CHAPTER VIII.
FASTS AND FESTIVALS AND SOCIAL FORMS.
T is not my purpose in this connection to dwell upon the past history or present status of the Church in Mexico, except as it is connected with the actual lives of the people.
The propriety of blending social events, household customs, and religious ceremonies, as one subject of description, may seem questionable to the uninitiated reader. But when it is understood that the feast-days of the church are holidays for the people, and that these feast-days are numerous, and without these holidays there would be but little social life, the harmony of these subjects will be at once understood.
I have been assured by devoted Mexican Catholics, who have resided both in the United States and in Europe, that the feast-days in Mexico are, in a large measure, quite different from those observed in other countries, while they are so numerous that to a stranger it seems as if there is one for every day in the year.
The bold and uncompromising policy of Cortez left the Mexicans no alternative but to adopt the Christian religion, which was made acceptable by the soothing influences of the early missionaries.
Then, too, the striking ceremonies of the Catholic Church, with its
