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LNSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



out. If it gives a metallic ring when tapped, 

 the clays are known to have fused and the fire 

 is allowed to die down. If it does not ring, firing 

 is continued until a sample reacts properly. 



Socially, the firing of the kiln may be rather 

 important. It is the culminating point of a long 

 process of hard work. Once the fire is started 

 there is nothing to do besides throw on more 

 wood from time to time. Nights in Tzintzun- 

 tzan are always cool, often cold. The heat of 

 the fire feels good, and the family gathers 

 around to enjoy its warmth. Often stories will 

 be told, not those of the ancient Tarascans, but 

 those of Europe: Tar Baby, the Twelve Dancing 

 Princesses, or Juan Cantimplata. Or perhaps 

 plans will be discussed for a trading trip to the 

 tierra caliente, and a 12-year-old boy may beg 

 his father, for the first time, to take him with 

 him, so that he can know what it is like in 

 other parts of the world. Again the conversa- 

 tion will center around local happenings, an 

 impending fiesta, the need for new clothes, or 

 olher pleasant desires which the sale of the pot- 

 tery will make possible. The children, tired, 

 doze off against the knees of mothers or grand- 

 mothers, or slip off alone to bed. After the 

 successful test of a pot the adults, too, content 

 with the results of several days' labor, arise, 

 salute each other with the customary "may 

 you pass a good night," and go off to their 

 petates. 



GLAZING 



Glazing is, in a sense, the most difficult part 

 of the pottery-making sequence. The glaze prop- 

 er, or greta, is a natural litharge which comes 

 in the form of small, orange rocks. It is pur- 

 chased in Patzcuaro, and is said to originate 

 in or near Monterrey. To make the common red 

 glaze, greta Colorado, this rock must be mixed 

 with a binder, a white chalklike rock known as 

 tizar (also called tizate) which comes from near 

 Ihuatzio. Black glaze is mixed with a dif- 

 ferent binder, of similar appearance, known by 

 the Tarascan term atdshakiut. This is mined at a 

 site called Tirimikua a short distance above 

 Quiroga. To the black glaze is also added a 

 mineral known as hormiguera (or hormigon) 

 which comes from Taretan, a short distance 

 below Uruapan on the railroad to Apatzingan, 



and upacua, copper crystals obtained from San- 

 ta Clara de los Cobres, a few kilometers south 

 of Patzcuaro, or from Zimapan, Hidalgo. 



Glazing is usually done the day after the first 

 firing of the oven. Potters who make several 

 kinds of ware — and that includes most in the 

 village — will prepare both types of glaze. The 

 red is simpler. Measuring is done with a small 

 beam balance supporting two small wooden 

 trays. In one goes a small round rock which is 

 said to weigh a libra ('"pound"), and which 

 appears to weigh a little less. A corresponding 

 amount of glaze is balanced in the other tray. 

 Dona Andrea, however, and many of the other 

 potters, like an expert cook, can judge her in- 

 gredients instinctively, and does not bother with 

 the balance. Nevertheless, she and they judge 

 the amount of glaze by libras, an interesting 

 terminological survival from the days before 

 the metric system was in common use. The 

 glaze is placed on the metate stone, which is 

 an archeological specimen, legless, and of much 

 harder and finer grain than those in use today. 

 It is crushed a bit with the end of the mono, 

 a little water is added, and then it is ground in 

 the same manner as corn. The water carries off 

 the powder into a tray at the foot of the metate, 

 into which a little more water is poured. The 

 finest dust, the jlor, is held in suspension, and 

 carefully poured over the edge of the tray into 

 a large, open-mouth jar made in Morelia, known 

 as a lebrillo. The remainder is returned to the 

 metate, reground, again washed, and so on until 

 all has been reduced to the fine powder. This 

 means grinding and regrinding the same batch 

 five or six times, and with the short nwno which 

 must be grasped with the finger tips, it is ex- 

 hausting work. 



The tizar is ground dry, and since it is chalky, 

 is quickly reduced to a fine dust. This is placed 

 in a tray, and water is added to make a mixture 

 of the consistency of soft putty, which is 

 scooped up in double handfuls into rough round 

 balls. Each ball matches a libra of glaze in the 

 mixture, and in spite of its larger bulk is said 

 to weigh about the same. To further refine the 

 tizar three or four balls are placed in a small 

 cheesecloth sack, water is added, and a hand 

 is inserted to mix thoroughly and slosh the 

 finest powder through the cloth into a tray. 

 When well soaked the sack is "spanked," for- 



