44 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 2 



from him. Wicks are attached to nails in a 

 wheellike frame and are then dipped repeatedly 

 in liquid wax until the candles reach the desired 

 thickness. The frame is suspended from the 

 ceiling by a rope. 



Paper flowers. — The women of one rather 

 large household make paper flowers for funer- 

 als and paper ornaments for weddings. It was 

 impossible to establish satisfactory contacts to 

 learn details. 



Black.tmithing. — Cheran has one reputed 

 blacksmith. The individual concerned was 

 never found at home, nor could any details 

 concerning his techniques be learned. 



Buk'iug. — A baker of sweetened breads (}Kin 

 didces) established himself in Cheran in 1943. 

 He baked daily in a regular local oven belong- 

 ing to one of the wealthier storekeepers. The 

 bread was sold with the aid of a boy, who car- 

 ried it about town in a big basket hat such as 

 is used in Mestizo towns in the neighborhood. 

 Information on sales was refused, but probably 

 they were between $10 and $12 a day at three 

 breads for 5 centavos. Expenses each day 

 were 1 arroba (25 pounds) of flour, $3.62; 1 

 kilo (2.2 pounds) of lard, $1.50; 3 kilos of 

 sugar, $1.08; or a cash outlay of $6.20, plus the 

 labor of baker and vendor. This does not take 

 into account the firewood for heating the oven. 

 Profits evidently at best hardly justify the 

 secrecy shown. 



Fireworks. — At least one man in Cheran 

 makes fireworks, both cohetes (explosive 

 rockets) and castillos (set pieces built about a 

 tall pole). The one man interviewed was born 

 in Pichataro (which suggests he may be 

 Mestizo in origin, although he apparently re- 

 gards himself as a Tarascan) and learned the 

 trade from his father. 



Materials used in the manufacture of cohetes 

 are niter, chlorate, sulfur, paper, agave fiber 

 cord, and shakes. The worker interviewed 

 makes cohetes only on order. He by no means 

 supplies all the Cheran market. 



Castillos likewise are made only on order. 

 It is a general rule that castillos be bought out- 

 side the town, so the Cheran cohctero has never 

 made a ca.^tillo for a Cheran fiesta. In 1940 

 he made castillos for San Felipe, Cheranastico, 

 Ahuiran, and Pichataro. 



Materials for castillos are necessarily quite 



elaborate, as they require fuses of various 

 speeds, different colors of fire, an.d slow-burning 

 types of powder. As handbooks exist for this 

 type of manufacture and supply houses also 

 furnish information to their patrons, it was 

 felt that detailed inquiry into techniques was 

 not worth while. The cohetero usually receives 

 a small advance payment — 5 to 15 pesos — when 

 he accepts an order. He receives no further 

 payment until the castillo is burned. Should 

 there be a failure, not only may the cohctero 

 fail to receive his pay, but he may be jailed and 

 fined. 



Sto»ec>ittii)g. — Several men do stonecutting 

 on a part-time basis. Doorsills and bases for 

 door posts and pillars are the major products, 

 although some men also make grinding stones 

 for }ii.vta))Hd mills. A fine-grained gray lava 

 from the barranca north of town is the most- 

 used material. Tools include an iron-headed 

 hammer, weighing about 2 pounds, steel chisels, 

 and a pair of calipers. Stones for the nixtamal 

 mills are made in pairs and are about a foot in 

 diameter and 6 to 8 inches thick. About 3 days 

 are required to make a pair. 



Tanning. — The only full-time tanner of hides 

 in Cheran is a native of Aranza, who moved to 

 Cheran because of the better water supply. 

 He has a house and lot on the east side of town 

 beside the aqueduct. Most of his work is done 

 on hides brought him by shoemakers and 

 guarache makers. Such work is charged for 

 on a fee basis. 



A man and his uncle also tan hides on a part- 

 time basis. They are primarily farmers and 

 do relatively little of the tanning in Cheran. 



Cowhides are tanned with oak bark. The 

 process takes 20 to 30 days, mostly occupied 

 with soaking the hides in the tanning mixture. 

 Sheepskins, used for inner soles of shoes, must 

 be put through a lye bath, scraped, and then 

 soaked with oak bark. A batch of five or six 

 sheepskins requires 2 days' labor and about 8 

 days' soaking. 



The principal equipment consists of a num- 

 ber of large hollow logs for soaking the hides. 



Lacquer. — One woman learned lacquer mak- 

 ing in Uruapan. She works fairly steadily, 

 producing a typical Uruapan black-background 

 lacquer with floral designs in four or five colors. 

 She sells all her product in Cheran. 



