EMPIRES CHILDREN: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZ.-^N FOSTER 



137 



Table 18. — Products offered for sale at the 

 Pdtzcuaro market — Continued 



while September saw the first round, white chees- 

 es from the tierra caliente, as well as dried tam- 

 arinds, yams, guavas, chayotes, cherimoyas, 

 jicomas, papaya, nispero and prickly pear cac- 

 tus fruits. Friday, November 2, 1945, was the 

 smallest market of the entire year, doubtless 

 because it coincided with the Day of the Dead. 

 Not over 300 vendors showed up, and trade was 

 very slack. This market saw the first sugarcane, 

 and the first few ducks, priced at .SO. 90 each, 

 appeared a week earlier. The November 2 mar- 

 ket followed the first communal duck hunt, and 

 so great numbers were offered, at $0.50 each. 

 Fish became plentiful the following week when, 

 as if to make up for the poor showing of No- 

 vember 2, great crowds of vendors turned out 

 with every imaginable product offered for sale. 

 Oranges, sugarcane, and peanuts, always great 

 favorites, were particularly welcomed back. By 

 December the market had stabilized for a pe- 

 riod of several months. 



THE ERONGARICUARO MARKET 



The Sunday market in Erongaricuaro, though 

 visited by very few people from Tzintzuntzan, 

 is of interest because of its great importance in 

 the lake economy. It is the principal point of 

 exchange between the Tarascans of the lake and 

 those of the sierra. The basic exchange is fire- 

 wood for fish, and all other trade may be con- 

 sidered secondary. The islands are almost com- 

 pletely lacking in firewood, and the sierra peo- 



ple like fish, so the basis for exchange is pre- 

 determined. Standing on the dock of Eronga- 

 ricuaro early in the morning, to the east one 

 sees the lake dotted with dozens and dozens of 

 canoes — perhaps up to 100. When the first 

 canoes arrive, the firewood, which has been 

 brought down before light, has been stacked 

 in the street which leads from the plaza to the 

 shore. The fishermen come up the street with 

 wooden trays or cloths filled with fish and 

 ducks, both cooked and uncooked, show them to 

 the woodsellers, and begin to haggle. Here, un- 

 like Patzcuaro, a great deal of the exchange is 

 by barter, although there is a tendency to esti- 

 mate the value of both products in terms of 

 pesos to determine the rate of exchange. Three 

 or four pieces of wood are worth SO. 05, and 

 fishermen usually, for no apparent reason, ex- 

 change a little fish with a number of men, carry- 

 ing away 20 or 25 pieces from each, which they 

 carefully stack in the street, leaving a child to 

 guard while the parents continue shopping. 

 When the week's supply of wood has been as- 

 sembled, usually by 11 o'clock, it is carried 

 down to the lake and loaded in the boats. The 

 woodsellers, for their part, resell the fish in the 

 sierra towns where they live. Meanwhile, sale 

 in the plaza of dried beans, peas, maize, chiles, 

 mezcal, and other foods has begun, and the fish- 

 ermen, their prime necessity attended to, begin 

 to make purchases of food, sometimes for cash, 

 sometimes bartered. Ocote for lighting and fruit 

 from the sierra are important items of exchange. 

 Little pottery is sold, since the sierra has its 

 own manufacturing towns. By 1 o'clock trading 

 has pretty well died down, and the lake is again 

 dotted with returning canoes. Because of fre- 

 quent winds and rough water in the afternoon 

 the fishermen like to return with their precious 

 cargo as early as possible. In Erongaricuaro 

 Tarascan is the predominant market language; 

 many of the sellers speak little or no Spanish. 

 Perhaps 1,000 people come from the lake, often 

 entire families, averaging 10 to a canoe, and a 

 much smaller number from the sierra. Two 

 hundred to three hundred persons are engaged 

 in the exchange on an average day. Though the 

 market is far smaller than that of Patzcuaro, 

 for the lake Tarascans it is equally important. 

 From the former they obtain cash for needy 

 purchases; from the latter, the raw materials 

 for lighting and cooking. 



