a 
22 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 4 ; 
cayote (Cucurbita ficifolia) is planted in the milpa 
at higher elevations. 
At San Andrés Semetebaj (1,900 m., 6,234 ft.) 
beans are sometimes planted along with maize, one 
bean to a hill. Squash and chilacayote are often 
planted in the milpa, usually about 20 feet apart, the 
vines running widely across the intervening spaces. 
Habas (Vicia faba L., the European broadbean; p. 
28) are planted by a few, always in the milpa, usually 
1 to 2 weeks later, at the time of the replanting of 
maize to fill gaps left by sterile grains. 
At San Juan Ostuncalco (2,400 m. or 7,874 ft.) 
habas are planted in the milpa, always two to a hill 
(as is the case throughout this entire region), from 
1 to 3 weeks after maize is planted, and when it has 
grown to about 4 to 8 inches (10-20 cm.). Sometimes 
both are planted together, but it is better to put the 
habas in later so that they will not shade the maize. 
Beans (usually black) are little planted, then always 
in the milpa; there is some piloy (Phaseolus vulgaris 
macrocarpa), but it is not planted annually and it 
appears adventive in the milpa, coming up before the 
maize. Large chilacayotes that look like water- 
melons, but have white flesh and black seeds, are also 
planted in considerable numbers in the cornfields. 
Habas are the most planted of the intramilpa 
crops at San Francisco el Alto (2,600 m. or 8,530 
ft.). Two grains by each mata (hill, or cluster of 
plants) of maize, are put in the ground usually § 
days later, both being harvested at about the same 
time. Beans are planted as are habas, but in far 
lesser quantities. Many people plant a small, globu- 
lar squash, one to every 15th or 20th maize mata.?° 
Chilacayote is far commoner in the milpa than is 
squash, however, and perhaps twice as abundant,”* 
it being better adapted to lower temperatures. 
Religious beliefs and superstitions connected 
with agriculture.—At several localities, notably San 
Andrés Semetebaj and San Francisco el Alto, it was 
said that planting was done with the waxing moon. 
At the latter place an unusually intelligent Indian in- 
formant specified the time as between the first quarter 
and full moon. 
Usually there are religious ceremonies associated 
both with planting and harvestiag, particularly the 
former, and primarily in the Highlands (pl. 17, a, b). 
Any detailed elaboration of these is beyond the scope 
of this study. Planting ceremonies in the Solola 
region have previously been described, and parallel 
" 20Tt servesias a vegetable when immature, and confection when ripe; 
the flowers and greens are sometimes eaten also. 
"1 Green, it is put into soups; ripe, it is cooked with sugar (p. 137). 
practices in Chiapas and Yucatan cited (McBryde, 
1933, pp. 77-81). Planting time is often locally 
stated as beginning on a specific date, probably a day 
in the native calendar. Lang of . Momostenango, 
said that only within recent years (suggested 1920- 
25) have some Indians learned to disregard such | 
. 
: 
days in favor of suitable weather conditions. 
Though maize in the Lowlands is inferior and less 
important as a basic crop than it is in the Highlands, 
it is far from being rare, as some authorities have 
indicated.?* From the literature one would judge j 
that the Coastal Plain is terra incognita. Even the 
16th-century chroniclers who trod the length and 
breadth of the land usually said only that maize was 
grown in the Lowlands, where there were two or 
three harvests (the growing season here being 4 or 
5 months), as well as in the Highlands, where there 
was but one (Médel, Ms., p. 140, f. 190). Maize is 
little grown in the outer, lower Coastal Plain, owing 
to flooding, short rainy period (May—October), and 
sparse population. An informant at Tahuesco, a Pa- 
cific shore settlement, said that probably less than 
half the inhabitants there planted maize, and, of 
those, many went somewhat “higher up” for plant- i 
ing. Much of the outer plain is flooded during the 
rainy season. Some of this lack of interest in agri- 
culture is, however, due to the almost universal par- 
ticipation of the populace in saltmaking and fishing, 
activities which occupy much of their time. 
Planting and harvesting months around San 
Pedro Cutzan, in the inner Coastal Plain near the j 
piedmont, are shown in table 1. At Finca Pacayal, — 
LOWLAND MILPAS 
Se 
Taste 1.—Planting and harvesting months in the region — 
around San Pedro Cutzdn 
(1,000-1,300 m. or 3,280-4,265 ft.) 
Native names Planting Harvest 
Spanish names (Quiche?) month month 
Primero, fuego, tem- 
porada.. cjsisccs-0 sis N’acatic xinjop April August. } 
(“burn? of the rainy a 
season’’), 
Segundo .......... N’acatic xin sak’ij October February. 
(“burn? of the dry 
Cuarenteno season’’), 
((40-day?? corn) a ||meietene avais/s otartpeeienerateetet April June. 
22 “Maize is seldom planted by the Indians below 1,200 meters . . .” ‘ 
(3,937 ft.) (Kempton and Popenoe, 1937, p. 213). On the contrary, 
there are three harvests, and truckloads go to the Highlands, with 
surplus above the needs of thousands of mozos in Highlands and Low- _ 
lands alike. 
