CHOCHO

Middle American Indians of northern Oaxaca in southern Mexico, speaking a Popolocan language. The region is rough, broken highland terrain of harsh climate. The Chocho are agricultural, using plows and hoes to cultivate staple crops of corn (maize), beans, and peas, as well as a variety of herbs and vegetables. Irrigation is beginning to be used to increase yield. Wild foods are gathered, goats are raised for meat, and chickens and turkeys are also common. Settlement is usually in congregated villages with houses of poles or twigs and thatched roofs. Most crafts have disappeared, but, as among the neighbouring Ixcatec (q.v.), weaving hats of palm fibre is of major economic importance. Clothing, is the standard Mexican-peasant type. Compadrazgo, or godparent relationship, is found, but with little of the usually associated ritual. Cofradas, Roman Catholic laymen's societies of the usual Middle American pattern, organize the fiestas for the community's patron saints and, among the Chocho, also keep the saint's image under their care. Myths about the old gods and spirits are still told, but Catholicism has largely displaced the native religion.