EMPIRES CHILDREN: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN FOSTER 



41 



only, electric, which was charging SO. 02 a liter 

 at the beginning of the field period, and which 

 subsequently upped the charge to $0.03, or 

 $0.10 a quarteran of 4 liters. Natividad tells 

 me that in her youth she arose at 4 o'clock in 

 the morning, ground 5 liters of maize for the 

 family, made tortillas for the day, and prepar- 

 ed breakfast. With all of this work, it was 10 

 o'clock before she could get to work on her pots. 

 At that time she also worked late at night, after 

 supper, at potmaking. Now, thanks to the mill, 

 she sleeps until 6 o'clock, goes herself or sends 

 a daughter to the mill, and by 9 o'clock the 

 children are off to school and she is busy pot- 

 making. Also, the night sessions with pots are 

 no longer necessary. 



The general opinion is that mill-ground maize 

 is inferior for tortillas, but it saves so much 

 lime that it is worth the difference. A few men 

 object to having their wives go to the mill, 

 because they feel it promotes gossip and — who 

 can tell — they may idle their time away talk- 

 ing with other men. The census shows that in 

 27 homes the mill is not used, and this means 

 several hours a day on the part of the women- 

 folk bent over the metate. Analysis of these 

 homes shows that all belong to the lowest cate- 

 gories, to 4, with one exception, a 10. This 

 puzzler was cleared up when it was discovered 

 that the head of the house was very wealthy, 

 had a full-time maid, and simply preferred 

 hand-ground tortillas — it was a luxury which 

 he could afford. Tarascans, in general, are more 

 conservative than Mestizos in the use of the 

 metate, and, though a decided minority of Ta- 

 rascan households use it to the exclusion of the 

 mill, the percentage is about twice that of Mes- 

 tizo homes. A few of the poorer families imag- 

 ine that they save money by not patronizing 

 the mill, though there are few tasks to which 

 they can put their hands that do not result in 

 a higher return than the $0.02-$0.04 an hour 

 saved by grinding on the metate. In general, 

 then, one may say that the use of the metate to 

 the exclusion of the mill is correlated with the 

 poorer, less literate, less progressive households, 

 and particularly with conservative thinking on 

 the part of a minority of Tarascans. A metate, 

 of course, is found in all kitchens, where it is 

 used to regrind nixtamal and in the preparation 

 of a variety of dishes. 



DRESS 



The mixed ethnic composition of Tzintzuntzan 

 is reflected in the wide variety of clothing worn. 

 Some individuals — more women than men — 

 are completely catrin in dress, i.e., their clothing 

 is entirely modeled after or bought in cities and 

 is no different from that found among the lower 

 classes of Mexico City. Smaller numbers of 

 both sexes are completely Indian in dress, which 

 means that their costume differs little from that 

 which came into vogue during colonial times, 

 after the Conquest. The great majority of per- 

 sons, however, show a mixture of the two types, 

 both in terms of differential dress for different 

 occasions, and in terms of a mixture of garments 

 worn at the same time. Costumes are first de- 

 scribed, and then an attempt is made, utilizing 

 the census data, to determine the numbers of 

 individuals in the two extremes and the interven- 

 ing categories. 



MEN'S CLOTHING 



The basic indigenous dress consists of un- 

 bleached muslin trousers, calzones, and shirt, 

 camisa, of the same material. The calzones are 

 much wider at the waist than the girth of the 

 man for whom they are intended, and have an 

 open, V-shaped buttonless fly. Two 50-cm. tapes 

 of the same material are attached, one to the 

 top of each side at the fly. When the calzones 

 are worn, one side of the fly is drawn over the 

 other and the tapes tied at the back. This is 

 enough to hold the trousers in place, but in prac- 

 tice a bright fuchsia-colored wool sash 20 cm. 

 wide is usually worn as a belt. The legs taper 

 to a width of about 15 cm., and are often dec- 

 orated with a machine-stitched edging of blue 

 and red thread. The shirt is a pull-over opened 

 half way down the front, with one or two but- 

 tons. This opening is decorated with the same 

 machine-stitched design that is found on the 

 bottom of the calzones, and often two or three 

 pleats are stitched on each side of it. The col- 

 lar is of a standard form with tabs, which may 

 also carry a simple, machine-stitched design 

 such as flower petals. Cuffs are tight, buttoned, 

 and embroidered with the blue and white stitch- 

 ing. Tails are square and long, worn over the 

 sash in the fashion of a sport shirt. It is interest- 

 ing to note that these simplest, utilitarian gar- 



