The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1939-06-23
Odd Culture Is
Found in Andes
Trial Marriage, Infanticide,
Gangsterism Accepted
By Inca Heirs.

NEW YORK.-Trial marriage, in-
3anticide and gangsterism are es-
tabGshed customs among the Que
chua Indians of Peru, descendants
of the proud Incas. according to
DR.. Bernard MiShkin of Columbia
university's department of anthro-
pology, who has just returned from
the native village of Kauri, where
he spent eight months in research.
Doctor Mishkin, whose investiga-
ton into the bizarre culture of this
tribe was the first in 400 years since
the Spanish conquest, was the only
white man in Kauri, situated in the
Andes at an altitude of $4,000 feet.
Resentful of missionaries and
adamant toward civilized religion,
the natives of the village regard
marriage by a priest as 'snobbish-
ness" and "overrighteousness," the
anthropologist reported. Moreover,
they are loath to take the trip to
the nearest capital district which q
formal marriage would require.
Instead the Quechuas counte-
nance trial marriage every August
during a celebration known as the
Fiesta Santiago, which is almost
entirely native in content despite
the Catholic name.
Insulting Songs Mark Fiesta.
During this fiesta an ancient
Inca or even pre-Inca custom is
practiced," Doctor Mishkin related.
Hundreds of beautifully dressed
men and women travel to the capi-
tai district for the purpose of choos-
ing mates. The men and women
line up on opposite sides of a plaza
and sing insulting songs to one an
other disclaiming chastity and
promising infdelity after marriage.
Actually this is the only time of
the year that a woman may freely
insult a man. Wives who insult
husbands during any other period
would receive a good beating and
be thrown naked out of their home
TO die of exposure
1.-The fiesta lasts for six days, dur
q
may try number of different
mates until a suitable one is chosen.
The period of trial marriage then
begins and may last as long as three
years before it is made permanent
or break up. If the couple decides
TO separate there is no established
procedure as to what shall happen
to children that have been born in
the meantime. Each case is indi-
vidually settled"
Land Shortage Distressing.
In case married couple feels it
is having more children than its
land can support, it resorts to in
fanticide. The Indians contend that
this custom persists to ease the dis
tressing problem of land shortage.
''Kauri is one of the few places in
the world where infanticide is prac-
ticed on children several months
after BIRTH" Doctor Mishkin said.
Ironically, the Indians chief con-
ceSSion to civilization is to be found
In gangsterism, the efficiency of
which would do credit to a Chi
cago mob" Doctor Mishkin con-
finued.
Because of the land shortage,
people who have been dispossessed
or who have been unable to acquire
land are forced to turn to robbery
for living he said.
Nearly all work in the village is
done under an elaborate system of
cooperative labor called the "aine, ="
Doctor Mishkin said Each mem
Der of the community belongs to
a work group and has the right to
call upon, and be called upon, by
the group for labor. This borrow
ing and lending of work is recorded
by each individual and later repaid
in kind. The women and children
use the system as well as the men.