42 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 2 



of the rebozo (pi. 2, upper right and left) . The 

 bare arms are also usually covered by the 

 rebozo. The ends may be used to lift hot ob- 

 jects or as a handkerchief. The rebozo is worn 

 with cotton dresses as well as with the tradi- 

 tional costume. 



Women usually go barefooted on all occasions. 

 Today some wear shoes, but no woman was 

 even seen to wear rjuaraches. Occasionally 

 women may wear a man's straw hat over the 

 rebozo when traveling in hot sun. Usually, 

 though, a leafly branch is plucked and held to 

 shade the head. 



Women dress one another's hair. The hair 

 is carefully combed and brushed, frequently 

 with brushes from urban sources or with 

 brushes of r-aiz de paja. ■ Oil or lemon juice is 

 often rubbed on the hair to impart a sheen and 

 preserve the hairdress for 2 or 3 days. The 

 hair is parted in the middle and then carefully 

 braided in two braids. Young women and 

 some older women braid in pieces of bright- 

 colored yarn or narrow ribbons. Small girls 

 usually have yarn or ribbon only in one braid. 

 Very old women sometimes do not comb the 

 hair, letting it hang in a tangled mass, possibly 

 because they have no relatives or friends to do 

 this. A band or cord may, in this case, be tied 

 around the head to keep the hair out of the face. 

 In Me-stizoized Chilchota, women still do not 

 comb their own hair but do it for each other. '- 



Girls frequently are put in the traditional 

 costume before they can walk. Usually a 

 portion of a worn-out skirt or serape is bound 

 on the infant with a belt. When the child can 

 walk, a miniature blouse and petticoat are pro- 

 vided, and usually a portion of a skirt, even 

 though ragged. Thus, even from infancy, the 

 girl is tightly bound about the waist and at an 

 older age is able to stand the tight belt neces- 

 sary to support the heavy petticoat and skirt 

 (pi. 2, lower right and left). 



Both women and girls wear necklaces of 

 tubular red glass beads called corales (corals). 

 Three or four to several dozen strings are worn. 

 The strings go only part way around the neck, 

 being attached to two ribbons which are tied 

 behind the neck. Earrings are also worn. 



^" In Sopoco in La Canaiia. women dress each other's hair after 

 the weekly bath. The hair is "fixed'* with lemon juice and the 

 juice of an unidentified herl). 



Mi-scellaneous cheap products of the markets 

 may be worn, but the proper type every woman 

 desires is a large hollow crescentic ornament 

 with wires from each end passing thi'ough the 

 perforation in the ear. These are of gold or 

 silver, gold being preferred. A gold pair costs 

 about $35.00. 



WOODWORKING TECHNIQUES 



Carpentry, including house building, is the 

 only wood manufacturing process in Cheran 

 except that of a single man who turns out 

 chocolate beaters and that of a family who 

 make broom handles. Aside from house build- 

 ing, carpenters mainly make doors for houses 

 and kitchens, gates in fences, and trap doors. 

 While several carpenters can do other kinds of 

 woodwork, they rarely make furniture, as 

 Cheran carpenters do not feel they can com- 

 pete with those of nearby Paracho. 



The differences in the economic well-being of 

 towns situated only a few miles apart are 

 sharply underscored by this situation. Paracho 

 is a "poor" village with inadequate lands. A 

 considerable percentage of the population gain 

 their livelihood as hired laborers, traders, car- 

 penters, and weavers. Furniture makers in 

 Paracho receive ordinarily 50 centavos for a 

 chair, which takes perhaps a day to make. 

 Carpenters from Cheran, most of whom are 

 also landowners, feel this is a quite inadequate 

 return. Data from Cheran indicate carpenters 

 receive $1.50 or more a day for their labor. 

 It may be that the traditional specialization of 

 labor may have some influence upon the Cheran 

 carpenter's unwillingness to make furniture, 

 but difi'erences in economic standards un- 

 doubtedly play a part. 



Carpenters have a shop in their yard, usually 

 consisting of a shed with one or two sides 

 closed. Under this is a work bench of heavy 

 planks. The tools are a saw, mallet, chisels, 

 adz, hammer, and plane. Usually the metal 

 parts only are purchased, and handles and plane 

 boxes are made by the carpenter. 



As the majority of Cheran houses are of 

 wood, another important activity of carpenters 

 is house building. Only the simplest house 

 construction would be undertaken without the 

 aid of a carpenter, and even the roofing of a 

 stone or adobe structure likewise calls for a 



