EMPIRES CHILDREN: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN FOSTER 



undoubtedly cause considerable differences in 

 life expectancies. Rot at the bow and stern are 

 the first signs of deterioration, and such weak 

 points are often patched by nailing a board or 

 two over the breach. 



113 



PET ATE MAKING 



There are no men in Tzintzuntzan who devote 

 themselves exclusively to the making of tule 

 reed mats, known universally in Mexico as pe- 

 tates. A few individuals, mostly fishermen, de- 

 vote themselves to this activity during their 

 spare moments, and in Ichupio and Ojo de 

 Agua the manufacture is relatively much more 

 important. According to the census five women 

 can be considered as petate makers. Since cap- 

 ital equipment is limited to a small, rounded 

 stone which can be grasped in the hand, petate 

 making is a possible occupation for the very 

 poor; since the return for work is not high, there 

 is a definite correlation between poverty and pe- 

 tate making. 



Tules are cut in the shallow water at the lake 

 edge and tied into bundles of 700 to 800 reeds 

 known as manojos. Bundles are standardized to 

 a certain extent by defining them as having a 

 circumference at the point of tying (with green 

 tule) of three spans, measured with a tule 

 which has been cut to this size. Next the bun- 

 dles are untied and the contents spread thinly 

 in the sun to dry for a week or so, at the end 

 of which period the raw material is again tied 

 in bundles and stored in the house until it is to 

 be worked. When working, the tules are moist- 

 ened in the lake or by sprinkling water on them ; 

 the ground may also be moistened a little. Each 

 tule is flattened at the point of contact with the 

 next with the stone, and each new element in- 

 troduced with the pattern of over two and under 

 two, to form a herringbone design. At the edges 

 the warp and woof are doubled back, as in bas- 

 ket making, and cut off. 



A number of fairly standard sizes are made, 

 from those 2 m. by 1 m. to tiny mats the size 

 of a dustpan, used precisely for this purpose. 

 The larger mats are used primarily for sleep- 

 ing, both by Indians and Mestizos alike, either 

 on the ground or on a plank bed. Fire fans of 

 tules are also an important manufacture, since 

 no kitchen in all Mexico is without this impor- 

 tant utensil. 



No thorough study was made of petate eco- 

 nomics, but a few pertinent facts were gather- 

 ed. Owners of the lakeshore milpas also own 

 the tules which grow beyond the land. Hence, 

 if the petate maker has no land, which is prob- 

 ably the case, he must buy tules for from .S0.50 

 to $1.00 a bundle, cutting the material himself. 

 Often he will buy rights to a certain area of 

 water covered with tule, known as a cortc ("cut- 

 ting"), which on the average will have 200 

 bundles. Rights to such an area in 1945 cost 

 about $50. Four or five years earlier they could 

 be obtained for from $10 to S15. Obviously, 

 if the petate maker has capital he saves by buy- 

 ing tules in large quantities. Two mats of the 

 largest size can be made in one day if the indi- 

 vidual works steadily, and they will bring him 

 $3. Each large mat requires half a bundle, re- 

 presenting from $0.25 to $0.50, so that the 

 individual, with hard work, can clear from $2 

 to $2.50 in a day, about the prevailing wage 

 rate for long hours. Actually, few individuals 

 work steadily, rather devoting their time after 

 a morning of fishing, or in other spare hours. 

 A "sliare cropping" system of petate making is 

 also known. The owner of the tules gives them 

 to the v/orker for half of the finished product. 

 This would seem to work to the disadvantage of 

 the petate maker. More petates are made during 

 the rains than during the dry season, since it is 

 a period of little fishing. Informants make the 

 curious claim that, in spite of greater produc- 

 tion during this period, prices are from 15 to 25 

 percent higher. 



The elaborate ornamental tule work done in 

 some parts of Mexico, and particularly the \ al- 

 ley of Toluca, is almost unknown around Lake 

 Patzcuaro. Petates and fire fans are utilitarian, 

 normally without a vestige of decoration. Pla- 

 cido Pablo of Tzintzuntzan is the only exception 

 to the rule as far as I know. During the period 

 of the trade school during the 1930's he was 

 shown how to weave different designs in plain 

 petates, how to make human figures, picture 

 frames, and the like. Today, to order he will 

 turn out v/ork that justifiably can be called ar- 

 tistic. Figure 29 shows some of his tule fans. 

 Worth mentioning also are the purely orna- 

 mental fire fans made of wheat straw and bound 

 with dyed palm. This is a local manifestation 

 of the widespread Mexican custom of giving 



