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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 6 



of 33 m. refers to the 30 cm. wide uncut strip 

 which must be cut and sewn to form the skirt 

 cloth which is only about 12 m. long. Even this 

 size represents a very great weight, and it is 

 said that only those who begin wearing the 

 costume in childhood are able to bear the pres- 

 sure of the sashes which hold it in place. Need- 

 less to say, all wearers of this costume appear 

 ever pregnant. Plumpness seems to be the Ta- 

 rascan ideal of female beauty though, as Nati 

 says, "it's usually not real, just artificially 

 created." 



Utilitarian blouses are referred to as camisas 

 to distinguish them from the finer blusas. They 

 are muslin or cotton pull-overs with short sleeves, 

 sometimes with a little cross-stitched decora- 

 tion around the collar. Dress blouses are of 

 brightly colored silk or rayon, and in contrast 

 to the everyday ones have long sleeves. The 

 neck opens a short distance down the back and 

 is secured by a single snap. The cuffs and neck 

 are decorated with white lace bought in Patz- 

 cuaro, and the neck may also have additional 

 designs made by sewing blue or pink ribbons 

 to the blouse material. 



Work aprons are of cotton or muslin. When 

 economically possible, however, women prefer 

 for everyday wear an apron of the same mate- 

 rial as a dress blouse. The bottom has a white 

 lace decoration and the top is fastened to a draw- 

 string which is tied under the belts. To a wo- 

 man an apron is as a hat to a man. One never 

 sees a woman on the street without this article, 

 regardless of what her other dress may be. On 

 the rare occasions when I encountered women in 

 their homes without aprons they showed great 

 embarrassment and rushed inside to dress prop- 

 erly for visitors. With the pleated wool skirt the 

 apron is more or less an essential item of dress 

 since it covers the strip of petticoat left exposed 

 in front of the wearer. More significant, how- 

 ever, is the pressure of social opinion. Lack of 

 an apron is the greatest sign of poverty one can 

 show. All women believe that if they appear 

 without one, the others will say, "See, she 

 doesn't even have enough to buy an apron." 

 And fear of what others will say is perhaps the 

 strongest form of social control in Tzintzuntzan. 



The discomfort and expense of this great 

 skirt is probably the cause of modifications 

 wliich have taken place. The first step is the use 



of a black wool factory-loomed cloth called ba- 

 tanada. Theoretically it could be cut to the 

 same size as the telar de manojo, and perhaps 

 in some cases this has been done. Use of a new 

 material, however, seems to give license more 

 easily to new cuts. Sometimes the only differ- 

 ence is tliat the pleats are sewn permanently to 

 a waist tape. In other cases a tubular skirt with 

 far less yardage is made, either pleated by hand 

 when put on or with the pleats sewn in place. 

 In all cases the ruffled pleats above the waist 

 line are maintained, so that except upon close 

 inspection one cannot distinguish it Irom the 

 original type. This skirt is called simply telar 

 to distinguish it from the telar de manojo. 



Very few if any Mestizo women wear either 

 of these two types of skirts. If they have not 

 completely abandoned "indigenous" garb their 

 skirts are made of red wool factory-loomed ba- 

 yeta which gives its name to the type of skirt as 

 well. This cloth usually is sewn into a tubular 

 form with a few pleats at the back which, how- 

 ever, do not ruffle above the waistline. Often 

 the top 15 cm. are of green satin, while the 

 bottom is decorated with narrow green and blue 

 ribbons. Occasionally, but not often, this mate- 

 rial is sewn to a tape with a back ruffle and 

 open front in the form of the simple telar. All 

 skirts of this material, regardless of cut, are 

 called bayeta. 



The zagalejo is the same as the common ba- 

 yeta except that the cloth is woven with black 

 crossing lines to form squares 1 or 2 cm. in 

 diameter. Tubular skirts are also made of cot- 

 ton prints. Most of the machine-loomed wool- 

 ens are made in Tulancingo, Hidalgo, and are 

 bought in stores in Patzcuaro. 



In Janitzio, La Pacanda, Ihuatzio and other 

 dominantly Tarascan lake villages, the telar de 

 manojo remains a favorite. The Tarascans in 

 Ojo de Agua and La Vuelta have almost entirely 

 abandoned this in favor of the lighter, cheaper, 

 and simpler telar of batanada. The tubular ba- 

 yeta skirt is worn by those Mestizo women in 

 Tzintzuntzan who have not entirely adopted Eu- 

 ropean dresses and by many of the Tarascans 

 in the nearby settlements. Relatively few zaga- 

 lejos are found in Tzintzuntzan. 



The woolen belts used with skirts and petti- 

 coats are about 6 cm. wide and of varying 

 lengths up to 1.5 m. Color combinations of 



