Fiesta as tradition, fiesta as change: ritual, alcohol and violence in a Mexican community

To explore the traditional Mexican religious fiesta as a primary locus for community-based excessive drinking and violence against women. The research argues that the pattern of drinking and violence cannot be placed within explanations that tie a breakdown in social norms to drinking nor drinking to a breakdown in social norms.

The data were gathered over 14 continuous months of participant observation in 1995 and 1996, followed by two summer research projects in 1997 and 1998. The researcher documented the activities of the participants at each fiesta and followed-up each event with interviews of the parties involved in violent confrontations. In addition, life stories and archival data on violence were conducted and used to situate current findings against historical data.

All data were collected in the community of Santa Maria Atzompa. Atzompa is a cabécera or municipal seat, for six colonias (large neighborhoods), and three ranchos (agriculturally based communities) and has a population of just over 5200. The main community of Atzompa, where most of the research was conducted, has a population of 2700+.

Over 1000 individuals participated in community religious fiestas that the researcher attended. More than half of these were men, and almost all the men present participated in the binge drinking.

Sixteen religious fiestas and 13 non-religious fiestas were documented through participant observation and photographs.

In every religious-based fiesta, violence erupted and was directed primarily against women. Husband and wife abuse accounted for 10 of the 16 violent disruptions (63%) while male/male abuse accounted for six (38%).

The perpetuation of binge drinking and violence are part of a historic cycle of male dominance that dates back to the introduction of alcohol distillation during colonization by the Spaniards in the 16th century, compounded today by frustration over their inability to control the economic and political aspects of their households and community. Women's acquiescence to the violence is a form of mediation over male frustrations that allow women to continue in their roles as economic providers.