98 



LABOR 



Judging from the few cases of which I have 

 record, the usual fee is about 50 cents for a visit 

 or ritual, plus food that is worth about 40 cents. 

 Liquor worth 60 cents is consumed during the 

 ritual. Calculations on tliis basis of an average 

 per man-day of 80 cents is high by local standards, 

 but considering the nature of the work not 

 incredibly so.™ 



In addition to the three Indian midwives prac- 

 ticing in Panajachel in 1936, there was a Ladina 

 midwife who infrequently serv-ed Indians (v,ho 

 prefer Indian midwives). The Indian women 

 treated Ladinas as well as Indians. Some Ladinas 

 are delivered by the Solola physician. Of the 

 103 births recorded for the whole munici]iio, these 

 3 Indian midwives probably attended 80 births — 

 70 Indian and 10 Ladino. One probably attended 

 some 40, the second, who had passed her prime, 

 30, and the third (who attended births chieiiy 

 among her relatives and neighbors) only 10. How 

 many cases of abortions and other ailments they 

 served I cannot guess. 



The time that a midwife spends at the delivery 

 is, of course, variable. Sometimes she is not 

 called imtU the birth is imminent, but more fre- 

 quently there is at least one consultation during 

 pregnancy and often foiu- or five. After the 

 birth, she comes daily for 4 or 5 days, then two 

 or three times more, until the 10-day lying-in 

 period ends. Including time for the trip, and for 

 gossip, the mid\vife takes about 2 hours for each 

 ordinary call. The average at the time of birth 

 is probably about 6 hours." Fees are fairly imi- 

 form. A midwife is paid either entirely in cash, 

 with a smaller sum plus food; but the value of the 

 food roughly makes up the difference. In the 

 case of Indian patients who follow old customs 

 there is an added gift of food (and liquor) pre- 

 pared for a fiesta 20 days after the birth. The 

 usual fee is 50 pesos (83 cents) if the child is a 



" In San Pedro across the lake Eosales reports that the payment for a 

 rite in town, which takes a maximum of 3 hours including travel to the 

 place of the rite, is 25 cents plus food worth from 40 to 50 cents. That works 

 out to about the same rate of pay calculated for Panajachel and is some check. 



It should be noted that in some cases in Panajachel when the patient was 

 a close friend or relative, the rate was reduced— in one recorded case from 

 60 cents to 25 cents— or no charge was made at all, in which case the patient 

 simply sent a gift of food in the single such incident recorded. In one case 

 a shaman from Santa Catarina was paid 25 cents. An informant reported 

 that "some shamans charge %\.m or even .J3 and do cot even give medicines" 

 but it is not clear 1/ this fee covers one visit or ritual or the entire cure. 



" I have records of only 17 cases (5 women) of the period of labor, ranging 

 from an hour to 29 hours, with the gross average 10.5 hours; but of course 

 the midwife is frequently not called until the last few hours of labor. 



boy, and 40 pesos (66 cents) if a gu'l;'- in case of a 

 stillbirth the fee is halved. A Ladino is usually 

 charged a dollar because no ceremonial food is 

 involved. My estimate is that the total received 

 from each case varies between 41 cents (a still- 

 birth) and $1.83 (for a male Indian birth) which 

 would make their rate of pay 50 cents a day, high 

 for a woman but not as high as that of a shaman. 



There are various curanderos, Indian and 

 Ladino, in Panajachel. Four old women (one 

 also a mid\vife) know how to cure the evU-eye in 

 children ; one of them is also expert in curing worms 

 and a certain kind of indigestion; a fifth woman 

 cures sore eyes. One man at the tune of this 

 study was becoming known as a bone setter and 

 healer of bruises. More important were blood- 

 letters; of these there were eight (all men), four 

 of whom were also shamans and another also a 

 masseur and caponizer. This was the only 

 masseur in town, and his specialty was to rub 

 down persons in the sweat bath to cure them of 

 certain ailments. There were also at least eight 

 Ladino women engaged by Indians to cure certain 

 ailments. None of these curers charges a fee. 

 The patient or his relative "asks a favor." After 

 the cure, however, the family sends to the curer — 

 Indian or Ladino — a gift of food. My notes do 

 not tell me how many such gifts are received by 

 the Indian practitioners, but I hardly doubt that 

 enough Indian families have a case or two of sick- 

 ness each year for which a curer is called to make 

 an average of two or three per curer reasonable. 



The two caponizers in town, one of whom has 

 no other specialty, presumably geld most of the 

 pigs bought for fattening, and an occasional bull 

 as well. Hence they probably worked on forty- 

 odd animals. The usual fee is 10 cents, to which 

 is added refreshment, usually alcoholic. 



AGRICULTURAL LABOR 



Hands are indeed hired for such tasks as house 

 Ijuilding and load carrying, especially by Ladinos; 

 there are also Indians who are domestic servants 

 and (women) who hire themselves out as corn 

 grmders to Indians as well as Ladinos. Common 

 labor is also expended as a public service for 

 repairmg roads and irrigation ditches, and the 



" Some Indians report other prices, but most of such cases reported 

 occurred years ago. One Indian thus reported a fee of 12 pesos (18 cents) 

 long ago, and fees of 20 pesos (33 cents) and 40 pesos (67 cents) more recently. 

 In 1941 another informant said the usual fee was $1 for a boy, 83 cents for a girl. 



