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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



Molinero and his father, work schedules and family 

 income and expenditures, as well as cooking, are kept 

 apart from the other family in the same house. Se- 

 veriano and Mariana are potters, and Severiano also 

 sometimes works as a hired laborer. They have 5 

 chickens, 3 peach trees, 1 cherimoya, and 1 alligator 

 pear tree. 



The selection of these families was dictated 

 partially by chance and partially by the desire 

 to have as representative a cross section as pos- 

 sible. Unfortunately, it proved impossible to 

 establish sutBcient rapport with a Tarascan fish- 

 ing family to get the desired data. This is the 

 greatest shortcoming of the charts. Also, it was 

 not feasible to get data from one of the wealth- 

 ier agricultural families or storekeepers. As in 

 our own society, these people are more reticent 

 about their financial affairs. Otherwise the se- 

 lection is good, including family incomes from 

 the lower upper brackets on down to the very 

 poorest, with single and joint families, and with 

 occupations including pottery, agriculture, res- 

 caton trade, day laboring, shoe repairing, wood- 

 working, mezcal making, municipal government 

 service, and sewing. 



The explanations in table 23, showing work 

 schedules, have been condensed and simplified. 

 Those which are not entirely self-explanatory 

 include the following activities: 



Clay mine: The entire process of going to the mines 

 with animals, filling sacks, and bringing them to 

 the house. 



Pulverizing clay: Any step connected with the process 

 of spreading clay in the sun to dry. breaking it 

 up with a large boulder (machucando) , and either 

 grinding it on a nietate or passing it through a 

 sieve. 



Mixing paste: Measuring and combining the two clays, 

 and mixing them with water to form the paste 

 ready for use. 



Making pots: Any of the activities connected with 

 making the tortillas of clay, molding them, adding 

 handles, and the like. The word "pots" is used to 

 mean any kind of clay vessel, including ca:uelas, 

 ollas, cdntaros. and comales. 



Painting pots: This is limited to the loza blanca of the 

 Rendon family. 



Glazing: Grinding and mixing the glaze, and a])ply- 

 ing it to the pottery. 



Burnishing pots: This refers to tinaja burnished pot- 

 tery. 



To (place) to sell: Pottery selling trip. 



Carrying fodder: Cutting and bringing fodder for do- 

 mestic animals. 



House: Any and all domestic duties, including trips 

 to maize mill, cooking, cleaning, caring for chil- 

 dren, and so forth. 



Woodcutting for mezcal oven : Gathering firewood for 

 the mezcal earth oven. 



Cutting mezcal: Cutting and preparing the mezcal 

 hearts to bake in the earth oven. 



Firing mezcal oven: Building the fire, placing the 

 rocks, placing of mezcal hearts, and covering the 

 oven. 



Bringing mezcal: Opening the oven and bringing the 

 contents out of the hills to town for sale. 



Church: Any visits to church, or duties of cargueros 

 apart from regular Mass attendance. 



Highivay: Working as a hired laborer on the high- 

 way repair gang. 



Judea practice: Preparation and practice for the Pas- 

 sion play of Easter week. 



Nothing: This refers to any kind of recreation, such 

 as ].ilaying games, visiting, loafing, getting drunk, 

 and the like. 



Spying: The Holy Week pantomime of boys. (See 

 p. 210.) 



Table 23 reveals a great deal of difference 

 in the work patterns of the eight families, and 

 in the actual amount of work done. Each will 

 be examined in turn, and commented upon. 



Rendon family. — Since this is a nonagricul- 

 tural season, the activities of Vicente and Nati- 

 vidad are directed to pottery inaking. The rel- 

 atively large amount of time which Natividad 

 devotes to pottery shows how an efficient wife 

 can still feed her family, take care of the chil- 

 dren, and have time left. One trade secret: she 

 often pays someones else to make tortillas, thus 

 relieving herself of the most time-consuming 

 activity of the average day. Though \icente 

 and Natividad are hard, steady workers, they 

 never hesitate to take time off to thoroughly 

 enjoy a fiesta, to entertain friends from other 

 villages, or to make a social trip themselves. 

 They work with the knowledge that tlieir pro- 

 ductivity will amply cover family needs, and 

 never with frantic haste in order to meet a dead- 

 line for a market day or sales trip. 



Hernandez family. — The beautiful integra- 

 tion of the work of this family is not completely 

 apparent from the chart. Melesio's varied activ- 

 ities, including rescaton trips, plow making, 

 wood cutting, and the like are apparent. His 

 agricultural work at this early date is due to 

 the fact that he is farming tierras de humedad 

 on a share-cropping basis. These lands, outside 

 of Tzintzuntzan, contain enough natural mois- 

 ture so that they can be planted earlier than 

 most land. Micaela, Herminia, and Dolores 

 alternate with household tasks in the morning. 

 One goes to the nixtamal mill and makes pur- 



