154 



THE LEVEL AND COST OF LIVING 



days of work,'" a silk-figured huipil $3.16 in cash 

 and about the same labor. 



The Panajachel woman's corte requires 8 paras 

 of material, which in 1936 cost about $3. It takes 

 about 2 days to prepare it for use. Those that 

 sew with silk use from 50 cent's to a dollar's worth, 

 depending upon the width of the stitch. Seventy- 

 five cents may be taken as average. Silk-sewn 

 huipiles also probably take an extra day's work 

 to sew. 



A man's gabdn takes 3 varas of woolen cloth, 

 which cost $1 in 1936 (and had come down to 75 

 cents in 1941). A spool of black thread adds 

 from 6 to 10 cents."' It takes a man but 2 hours 

 to half a day to tailor his gabdn depending on 

 his skill. 



Based on this information and that on the 

 variety of costumes in the community it may be 

 concluded that all woven or sewed costumes for 

 the Indian community in 1936 required nearly 

 9,000 work days. Slightly more than a third of 

 this time was spent by women hired in other 

 towns to do it. Probably in 1936 in Panajachel 

 some 5,760 work days as compared with a little 

 over $4,000 in cash were spent making and re- 

 pairing garments, buying materials and garments, 

 and, in general, clothing the community. One may 

 conclude that although weaving is a significant 

 occupation of women, and essential to the culture 

 as long as the unique costumes of Panajachel are 

 valued, clothing is primarily an object in the 

 cash economy. 



Table 60.^ — Time consumed in domestic production, 19S6 



I The average of 900 and 1,300 man-days (p. 147)— the figures excluding 

 artisans. 



' The average of 50 and 100, the extremes mentioned on p. 148. 



» For the boys that gather and make firewood; what the women pick up 

 along the paths Is not included, since it takes no extra time. 



* Girls almost exclusively. 



•" Yet an Informant In 1941 said a plain kulpil Is worth $3. Of. the case 

 above (p. 164) referring to a huipil with silk. 



lu An Informant said that formerly the sewing was done with home-span 

 maguey fiber. 



Table 60 summarizes the time the Indian Com- 

 mimity spends in aU its tasks of domestic pro- 

 duction. 



THE LEVEL AND COST OF LIVING 



HOUSEHOLD ESTABLISHMENTS 



Chart 18 is a guide to a sample of 10 Indian 

 establishments chosen to represent economic 

 differences (the numbers correspond to those in 

 Appendix 3, the smaller the richer)."' Their 

 description will indicate, together with the descrip- 

 tions of costume and, especially, diet that follow, 

 the level of material well-being. 



No. 3. Yard 40 by 25 feet. A and C were thatched until 

 about 1925 when the roofs were remodeled. Each is 18 

 by 15 feet, the walls 9 and the roofs 16 feet high. Walls 

 are whitewashed and each house has a carpenter-built door. 



A is the kitchen; high on one wall is an 8-inch-square 

 opening to let out smoke. There are two large fireplaces, 

 one in the northwest corner, the other a little to the south. 

 The large cooking pots are on the floor nearby. On north 

 and west walls, about 5 feet high, boards are suspended 

 on which small articles of food are kept. Against the west 

 wall there is a large, low table on which there are dishes. 

 In the southwest corner, both on the floor and suspended, 

 are large old pots kept as remembrance of the owner's first 

 wife. Two beds, of boards resting on large pieces of logs, 

 are in the northwest and southeast corners, heads to east; 

 in first sleep 3, 6, and 7 (the children are illegitimate), 

 and in the second 4, who is a deaf mute. A cornstalk fence 

 separates the second bed from the utensils on the floor. 



C is the Saint's house. It has a full ceiling of planed 

 boards nailed over the rafters. Against the north wall is a 

 platform of boards on planted posts on which are three 

 images and some garlic, beans, and cofi'ee of the last 

 harvest. In the northwest corner are several great old 

 pots which once served in ceremonial cooking; in the other 

 corners are wooden bo.xes of corn, beans, and coffee, and 

 many agricultural tools. 



The annex D is the granary in which corn on the ear is 

 stacked. It is 9 by 6 feet, its highest wall 9 feet and its 

 lowest 6 feet high; a wooden door faces the yard. B, a 

 one-pitch-roof structure 6 by 9 feet, is used as a chicken 

 house, with many poles for perches. It has a door of old 

 boards. 



E is the newest house, 12 by 15 feet, with a roof 15 feet 

 high, with a carpenter-made door and a ceiling of rough 

 boards resting upon (not nailed to) the rafters. This is the 

 bedroom, and so cluttered that there is hardly room to 

 move in it. One bed, in the southwest corner, a bought 

 one, is not used; the owner said it was his first wife's bed 

 and nobody should use it while he lived. In the northwest 

 corner is a bed of boards set on logs where 1, 2, and 5 sleep. 

 Against the wall near this bed a well-adorned santo is on 



"> All 10 families are as "pure Panajachelefio" as there are. All live eastol 

 the river; it was convenient to confine the survey to that neighborhood. 



