CHERAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — BEALS 



57 



Maize stalks, chewed as a sweet to a greater 

 extent than in Cheran. 



Salt-rising bread made by one baker once a 

 week. It sells at 10 centavos a piece. 



The daily adult consumption of corn was 

 estimated at three-eighths of a liter. 



In Angahuan, a large, isolated, and conserva- 

 tive western sierra town, two meals daily are 

 also the rule. The usual hours are 10 a. m. 

 and 6 p. m. Children and sick people may also 

 eat tortillas or cold kuriindas at other hours. 

 Tortillas are made by only a few women, the 

 kuriinda taking its place. The kuriinda here 

 is not wrapped in the maize leaf (k'an) but in 

 the husk of the ear (sarakata) . 



The beef broth (curipo) is made for prefer- 

 ence from slightly spoiled meat or dried meat. 

 (This is also true at Paricutin.) As there are 

 no butchers in Angahuan, butchering is done 

 at home. Some of the meat is sold ; the rest is 

 cut in strips, rubbed with salt, and dried on 

 the house roofs. 



The agwakata tamale is made with beans 

 like that of Cheran. It is eaten only for the 

 fiestas of Candelaria (February 2), Carnival, 

 Santa Cruz (May 3), Corpus, and at weddings. 



Maskuta is a posole made of boiled black 

 maize (^irans), boiled beans, silantro, and chile. 

 A little dough of ground black corn is added as 

 thickening. This is served to guests at New 

 Year's and at the fiestas in December and July. 

 At New Year's the posole is accompanied by 

 huge kuriindas weighing about 2 kilos. 



Little milk is consumed. However, the town 

 produces enough cheese for export. 



Agua mid is consumed in season. Pulque 

 is little liked. A common drink is "tepachc" 

 (carape) , which is slightly alcoholic.-'' It is 

 made of barley, boiled in water and left in the 

 water for a week. Carbonate and sweetening 

 are then added. 



Papaya juice is drunk and the seeds are 

 toasted and eaten. 



Men working in the fields or woods often 

 carry maize on the cob which they shell and 

 toast by a fire. This is called "esquite" 

 (guanito). They also carry "esquite" from 

 home already prepared and mixed with brown 

 sugar. 



^In Oaxaca. "tepachc" is pulque reinforced with brown Bugar 

 and is more than "slightly" alcoholic. 



In times of famine, acorns are cooked like 

 maize for nixtamal (boiled with lye or wood 

 ashes), ground, and made into gordos. 



A special "bread" of maize is used as an offer- 

 ing at the house altar. ' This is made of maize 

 toquera (halfway between green and mature 

 corn) cooked like nixtamal, ground, and shaped. 

 It is cooked first on the comal and then hardened 

 by placing it on embers. This bread is never 

 eaten but is hung from strings in front of the 

 altar. The shapes include quadrupeds, both 

 with and without horns, crescent moons, and, 

 most interesting of all, hearts represented in 

 pre-Hispanic style. 



In Paricutin a few divergences may be noted. 

 Most people eat atole flavored with nurite, 

 without sugar, salt, or chile every morning. 

 The wild crab apple is not eaten at all. The 

 diet of many poor people consists almost wholly 

 of atole and tortillas with chile sauce; this is 

 spoken of as "eating dry," "se come a sceas." 



In San Juan Parangaricutiro, the Mestizoized 

 cahecera for Angahuan and Paricutin, the 

 favorite atole is atole dc grano, made of tender 

 green maize, seasoned with green chile and an 

 herb called anisillo. The atole is colored green 

 with ground squash leaves. This atole is made 

 especially during Holy Week. (Because of the 

 lower elevations, the region of San Juan has 

 green maize much of the year.) Wheat bran 

 is used to make a type of gordos. Pulque, 

 mixed with chile sauce, is drunk during the 

 rainy season. Agua miel without flavoring is 

 drunk also. 



EATING CUSTOMS 



Eating habits seem to vary little from town 

 to town. In Cheran food is served on tables 

 only on special occasions by the more sophisti- 

 cated, especially when an outsider is present. 

 Usually, the persons being served sit on low 

 stools or benches, holding the main dish in their 

 hands. Tortillas, tamales, salt, and other foods 

 or condiments are placed in baskets or dishes 

 on the floor. 



Generally the women eat last, but this is pri- 

 marily due to the necessity of constantly warm- 

 ing or cooking tortillas rather than to any 

 feeling of propriety. If there be more than 

 one woman in the household, one or more may 

 begin to eat with the men after the rush of 



