Edward Abseimagination of the lure of lucre in the formation of the chjota chjine
tjaon, or nefarious sorcerer, the sort of ritual practitioner who uses
his or her powers to injure rather than to heal others, a good shaman
gone irredeemably bad.
Shamans who remain true to the spirit of the gift of healing will
not explicitly request payment for their services. Indeed, it is gener-
ally recognized as the most important characteristic of an authentic
and just shaman that he or she will expect nothing more from those
whom they benefit than, as they say, “that which springs forth from
the heart.” In contrast, it is believed that acts of sorcery have a spe-
cific price and that the shaman who will carry out such rites demands
at least ten times what one would usually expect for legitimate prac-
tices. Thus, to be accused of receiving disproportionate fees in con-
nection with one’s status as shaman is to fall under the shadow of
larger suspicions.
It is true that the financial arrangement between Don Patricio and
myself was without precedent and thus open to question. As far as I
am aware, this particular community had never been visited by an an-
thropologist before, and my appearance there was peculiar enough;
my relationships with specific individuals among them were even more
of a mystery, and subject to much speculation and inquiry. During my
extended periods of residence elsewhere in the Sierra, some families
had sought to remake my unusual presence in their lives in the image
of a more recognizable role by extending invitations to become a mi-
nor padrino, or “godfather,” to their children, and so to sponsor some
element of a celebration in honor of a son’s or a daughter’s passage
through one or another stage of life. In this manner, they were able to
formalize our relationship and to ensure in a way not blatantly coer-
cive more substantial (and more publicly visible) gestures of reciproc-
ity on my part, and I was very pleased to be given the opportunity. For
instance, as padrino de los mariachis at the coming-of-age fiesta of
one of my ahijadas, or “goddaughters,” I was entrusted with arrang-
ing for and paying the group of musicians who played at the event,
and also with keeping them going all night long with liberal servings
ofaguardientesugar-cane liquor while everyone was dancing.
In my new location I was the guest of the village doctor, a young man