Part 12
The cry of the “chuncho,” a sort of night owl, is regarded as an evil omen by all classes. People who are otherwise apparently sane on hearing the cry of this bird in the night indulge in actions indicative of a peculiar form of madness. If in bed they leap out, get down upon their knees, cross themselves, pray, beat their chests and appeal to God to save them from impending calamity. The origin or significance of this particular superstition has never been satisfactorily explained.
One of the superstitious customs that still prevails, and which is practiced on religious feast days, especially that of San Juan, is fortune telling. Matrimonial fortunes are told with three potatoes, one of which is peeled, from one, half the peeling is removed, and one is left in its natural state. These potatoes are placed in a dark room, and the woman seeking her fortune is directed to go into the room, and to take the first potato with which her hand comes in contact. If it is the peeled potato, she is to marry a poor man; should it be the half-peeled tuber, she will marry a man who can clothe and support her, and should she be lucky enough to secure the unpeeled potato, she is destined to marry a man who can keep her in comfort and plenty. So firm is the faith of many of the people in the fulfillment of these superstitious prophecies that they invariably preserve the potatoes thus drawn, to be eaten on their wedding day. Another superstition among the country women is that of washing their hair at daylight on the morning of the feast of San Juan. They believe that the practice will cause the hair to grow luxuriantly during the year.
MARRIAGES
In Chile marriage is simply a contract, entered into between two persons of opposite sex, regarding exclusive possession, society and service, and who by a civil, legal ceremony are pronounced husband and wife. The contract does not by implication, or actually, necessarily include protection or affection. This does not refer to marriages among the better classes, where money, social position or advantage are taken into consideration, but the poor, or middle classes, with whom marriage is a matter of convenience. With these people fidelity is not expected or demanded. The women have little to claim their attention, beyond domestic duties and personal adornment. Inherited characteristics and the influence of environments make them an easy prey to flattery, in the dispensing of which the Chilenos are artful and crafty. Evil motives, wrapped in delusive words, suggesting no interpretation of their true meaning, are the common weapons used by the men to ensnare trusting hearts guided by uneducated minds. Manly protection to woman is so rare in the sub-stratum of Chilean society as to be almost unknown.
Twenty-five years of age constitutes a legal majority for both sexes, after which marriage may be contracted at the pleasure of the interested parties. A boy of twelve or a girl of fourteen years may legally marry with the consent of parents or guardian. Once married the law declares them of legal age.
Previous to the year 1885, marriage ceremonies were celebrated only in the Catholic churches, which was recognized by the government as legal. After a prolonged and bitter discussion, a law was passed on January 10, 1884, requiring a civil registry of all births, deaths and marriages, and which deprived the church of the right to legalize marriages. This act, which went into effect January 1, 1885, recognizes as legal only marriages solemnized by the “Oficial del Registro Civil,” residing in the same municipality or sub-delegation as the contracting parties. The ceremony must be witnessed by two or more persons. Although a marriage ceremony performed by the priests has no legal import or effect, women of the Catholic faith always demand it, and most legal weddings are celebrated by two ceremonies. Even yet in some instances the civil, or legal service is disregarded, and only the church ceremony performed. Such marriages are not recognized in the courts, however, and in case of inheritance by the children born of such a union, they are barred from sharing in property rights.
There was much conflict and contention between Church and State during the first few years of the civil registry law. The priests preached violently against it, directing their efforts principally to the female members, who are the loyal supporters of all church organizations, and with whom they made the law offensive and objectionable, by refusing in many instances confession and absolution to all those who were married according to the civil law only. They were given the ultimatum of defying the law of the land and accepting a church marriage ceremony as binding, or excommunication. The result of these church teachings was, that for several years after the law went into effect most Catholics, and especially those representing the aristocracy, were married by the church only, not realizing, apparently, the complications that would result from such defiance of law, until their children were declared illegitimate by the courts. This created a dilemma, and a serious effort was made to legalize their marriages and legitimatize their children by a repeal or modification of the law, but without success. In the meantime the more radical members of the clergy declared that it were better to live together as husband and wife under sanction of the divine order, than to resort to civil marriage. As a compromise members of the Catholic church are now married before the “Registro Civil,” and afterwards in the Catholic church. But even now, in the rural districts of Chile, many people are married by the church only.
The party constituting the Liberal-Alliance, which was in power, and organized the ministry at the sitting of the Ordinary Session of the National Congress in June, 1904, in outlining a programme for the party, declared itself in favor of a law that would prohibit the church from celebrating marriages, without the presentation of a certificate attesting the fact that the marriage had been previously celebrated before a Civil Registrar. The Conservative party in Congress announced through its leaders its intention to vigorously oppose the measure, showing that there is still a political element in Chile in favor of empowering the church with authority to legalize marriages.
In discussing this phase of social life, reference is made to the common people of the country, and not to the rich and educated few, where wealth, family connections, or social position may enter into and influence the question of matrimonial alliances, and among whom wedding ceremonies are conducted much as they are in other civilized countries.
Courtship is short; there are no long years of waiting. Once the question is decided the matter is consummated and all doubts as to congeniality or advisability are left for future consideration. The custom of courtship is the same as that prevailing in other Spanish-American countries. It consists more in impassioned glances, smiles and actions on the part of the participants to attract each other than in conversation or a discussion of mutual interests. Sometimes the proposition is made and accepted after the first meeting, and not infrequently it is arranged by the families of the interested parties. Whether the majority of marriages in Chile are contracted from motives of affection, passion, or material interests is difficult to determine. There would seem to be little love in the motive that inspires, for among the poorer classes the object appears to be mutual care, service and protection. During religious festivals, where men and women are brought into close relationship and intimate association, under the influence of liquor, marriages are generally arranged, proposals accepted, and bans simultaneously published by the contracting parties and the priests. Their past lives have been more or less the same and there are no sacrifices on the part of either. There is no demonstration to make the event conspicuous; what to expect and how to meet it are conditions well known to both. There is no foolish sentiment exhibited. The wedding is consummated and celebrated because it is mutually convenient. Their standards of honor, honesty, fidelity and veracity are about equal. Should either of the contracting parties hesitate or refuse to comply with the agreement, he or she, as the case may be, is accused before the priest of the parish church, who commands the delinquent to respond, and the marriage is celebrated at once. Protests are in vain, the marriage contract once having been announced, like the sentence in court, must be carried out, under ecclesiastical authority. Illegitimacy among the poor of Chile is no disgrace, and is not a bar, or even a disadvantage when it comes to the question of marriage. Children born to women previous to marriage are treated by the husband upon terms of equality with those of the legal union. An examination of the baptismal record of the churches in the country districts will reveal the fact that a large per cent. of the children are inscribed as “El padre desconocido” (the father is unknown).
Be it said to the credit of the women in the sub-stratum, as well as in the upper-crust of Chilean society, that, as a rule, they respect their marriage vows. With the men it is the rare exception instead of the rule. After marriage, people of the common class resume their accustomed life and habits, living as a rule under the paternal or maternal roof of one or the other. The man is not necessarily expected to contribute to the support of his wife, the custom being for that member of the family to provide maintenance for the pair, and invariably to support herself. They seem to enjoy a careless, bohemian sort of contentment that meets the requirements of their simple lives. Little is expected, each seems entirely satisfied with the acts of the other and the stream of domestic harmony runs on uninterruptedly. Such is life among these simple folk, who mate as do the birds, and with whom mutual interests, simplicity and natural instincts are the controlling influences in matrimonial alliances.
An inventory of all property possessed by each of the contracting parties at the date of the wedding is carefully taken. It may be a horse, a cow, pig, fowls, a bed, or other articles. This property does not enter into the marriage contract and become a part of the common fund. On the wedding day the bride and groom are accompanied to the church by friends and neighbors, usually on horseback. There is singing and music of guitars, firing of shooting crackers and guns and other demonstrations. There is frequent drinking to the health of the couple, with “viva los novios.” Anyone who desires may participate in the wedding feast, as all refreshments are disposed of at a price. The profits on the feast are given to the bride as a wedding gift. These celebrations sometimes last three or four days and nights, with drinking, singing and dancing. Among the middle classes wedding ceremonies are the same, except that invitations are not quite so general. And among the more prosperous of the middle classes, the refreshments served at the wedding feasts are free.
A married woman never goes by the name of her husband. If Señorita Carmen Valenzuela is married to Don Jacinto Nuñez, she is afterwards Señora Carmen Valenzuela de N; if she becomes a widow she retains the foregoing name with the addition of the letter V before the de N, meaning widow of Nuñez.
BIRTHS AND DEATHS
Births and deaths do not constitute an attractive subject, but a description of country life in Chile would be incomplete without some mention of the entrance into the world and the exit of the people whose customs and characteristics are under discussion.
BIRTHS.
The advent of an atom of humanity into the world in Chile, is not considered an event of sufficient importance to cause any disturbance of the current of affairs that flows on with customary indifference. The fact is accepted and recorded, but there is neither expression of regret nor rejoicing. The parents seem to regard the circumstance from a purely economic point of view, and not one to be invested with sentiment or feeling. It means another member of the family to feed and clothe, and another pair of hands that in time may serve, and contribute something to the scanty household supplies. The poor country women have no medical attention in childbirth, and in most instances they lack the attention and necessary provisions to protect the life of mother and child. They rarely go to bed, but wrapped in a heavy manta, sit on the floor or ground, as the case may be, for a few days, near a fire kept burning in a “bracero.” The only medicine they take is a little burnt sugar in hot water, seasoned with aromatic leaves. In a few days they resume their domestic duties, and life flows on in the even current of its way, the addition to the family being regarded as inconsequential.
The children of the poor are inured to hardship from the time of birth. In infancy they are wrapped up like little mummies, receiving little maternal attention, usually being committed to the care of older children, when there are such in the family. When old enough to walk, they are permitted to run where they please, characterized chiefly by the scanty clothing they wear, and inattention they receive. These neglected infants rarely cry or complain, learning early in life that such demonstrations of dissatisfaction with their lot avails nothing. The mothers of these children are not cruel or inhuman in the treatment of their offspring, except from neglect and lack of care through ignorance.
DEATHS.
Away from the cities, where pride or custom holds sway, a death is little more than a signal for a crowd to assemble at the home of the deceased for a drunken spree. In case of death the interest and sympathy manifested by friends and neighbors depends upon the amount of money forthcoming for the purchase of chicha. Should there be liberal provisions for this important feature of the funeral service a large attendance is assured. Should the death be that of a baby it is generally understood that there is to be a grand feast. The dead infant, robed in white and bedecked with flowers, is placed in a sitting position upon an improvised altar, where, surrounded with burning candles it remains for twenty-four hours. During this time there is much drinking and singing by those who assemble to mourn the death of the child. Usually on the day following the death, the body is wrapped in a cloth and placed in a candle or soap box, which serves as a coffin, and carried to the cemetery. The procession is accompanied by women who sing, and add to their vocal efforts the music of guitars. The crowd often stops en route to the cemetery to drink and indulge in demonstrations. Women never accompany the funeral procession of an adult.
There are never any preparations in advance for a burial, and the interment is made in the crudest possible manner. The pall-bearers carry with them a crowbar and shovel, and the corpse waits while the grave is being prepared after arrival at the cemetery. Graves are dug anywhere those preparing them may choose, not infrequently in the same place where other burials have been made, and if human bones are encountered in the excavation they are thrown aside as so many stones. After the corpse is laid to rest, perhaps to the great disturbance of another previously buried in the same spot, the crowd departs to some place where more liquor can be secured, and where the final celebration of the event takes place.
Should a poor man die, leaving no money with which to provide the customary drinks at his funeral, and having no friends who will perform that very necessary service for him, the manner of his burial is something like that accorded to animals. The method of conveying the bodies of these unfortunates to their last resting place, in many instances is not unlike that of taking a sack of potatoes to market. The corpse is tied upon the back of a mule, and with head nodding, hands and feet waving in the air, as if in mute protest against the custom of administering the last rites of the poor, they are conveyed to the cemetery by someone to whom the disagreeable duty is delegated. A hole large enough to receive the body is dug in some obscure corner of the cemetery, and without a coffin, without ceremony or service of any kind, the unfortunate is committed to earth, which receives him back to its bosom, as it does all those who inhabit it for a brief period.
Without plan, ornament, or official keepers, the cemeteries of rural Chile present an unattractive prospect, and a scene of dreary desolation. Usually they are nothing more than enclosed plots of ground, neglected and overrun with weeds and brambles, without markings to indicate the location of individual graves. There is little reverence for those who journey to those dreary spots for the last time.
In the many sharp contrasts presented in the lives of the different classes in Chile, none are more striking than that shown in the disposition of the dead, and in the ceremonies attendant upon funerals. In the cities, where the rich and cultured bury their dead, the cemeteries are beautifully kept, and adorned with flowers and shrubbery, and magnificent tombs and monuments mark the last resting places of wealth and respectability. Elaborate, solemn and impressive services are held at the home of the deceased, or in church, the body is borne to the grave in a funeral car, while extra coaches and hearses are employed in carrying the floral offerings and decorations provided by the family and friends.
The civil register law conferred great benefits upon the poor, in the matter of births and deaths. Previous to that there was no record of births, except in the church records, made by the priests when they found it agreeable and convenient. Then, as now, a large per cent. of the children born were illegitimate, and if the parents did not want the birth inscribed in the record, it was conveniently omitted. Then there was no law to compel those in charge of the cemeteries to issue burial permits, and usually the priests demanded a fee before permission was given to bury the Catholic dead in the consecrated grounds, while non-Catholics were denied the right of burial in the cemeteries on any terms.
Fortunately the civil law makes the registration of births, deaths and burials free and compulsory. In every municipal district there is a civil registrar, whose business it is to keep these records, and to issue burial permits. Private burials are prohibited by law.
SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES
There is no compulsory educational law in Chile. Several attempts have been made to secure the passage of such a measure, but without success. The failure to secure such an enactment may be attributed to the indifference of the majority of the citizens of the Republic, who take little or no interest in the question of providing better facilities for educating the youth of the country.
Primary instruction is provided by the government, which maintains two kinds of schools in this class, elementary and superior. In the elementary, the alphabet, reading, writing, gymnastics, singing, and the first rules of arithmetic, geography and grammar are taught. In the superior, in addition to the branches taught in the primary grades, instructions are given in manual training, physical and natural science, and other general studies, which prepare the pupils for entrance into the secondary colleges, “liceos,” and other higher educational institutions. The number of pupils in attendance at these schools is about one hundred thousand.
Teachers in the primary grades, masculine and feminine, are prepared in five normal schools, located in different parts of the country. When they have finished their studies and passed their examinations, they receive the title of “Professor” from the State as evidence of their qualification for teaching. Primary teachers receive a salary of 1,200 pesos per year. After ten years’ service they are entitled to a pension from the government, and after thirty years they can retire on full pay.
UNIVERSITY OF CHILE.
Previous to the formation of the Republic, the only institutions in Chile possessing facilities for instruction in the sciences and higher branches of education were the monasteries, the school at San Filipe being recognized as a national university. But the monastic education was not in harmony with the modern republican ideas of the progressive Chilenos, and the San Filipe institution was abolished by official decree in 1839, and in its place there was established a group of schools under the name of the University of Chile. The new institution which was formally opened in 1842, marked an era in the educational system of the country. The original building, in Santiago, fronting on the broad Alameda, with its rows of trees and wide park-way, adorned with statues of national heroes, is a fine architectural creation of the Spanish style, with interior patios and galleries. The University, which has an annual attendance of from 1,500 to 2,000 students has special and well equipped departments of Philosophy and Letters, Law and Political Science, Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Engineering, Architecture, Pedagogy and a Normal school.
The State also maintains schools of secondary and superior instruction, the latter being under the direction of the University, which maintains thirty-six different colleges in the Republic, and gives courses in practical and special branches, and also industrial training. In the first six years of the course in these colleges the pupils are instructed in branches designated in the program prepared by the Council of Instruction, a corporation whose members are appointed by the government, and which is required to hold weekly sessions.
The course of instruction in the secondary institutions consists of the following, worked out according to the German concentric system: Physical and natural science, mathematics, Spanish, French, German and English languages, drawing, geography, history, gymnastics and singing. The pupils who pass the general and final examinations satisfactorily, receive the degree of Bachelor of Arts, which admits them to the superior courses of Law, Medicine, Engineering, Agriculture, etc., in the University.
All this instruction is provided by the State, free of expense, except 250 pesos per year which the pupil is required to pay for board. The government has secured a competent corps of teachers and instructors for the secondary colleges and the University, the majority of them coming from Germany and Belgium under contract. Their pay is about 6,000 pesos, equal to $2,000 United States currency, annually.
Chile also maintains a number of Industrial and Commercial schools. Among these special institutions are four Commercial and Industrial, three Agricultural, three Mining, and two professional schools for women, an Art Institute and a school of Fishery. The pupils attending these institutions are trained in the various professions and industries taught in the respective schools. This part of the system of public instruction, especially in the establishments in which the poorer classes receive their education, is very deficient. But this particular branch is now receiving the attention of the government authorities, and there is a prospect of decided improvement in the standard of these schools. One of the defects of these liceos is the fact that the number of pupils in each is so great that it is impossible for the masters to hear all the recitations of each pupil, or to give them individual attention in their studies.