Introduction: Call the Godmother!
At a household fiesta after a baptism in a Zapotec village, people are eating and drinking, talking and laughing into the dark of the evening, when suddenly the merriment is broken by shouts and cries.
Quickly a circle of people gathers around two inebriated men rolling in the dirt of the house patio, grappling with each other over a perceived insult and challenge. Neither man is armed so the audience does not seem greatly alarmed, but the reaction is quick, for the people immediately cry out “call for the godmother!” The consensus is that the godmothers of the men should be notified and asked to come and break up the fight. Meanwhile, the observers look on and comment about how the fight began, the motivations, and implications. But of greatest immediate interest is making sure that no one is seriously injured.This was the first fight that I had witnessed in Oaxaca, and I was interested in the reaction of the audience. Their response was concern. Once the men in the circle verified that there were no weapons involved they did not try to intervene. They just stood in the circle, carefully watching. Meanwhile, everyone called on older women to step in, either the godmother, the mother, or an older sister of either man. Eventually the fight ended and everyone went back to partying. The conversation briefly focused on the fight and the character of each man involved. The attitude was that fighting at someone else's party was in bad taste because it is disrespectful to the hosts and an affront to the village as a whole. Some people seemed to enjoy talking about the behavioral details that preceded the fight, but the general attitude was disapproval toward both men.
The fight began and ended suddenly, but what surprised me most was the reaction of the audience—the women calling on each other to step in and break up the fight, while the men accepted this as the most appropriate response. Knowing how Zapotec girls are raised and the expectations of godmothers, I should have recognized that this mediatory role is routine behavior for women, especially if they are godmothers.