CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHWEST GUATEMALA—McBRYDE 83 
as pottery, that dealers who specialize in merchandiz- 
ing buy up loads of such articles from the makers at 
their homes (pl. 41, c). 
VENDORS AND THE MARKET PLACE 
Women are prominent in most markets, not only 
as buyers, but as vendors of goods (pls. 13, b; 21, a; 
42, b). In some markets, such as that of Santiago 
Atitlan, the plaza is made up almost exclusively of 
women, buying as well as selling. Women usually 
predominate in the small daily markets of such cen- 
ters as Solola, having the principal plaza on Fridays 
and Tuesdays and minor activity on the days in be- 
tween. On the chief dia de plaza about half of the 
vendors and over half of the buyers are women in 
most of the big markets. They are shrewd in trans- 
actions, and generally handle goods in retail rather 
than wholesale quantities, since only men carry large, 
heavy cargoes. Some professional itinerant mer- 
chants (comerciantes) are women, more often in the 
Quezaltenango—Totonicapan region than in the mu- 
nicipios around Lake Atitlan. Most male itinerant 
merchants are inhabitants of the Quezaltenango— 
Totonicapan Valley, Chichicastenango, and Santiago 
Atitlan (pls. 14, b; 23, d; 24, f; 41, d; 42, b). 
The seating arrangement of vendors in the market 
is generally well ordered, with regular lines in which 
the grouping is primarily according to type of goods 
and secondarily on the basis of provenience. This 
varies considerably with the individual settlements. 
The Atitecos, for example, usually sit together in any 
market, while the Cruxefios and Indians of Totoni- 
capan, except for homogeneous groups, like sandal- 
makers, are often widely sprinkled through the crowd, 
even though they may be selling the same goods. 
A number of women, usually local, serve hot food 
cooked over open fires. 
The general plan of the market in terms of goods 
and provenience of vendors is remarkably conserva- 
tive, changing little from week to week, and even 
from year to year. A close survey of the Solola plaza 
in 1936 brought out only minor variations in com- 
parison with the arrangement of 4 years earlier, 
when I had made a detailed diagram of it (map 22). 
Though vendors do not necessarily occupy the identi- 
cal spot every week in an open market, they usually 
go back to the same general section. Stalls in an 
enclosed market are rented and usually occupied re- 
peatedly for long periods of time. 
As a rule, only the larger-towns have market build- 
ings, except in the more Ladinized and rainier pied- 
mont (map 19). In many large towns the market 
place has been shifted from the central square to an 
area nearby, in some cases removed as much as half a 
mile (e.g., Mazatenango), the original plaza having 
been gardened and variously “beautified.” It is then 
called “parque central,” the market still being the 
“plaza.” 
MARKET DAYS 
Though certain towns, such as Quezaltenango, 
Huehuetenango, Totonicapan, Mazatenango, and 
others, have enclosed markets that are attended daily, 
with no striking variation through the week, most 
markets have 1 big day each week. In many cases 
there is also a secondary market day, with little or no 
activity during the remainder of the week. Sunday 
is the chief market day more commonly than any 
other in the Highlands, yet many plazas throughout 
this region are at their best on other days, especially 
Thursday (Tecpan), Friday (San Lucas, Solola, San 
Francisco el Alto), and Saturday (Chiché) ; in fact, 
all days are represented (see map 19). As a result, 
the inhabitants of more populous parts of the High- 
lands may attend several different markets each week 
without going far from their homes, and itinerant 
merchants may go from one plaza to the next on suc- 
cessive days through the week. On the big market 
day, whether or not it is Sunday, more people attend 
Mass, as a rule, than on any other day, for the popula- 
tion of the community is then at its weekly peak. 
In parts of the Cuchumatanes Mountains markets 
are held every fifth day, in accordance with the 
ancient Maya calendar that is still used there (see 
also p. 60). At San Sebastian Coatan those are the 
only market days; at San Miguel Acatan there is a 
regular Sunday market in addition to the fifth-day 
plaza (days in 1940 fell on December 12, 17, 22, etc.). 
In the Lowlands the chief day for all markets is 
Sunday, when laborers, who are by far the most 
numerous element of the population, are free to at- 
tend. On many of the fincas there is a small market 
Saturday night; at certain Lowland towns, notably 
Coatepeque, this is also seen. The secondary day, 
where there is one, is Thursday, and the big towns 
such as Mazatenango, have daily markets. The quin- 
cena (literally, “15-day”) market, held every other 
week, was said to be more active because it followed 
Indians’ pay days. 
SELLING AND TAXATION 
Market transactions are ordinarily made on a cash 
basis. Though payment in goods rather than money 
