EMPIRES children: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN FOSTER 



47 



Clothing is both locally made and purchased 

 in stores or markets. Both sexes may use the 

 sewing machine, but women do so more fre- 



quently. All '"indigenous" garments, the have- 

 tas, skirts, blouses, and aprons are locally made. 

 Men's calzones and shirts likewise are made in 

 Tzintzuntzan. Trousers are either home-made 

 or purchased, as are cotton shirts. Probaby 

 three-fourths of all clothing worn in Tzintzun- 

 tzan is of local origin. 



Women usually wash clothes once a week, 

 often at the spring in Ojo de Agua where there 

 is an abundance of running water. Others who 

 live farther from there use stone wash basins 

 which are natural hollows in large stones which 

 have been carried to patios at unknown times 

 in the past. The usual Mexican custom is fol- 

 lowed: clothing is thoroughly soaped, placed in 

 the sun to bleach, then rinsed and dried. Flat- 

 irons heated in charcoal braziers are used for 

 ironing. This is about the only use of charcoal 

 in Tzintzuntzan. Women washing at Ojo de 

 Agua usually take advantage of the water to 

 bathe, so that a weekly bath is most common. 

 Nati bathes at home on Sundays, and again 

 Thursdays or Fridays, if she has time, putting 

 on clean clothing each time. She bathes the 

 children on Sundays, so that they will be clean 

 for school, and again on Thursday. Their 

 clothes are changed three times a week, which 

 is considerably above the average of the town. 



Nati is derisive about one woman who never 

 bathes; she puts on new clothing and leaves it 

 until it is worn out. The woman's explanation 

 is that pottery making is such a dirty occupa- 

 tion that bathing and washing are useless: it is 

 much better to spend money on bread than on 

 soap. Vicente bathes every 2 or 3 weeks. It is 

 difficult to tell how often he changes clothing, 

 since he usually has two or three sets in various 

 stages of soiling. His cleanest clothes are put 

 on when he goes to Mass and his dirtiest when 

 he goes to bring clay or to cut wood. Wash- 

 ing of clothes and bathing are always done in 

 cold water. For young children mothers some- 

 times put water in the sun to cut the edge off 

 the chill. Youths often go to the lake and swim, 

 thus solving their bathing problem. 



Care of the hair is important for women and 

 girls. It is washed with fair frequency, and oil- 

 ed with brilliantine bought in stores, or oil of 

 verbena. Combs are used, and parting is some- 

 times done with a quill. Hair is braided in two 

 si rands, usually with cordones, woolen cords in 



