EMPIRES CHILDREN: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN FOSTER 



265 



spection of the lists, however, reveals that very 

 few are newlyweds. Most commonly, then, a 

 newlywed couple continues to live in the home 

 of the father of the boy, which needless to say 

 lengthens the process of emancipation for the 

 young man, and brings the girl into a new and 

 usually not too pleasant relationship with her 

 mother-in-law. Less often, the boy goes to live 

 in the home of his bride's parents. Only when 

 sufficient capital has been acquired, or when 

 older relatives die leaving a vacant house, is 

 it possible to set up independent housekeeping, 

 which is the almost universal desire on the part 

 of new couples. 



Joint households, then, are characteristic of 

 a good many families. Inspection of the census 

 reveals the following frequencies and combina- 

 tions. This analysis is limited to cases in which 

 two or more family heads are involved. Many 

 more, of course, are characterized by the pres- 

 ence of an aged grandparent, an unmarried 

 sister, an aunt, or some other relative who does 

 not qualify as a family head. 



25, married sons living with parents. 



5, widowed parent plus married sons. 



4, married men living with parents-in-law. 



2, two married brothers with children. 



1, spinster with nieces, ne])hews, and married 

 ne|ihew and children. 



1. couple plus married illegitimate son of wife, 



and grandchildren. 



2, miscellaneous unrelated families. 



1, couple, married son, unrelated widow 



(3 heads). 

 1, two sisters and husbands. 

 1, priest and nieces plus married sacristan. 



43 joint households representing 87 heads of 

 families. 



In addition to joint households one frequently 

 finds clusters of close relatives living either in 

 adjoining lots or in houses opening into the 

 same patio. Dona Andrea, who lives with her 

 youngest son, Gabino, shares her kitchen — 

 which is also workshop — with her married 

 son Faustino, her daughter-in-law Pachita, and 

 her infant granddaughter, Lucia. Both of these 

 "families" have separate, though adjoining 

 houses in which they sleep. Macaria, a second 

 daughter-in-law, has her own kitchen in which 

 she cooks for herself and her two children, Adol- 

 fo and Celia, but the three of them sleep in the 

 same room with Dona Andrea and Gabino. Son 

 Wenceslao and wife Otilia, and their two chil- 



dren live in an adjacent house and patio, while 

 next to them live Vicente and Nati and their 

 three children. Continual visiting back and forth 

 produces, of course, or is the result of, a strong 

 feeling of family solidarity. 



The economic organization of the households, 

 apart from the social arrangements, is inter- 

 esting. Vicente and Nati are one unit, charac- 

 terized by an independent work schedule and 

 separate financial arrangements. Otilia makes 

 pots apart from the others, though she glazes 

 and fires them, aided by Wenceslao, in company 

 with Dona Andrea, Pachita and Macaria, in 

 Dona Andrea's kiln. She and Wenceslao main- 

 tain their own financial independence, and eat 

 in their own kitchen. Doiia Andrea and Pachi- 

 ta work together in potmaking, and all profits 

 are put into a common fund which buys food 

 and other necessities for the two families. While 

 one is cooking the other may be working, so that 

 the functional arrangement is that of any large 

 family. Macaria makes her own pots and keeps 

 them separate — each potter can recognize her 

 own work — but glazes and fires them with the 

 other members of this work group. Since she 

 cannot alone bring clay and wood, a part of her 

 production goes to Faustino to carry on his trad- 

 ing trips as compensation for the raw materials 

 which he furnishes. Otherwise, her income and 

 expenses are separate. This rather complex eco- 

 nomic integration functions without apparent 

 difficulties, and as far as I could ever tell there 

 was no disagreement over the relative contri- 

 bution of each individual. 



Other family units funcion in similar fashion. 

 Generally, the basic social and economic unit of 

 Tzintzuntzan is more extended than is the case 

 in more urbanized groups. 



It is difficult to generalize about who controls 

 the family purse strings. Though the husband, 

 in theory and usually in fact, is the dominant 

 member of the marriage partnership, a clever 

 woman and mother may often exercise more real 

 control. The small cash surplus which most 

 families will have at any one time may be kept 

 in a covered dish in the kitchen, or perhaps in 

 some more secluded place in the sleeping room. 

 Because of the nature of household economics 

 the woman is apt to spend more money than the 

 man, and hence to have a better day-to-day idea 

 of the state of the family fortunes. More im- 



