150 



CONSUMER GOODS 



hours have been spent by a woman perhaps an 

 hour and a half by a young girl. When two 

 women are present, efficiency may be impaired in 

 that each spends more than the expected fraction 

 of the time, but the figures must be near the 



average. 



The house is swept out in the morning, most 

 frequently by a boy or girl, otherwise by the 

 housewife; the patio by a child or man. This 

 takes longer if a child sweeps; but the average is 

 about 15 minutes a day. 



Laundry is done about once a week, almost 

 always in the morning and most frequently on 

 Thursday or Saturday. Monday, Tuesday, and 

 Wednesday are usually busy days in the fields. 

 Thursday is a light day because, frequently, only 

 harvesting for the Friday market, and preparation 

 of the vegetables and fruit, are done. Friday is 

 usually busy, either in the fields or in the market, 

 but Saturday again tends to be lighter in prepa- 

 ration for the Sunday market which almost all 

 women visit. If there is but one woman in the 

 house, on the day that she launders she grinds 

 only enough nixtamal for lunch, leaving the rest 

 for an afternoon grinding. Where there are two 

 women, both (using two stones) hurriedly grind 

 in the morning and then go to the river to wash 

 clothing. Or sometimes both go quickly after 

 breakfast and finish the laundry in an hour to 

 come home for the grinding. Or, again, sometimes 

 one of them stays home to cook while the other 

 washes. There is no ironing among the Indians. 

 The average time devoted to laundry is about 2% 

 hours a week; if children go along, they just play 

 (or take care of yoimger siblings). I have never 

 seen one seriously washing clothes, which is hard 

 work. 



To these ordinary household tasks, therefore, a 

 woman devotes just about 8 hours a day. In some 

 households, less time is spent where man and wife 

 aUke go off to work and receive food as part wages. 

 A very few women take their nixtamal to be 

 ground in a power mill in town. In the houses 

 of the rich the women have laborers to feed, and 

 two or three women perhaps including a servant 

 may all work in the kitchen. The total figures 

 (table 58) take these differences into account; 

 they do not include time expended in cooking food 

 for religious ceremonies and public fiestas, al- 

 though they provide for time to cook for home 

 festivals, private gifts, and the like. 



CLOTHING 



Partly because of the diverse origin of some of 

 the Indians, partly because of continuing changes 

 in fashion, there is a variety of clothing worn by 

 the Indians resident in Panajachel. The garments 

 themselves'^'" briefiy may be described as follows: 

 Men's: The gahdn, so called, is made of heavy natural- 

 black wool woven in Chichicastenango and bought by the 

 3-by-^i vara piece in the Solold market and usually 

 prepared for use by the man who will wear it. He cuts 

 and hems a square hole in the center, then doubles the 

 piece lengthwise and tacks the two ends together on 

 both sides below what become the armholes. It is then 

 ready to slip over the head much like the hui-pil of a 

 woman. 



The rodillera is a small woolen blanket about a meter 

 long and a half meter wide, usually of fine checks 

 of white and either blue or black. There are two 

 kinds: those made in Chichicastenango or Nahuald 

 are heavy and coarse, and always black; those made 

 in Momostenango and worn typically by the Indiana 

 of Tecp^n (hence called locally the "Tecpdn 

 Todillera") are finer, usually blue in color, and often 

 with fine fringe at the ends. No preparation of the 

 rodillera is required; it is simply wrapped around 

 the waist to hang like a skirt to the knees. 

 The calzdn is a home-woven cotton garment, usually 

 white with fine vertical red stripes. It is woven in 

 two pieces and sewed together by the weaver in the 

 form of drawers. It is a bulky garment, but worn 

 so high at the waist (where its width makes many 

 folds) that it seems very short and, indeed, never 

 shows below the rodillera worn over it. 

 The calzoncillo is a white cotton garment that is 

 either bought readymade or sewed at home of 

 factory-woven cloth. It is something between a 

 pair of drawers and a pair of trousers, tends to be 

 form fitting over the legs and reaches down to the 

 middle of the calf. 

 Trousers of European type are bought in the stores 



and markets. 

 Underdrawers of modern type, factory-made, are also 



bought of merchants and in the stores. 

 The sash is a long strip of red cotton about 8 inches 

 wide that is wound about the waist and tied in 

 front, the ends tucked in. There are two kinds 

 frequently distinguished as faja and banda. The 

 first is home-woven in Panajachel, the second made 

 by women in other towns and bought by the local 

 Indians. The banda is of lighter quality than the 

 faja. 

 The belt worn around the waist is made of cowhide 

 by leatherworkers of other towns and bought from 

 them by the local Indians. It tends to be an inch 

 and a half wide, with heavy metal holes and a large 

 metal buckle. 

 The shirt (always of cotton) is of one of three general 

 types. First, there are factory-made shirts that 



lus Their combinations into costumes are discussed on pp. 158-165. 



