ABSTRACT
A great deal of behavior connected with the functioning of the Ejido is not yet meaningful, but is nevertheless accepted as instrumental by Mazahuas from El Nopal. For instance, they do not like the regularity of the ejidal meetings and the planning of communal activities. They do not yet feel comfortable with agendas, voting, and the ejidal debates, which are structured so differently from the Mazahua discussions. One of the four delegados is a village policeman whose duty is to bring the guilty parties to the house of the delegado mayor for the trial. The remaining two delegados assist the delegado mayor in various tasks. In spite of these clearly defined duties and powers, the delegados do not in fact govern the people from El Nopal. The Traditional Government, the only real government for the villagers, is endowed with traditional Mazahua auhority and with the unquestioned supernatural blessings of their patron saint Santiago.
