Eileen Maynard var i gang med en anden rapport om drikkevanerne blandt indianerne, og det blev så Bjarkes, Evas og min opgave at komme med indtryk fra vores del af Ecuador. Et af etnografernes adelsmærker er, at vi er deltager i det vi observerer og beskriver – ’deltagerobservation’, kaldes det. Altså, vi skulle med til fester og ceremonier – og drikke med. Det var ind imellem noget af en blandet fornøjelse og et kors, for ikke al den sprut der blev budt rundt var så fint destilleret eller brygget, at man ikke næste dag vågnede med tømrermænd på størrelse med Andesbjergene. Efterhånden fandt jeg ud af at undgå det værste ved at sige, at jeg var syg og tog medicin.
Vi skrev vores rapporter om drikkeriet på engelsk, hvorefter de blev renskrevet af en sekretær på Cornell kontoret i Quito. Herom skrev jeg blandt andet:
Formula of drinking.
When a man buys a bottIe of trago, or a bucket af chicha it is never to drink it aIone. He will always go to one of his friends and offer him a drink, but being the first cup, the latter will refuse the drink till the former has taken a drink. ‘Iskanichu’ – cheers, they will both say, and now the friend will have his drink. The owner will then go to another friend to offer a drink, and he may or may not have to drink again. Thereafter any man or woman can pass the drink round, even if he has not bought it himself. The same ritual will be followed.
It is considered an insult to refuse a drink, but if you get trago you can spit it out, and if it is chicha you can pour same of the contents out on the floor. I have not seen anyone return a full or half-full cup. On some occasions I have witnessed that people who poured trago or chicha out on the floor, were fined an extra cup. A person will always be offered a drink, he will never help himself.
You can not refuse an offered drink, but you can always ask for just a little bit, and then you can also ask the person who distribute the drinks, before he gets to you, that you don’ t wont anything, and he will most often let you go free.
At alkohol er en meget integreret del af indianernes kultur fik jeg syn for sagen ved et bryllup:
After the marriage in the church in Otavalo, the family and the friends will go to a cantina. Here all the guests will have to buy for about 2 su-cres of chicha, all of which will be put into big buckets. Equally each person will buy a bottle of trago, which also will be poured into buckets. After the meal the chicha will be drunk, and each person will have to drink out. Then some of the trago will be served – not in the usually small iron-cups – in big glasses, which contain about 5 – 6 iron-cups. All the offered trago will have to be drunk by each of the guests, and they will be beaten by a stick by the other guests, if they do not finish. In or-der that everybody shall drink, the entrance will be closed and a guard will be placed at the door, to see that nobody escaped.
Værst går det dog ud over de nygifte:
On the last day of the marriage-celebration the padrino and the madrina will tell the young couple, that now they shall be taught how to drink. The novio/a will then be offered three big glasses of trago, and after a pause another three. They will now be half-dead, but after another pau-se they will have to drink another three glasses of trago.
The couple will now, more dead than alive, be taken to their house, and the other guests will go on dancing and drinking.
Det er vel ikke svært at forestille sig, hvad de nygifte har brugt den bryllupsnat til.
Foruden at rapportere om alkohol ville jeg også gene skrive noget mere generelt om landsbyen Peguche. Ambitionerne var vel at opdatere Elsie Clew Parson’s monografi fra mange år tilbage. For at nå frem til dette fjerne mål, mente jeg, at et skridt på vejen måtte være at bringe statistik og demografi med ind i billedet. Da det hed sig at Ecuador var et demokratisk land, ja så måtte der jo være valg og dermed også valglister. Så en dag troppede jeg op på et offentligt kontor og bad om at måtte se dem. Mit navn og ærende blev skrevet op, og bragt ind til den ansvarlige for folketælling og valg, en oberst i stram uniform. Og så fik jeg lov til at sidde og vente et par timer, indtil jeg opdagede, at nu gik obersten til frokost. Og hvis jeg ville have yderligere oplysninger, kunne jeg komme igen næste dag. Jeg fandt aldrig ud af hvem der stemte ved valgene i Peguche. Men det vidste obersten vel heller ikke. Og han var sikkert også ligeglad.
