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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



them in her right hand, scoops up enough of 

 the creamy liquid with her left, swirls the pot 

 and pours out the excess. Often Macaria or 

 Olelia will do this work, while Doria Andrea 

 supervises the placing of the black glaze on a 

 few of the large pots and on all ot the chocola- 

 teros. This is critical work: the red glaze must 

 be just dry enough, and not too much so. A few 

 seconds too early, or a few seconds too late, and 

 the black glaze will not adhere. Hence, the most 

 expert potter of the household is the one who 

 does this. After application the red glaze quick- 

 ly dries to a light cream color; both before and 

 after application the black glaze has a much 

 darker, slightly greenish cast. Only a limited 

 number of objects can have large coverings of 

 black glaze. If two such pots come into contact 

 with each other in the oven they fuse solidly, 

 and when separated the stronger will lift out 

 a perfectly circular piece from the wall of the 

 other. In spite of all precautions, most firings 

 produce a pot or two, perfect except for this 

 small hole. 



As soon as the large pots have been covered, 

 Faustino, Wenceslao, and Gabino begin to fill 

 them with smaller pieces, carefully adjusting 

 each one so that even the narrow rims of black 

 glaze will not come into contact with each other. 

 Each large pot is carried to the kiln and again 

 fitted into its precise place. Those with black 

 glaze outside are placed on small sherds sprink- 

 led with granules of red earth; this prevents 

 sticking to the grate of the kiln. Little by lit- 

 tle, by a miracle of packing, the hundreds of 

 pottery objects of all sizes disappear into the 

 kiln, the covering sherds are placed, and, about 

 sundown, the fire is started. Since the pots have 

 already been fired, the heat is built up more 

 rapidly than the first time. Any kind of wood 

 is used at this stage. After 2 to 3 hours there 

 is a deep bed of coals in the firebox, and from 

 between the cracks in the covering sherds one 

 sees the dull red glow of the pottery. Now most 

 of the coals are raked out and extinguished 

 with water. More wood, this time pine rich in 

 resin, is thrown in. The resulting fire blazes 

 fiercely, the pots turn from dull to bright red, 

 and then almost white. Blue flames shoot from 

 beneath the sherd covering of the oven, and the 

 heat is so intense that the spectators must move 

 back. The first, longer firing is to heat the pot- 



tery thoroughly; the second shorter, intense heat 

 is to fuse the glaze with the clay so that a per- 

 fectly homogeneous union occurs. After half 

 an hour Faustino lifts a sherd, with a couple 

 of sticks removes a white hot cazuelita, taps it, 

 approves the clear ring, judges the fusing to 

 be done, and allows the fire to die down. The 

 second firing, though of shorter duration than 

 the first, requires more wood because of its 

 intensity, usually an extra burro load. Thus, 

 an average oven needs two loads for the first 

 firing, and three for the second. 



In most firings there will be a small number 

 of pots which do not come out perfectly. "Na- 

 ti," I asked one morning after a firing, ''why 

 has this pot turned out to have a yellow-green 

 cast instead of the usual transparent red?" "Sa- 

 lid sin redctir" she replied, metathesizing her 

 derretir. "It didn't melt." "And these mottled 

 green boleros?" I continued. Sheepishly she 

 replied that her black glaze mixture was not 

 quite perfect, and that the ojo de perro ("dog 

 eye") color had resulted. "Sometimes a part 

 of the grate falls, and some of the pots fall in 

 the coals. They also look the same way." She 

 was piqued by her failure in technical perfec- 

 tion, but not worried. "In other towns they 

 think that the green is a secret glaze which we 

 only make occasionally. In the market they will 

 pay S0.05 more for each green bolera." Failure 

 is not often so well rewarded. 



Time estimates on the various stages of the 

 work are difficult to make because of varying 

 numbers of individuals working, and because 

 of frequent interruptions due to holidays and 

 festivals. Ideally, each family plans on turn- 

 ing out a kilnful of pots each week. As of- 

 ten as not, this schedule is interrupted, and a 

 walk through town will disclose different fam- 

 ilies engaged in all activities. The first firing 

 will be done most often on a Wednesday night, 

 and the second the following Thursday. This 

 pottery can then be carried to the Friday Patz- 

 cuaro market, or to the slightly more distant 

 towns with Saturday and Sunday markets. Mon- 

 day morning will find more men at the mines 

 than any other day. An energetic man with 

 three mules can bring three loads from Cerri- 

 to Colorado in a long morning, and three more 

 loads from La Capilla or the Panteon in the af- 

 ternoon. More commonly, potters have burros, 



