there are a number of ticket has fallen at his feet, perhaps from heaven, known fanatics, mostly Arab-Bolivians, who have ind will pay for it to make sure of his reward. Only lost their automobiles, houses, and their wives in a i few days ago 1 witnessed a Bolivian who spent single game. many years in the United States grab an entire ticket blown by the wind into his lap, probably released from the clipboard by a skillful seller who Any generalization about the popularity of until that time had been repeatedly refused by games of chance, however, must be tempered by upraised index fingers making silent negatives in consideration of the unusual popularity of games metronome motions. The recipient of the windfall of wit. Rocanbor remains popular in the more ticket paid $3 because, rather than despite, his remote villages, and chess is played, and played debts of thousands of dollars and pesos. Luck is his well, by nearly every male, from tired hamlets to way out. The lottery ticket went into a billfold La Paz. It is constantly irritating to me that I am which also held a number of Alacitas notes. The beaten not only by my friends but by my friends' old and the relatively new had come together in children. Luck is much, but mind is not dis- the pocket of a man who would be called counted. "White-Spanish-upper class" by any criteria. In the same way Alacitas notes and lottery tickets are bought by campesinos who speak no Spanish. By Good Luck, Bad Luck, and No Luck the way, the "White" who bought the windfall ticket for $3 had enough luck to "sacar la Therein lies the ambivalence of "life as luck" in termination." (hold a winning terminal digit), and Bolivia. Schools are poor, the National University to be paid $5.50. This was hardly enough to be of San Andres is a national disaster. Economic called "luck," however, and only whetted the opportunities are few, and a job once found is held appetite (as it is meant to) to try again to "sacar el tenaciously. There are unions of ex-workers, fired gordo " (get the big one). from their jobs, which do nothing more than try to regain lost jobs which would pay them $20 a No one plays lightly with luck. Even at a formal month. In law there is an elaborate social security dinner with "Whites" one does not pass the salt system, but it does not function. Often the life of a directly to his neighbor. The salt cellar is picked up man, his wife, and his children, depends on the and placed again on the table within reach of the hoped-for stroke of good luck, or the feared "lack neighbor. Otherwise, giving the salt into the hands of luck." R\\T-2-'7O -14-

"Good luck" and "bud luck" arc fair transla- discover what was happening by way of a battery tions of the Spanish "buena suerta" and "mala radio- only one of the sixteen stations of La Paz suertc. " But in both Aymara and Qucchua there is was still on the air, and it played music while it a difference. In both cultures the Spanish "suerte" also tried to find out what was happening. Then I or "fortuna" have either replaced an older word, or was informed, by word of mouth, that the Central have been added to the languages as something Arsenal of the Armed Forces, located near the different from the "will of the gods," much in the center of town, was in the process of blowing up. Greek tradition. Thus, in Aymara'and in Quechua, The explosions continued for three and a half it is easy to say "good luck" as an equivalent of the hours. Eventually the light came back and radio will of God, or of a good destiny, or of an stations returned to the air. The official version acceptable fate. It is almost impossible to say "bad now is that four soldiers in the arsenal dropped a luck" in Aymara' or Quechua. The opposite of box of detonators, which set off mortar shells, good luck is lack of luck, not bad luck. In other threw grenades high in the air, ignited incendiary words, if one does not have good luck, it is still the bombs, and generally sprayed the northern part of will of God, one's destiny, and one's fate. It is not the city with all types of projectiles. President- "bad," it is predestined. There are charms, prac- General Ovando declared that the city was very tices, and rites against witchcraft, against hail, and lucky. The aircraft bombs did not explode, and the against cold (all of which practices seem European estimate today is that there are only four dead and in origin). But there is no charm, behavior, or rite thirty wounded. Luck seems relative, and it does directed against bad luck in general. seem that the declared version is a small toll for a government stupid enough to locate its main The best illustration is in language. In Aymara'a arsenal in the middle of the capital city, between common^ expression is SUMA SUERTE the railway station and the old Customs House, in AHPSUSINANI ("we will have good luck"). The a crowded residential district which had to be usual opposite is JANIU SUMA SUERTE ufjITI totally evacuated. ("there is no good luck"). In both phrases the key word "luck" or "suerte" is taken bodily from President Ovando discounted sabotage, but Spanish. It required ten interviews with persons chances are he is not correct. There is irony in the who speak Aymara every day of their lives to fact that by presidential decree, yesterday was the finally produce the word KHEN'CHA which is first day in my memory that it was impossible to associated with "bad luck," but which is a rare and publish newspapers. As one of the first steps seldomly used word. The same phenomenon exists toward press control the President has ordered that in Quechua, in which the term for good luck is all newspaper workers shall not work on Sundays. SUMAC SUERTE. Again "suerte" is taken from This means, of course, no newspapers on Monday. Spanish, and SUMAC means simply "good" or The news media have protested but they are "beautiful." The normal opposite is MANAM guarded in their criticism of the government. KAPUHUACHU FORTUNA, or "I have no luck" or "I am unfortunate." "Fortuna," of course, is Luck and Destiny taken directly from Spanish. In La Paz, where Quechua is not commonly spoken, I was unable to Blowing up of the military arsenal is a digression find a Quechua word meaning the same as the with only a tangential bearing on what will now be Aymara KHEN'CHA. my concluding statement-that hope for good luck and resignation to "destiny" flourish on this Is Blowing Up the Arsenal Good Luck or Bad Luck? bedeviled highland.

Yesterday (March 3, 1970) I was about to Now, as we look toward the end of summer and conclude this paper with a general statement about the beginning of a short autumn in April, the rains the importance of luck in the face of lack of beat down with the fury of demons. The dreaded opportunity and widespread misery in the city of hail falls once a week, sometimes crushing into the La Paz and on the ultiplano. I was interrupted by ground the last of summer's crops. The green of two great explosions, the whine of bullets, the the altiplano fades to a vast expanse of srey-brown, disappearance. i>i cicctricilv, and when i tried to except around Lake Titicaca where the totora KU I'-:-'70

flourishes and the lake, on clear days, extends in a it is a fated destiny, circumscribed by limited flashing, brilliant, blue. But it is cold, with a long opportunities and reinforced by teachings of the lingering morning mist which burns off only Catholic Church. seldomly leaving a warming sun at noon. Then the clouds gather again and the cold afternoon rains Destiny and the Catholic Church begin. By May the clouds and rain will disappear, leaving a bright azure dome and a relentless sun. In In the Church, man's fate is in a bewildering winter the difference between sun and shade is that variety of hands God, the Mother of God, and the between heat and cold. Nights are glacial but the saints. Among the Spanish speakers there is little sun-filled days crack open the cheeks of even the thought given the value of good works or of any browned Ay mara'children. morality based upon the teachings of Jesus. It often seems to me that Christ does not exist in the The real victim of the combination of high Latin American Catholic Church, except as a little altitude and harsh weather is that "hole in the plastic luck token, or a picture, or a crucifix all of altiplano," the city of La Paz. The contour of La which are more symbols for appeal in time of Paz is rather like a bowl, with steeply rising edges. trouble than reminders of doctrine. In colonial times life was not impossible at the bottom of the bowl. Even fifteen years ago, as the The spirit is somewhat contagious. I was born in poorer people began to build up the sides of the the United States Middle West, raised as an almost bowl, care was taken to build substantial founda- puritan Congregationalist, and was taught to be tions on sites as level as possible and removed from shocked by any representation of a cross in the summer-gushing streams. Today poorly built cemeteries. Now 1 have spent the greater part of adobe houses cling to virtually any available space nineteen years in Latin America and my children on all but the steepest precipices. A heavy rain are baptized Catholics. My arrival in La Paz five brings water rushing down the sides of the bowl months ago, after weeks of frantic work and a and the streams pour out in every direction. Entire direct flight to La Paz (altitude 12,000 feet), sections of the mountain sides become dislodged culminated in a short collapse. I was taken from and turn into a mush, along with the houses, the airport to the Catholic Clfnica Santa Isabel. sliding toward the bottom and destroying other The electric power had failed, there was no water, houses in the process. The explosions at the arsenal and in the evenings I could have no light, not even were no help. They fractured not only windows a candle. The room was clean, whitewashed, and but house walls as far away as the upland barrio of rather like a chapel, with a crucifix in shadows high Villa Victoria. Now, if there is another torrent of on the wall opposite. In years past I would have rain, as there have been several in the past weeks, asked that it be taken away, but then, half houses may collapse in many of the barrios of La conscious, it seemed a comfort. I am not sure Paz. The Mayor and the President have already said whether 1 prayed or whether I simply asked for the situation is an emergency and are seeking better fortune. When I was conscious a priest came millions of dollars to at least confine the streams to and I was grateful for his short talk about life and channels. death, and was glad that he offered no advice, made no sacrament, but left me with the relaxed This is not a digression on the unfortunate feeling that someone had wished me well. In three situation of La Paz. It is an illustration of one of days and nights the fever left and I was well. the many unfortunate aspects of life to be endured by Pacenos, along with hunger, the lack of cloth- ing, and the lack of even a single telephone in most The experience may be similar to that of many barrios to call for help. Bolivians. There are objects on which one may fix his attention, objects which, although commanding There is no recourse except through some no universal belief, are not derided and are not stroke of luck. Thus Alacitas, the lottery, and abused. And there is a body of belief which is prizes offered by most large stores. There is always ancient beyond the knowledge of the believers. a chance for good luck. But "bad luck" is not really an operating concept among the Aymara and Here there is good luck, and one's destiny. The Quechua speakers. Rather, if there is no good luck, destiny may be unfortunate, but it is not bad luck, R\\T-2-'7O -16-

nor fault of initiative, nor the result of transgres- sion of a moral code. The fate is preordained, but, illogically, one may have beliefs and practices designed to make sure that the best of preordained fate comes to pass.

NOTES

1. Throughout the Report, indigenous Aymara' and Quechua phrases are all capitalized. Familiar foreign lan- guages are in italics.

2. The Aymara word is EKAKO, the Spanish rendition is EK.EKO.

3. Carlos Ponce Sanjine's, TUNUPA y EKAKO, Los Amigos del Libro, La Paz, 1969.

4. Regional Museum of the Center for Archaeological Research in Tiahuanaco, catalog number 1218/1166.

5. (Imp. Atenea, La Paz, 1936).

6. "El Ekeko y la Fiesta de Alacitas." Revista de Antropologia de Bolivia, vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 19-20, La Paz.