CHERAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — BEALS 



61 



They may gather herbs, make embroidered 

 women's garments or paper flowers for sale, 

 do the marketing for the household, and also 

 most of the selling. If a woman's husband 

 hires out as a laborer during harvest time, she 

 gleans behind him in the field. There is no 

 strong feeling against a woman who in emer- 

 gency helps at her husband's work ; but women 

 actually have very little spare time. 



Most productive activity in the ordinary 

 sense, then, is performed bj^ men. Men do all 

 farm work, look after animals for the most 

 part, do all forestry, and make most of the 

 manufactured articles that enter into commerce. 

 Distant trade is also carried on by men, al- 

 though they may be accompanied by their wives, 

 and women may go to Paracho or even Uruapan 

 to sell herbs, fruit, vegetables, bread, tamales, 

 or other prepared foods. 



The bulk of the population of Cheran falls 

 into two overlapping classes, farmers and 

 laborers. Only a small minority utilize all 

 their labor on their own land; even smaller 

 is the number of farmers who employ no labor. 

 Farmers, furthermore, may be divided into 

 landowners and tenant farmers. 



Farmers may also be storekeepers, traders, 

 forest workers, or artisans in their spare time. 

 In addition, they may hire out as laborers when 

 they have free time. Indeed, most laborers 

 have land or at least a garden plot. The labor 

 supply of Cheran, in fact, is inadequate, and 

 laborers are hired from neighboring villages, 

 especially Nahuatzen. The standard wages are 

 4-5 centavos a day, but harvest hands receive 

 50 centavos a day plus the right to have their 

 wives and children glean behind them, appar- 

 ently a not insignificant factor, as the proposal 

 of several large landowners to raise the harvest 

 wage to $1 a day and eliminate the gleaning 

 privilege was rejected by the workmen. Varia- 

 tions in wages are discussed in connection with 

 specific activities. 



Bearing in mind that most men have some 

 land, the list of occupations in Cheran is exten- 

 sive, as shown in the following tabulation : 



FRODUCTIVE OCCUPATIONS 

 Men , 

 Farming 

 Hired labor 

 Shoemaking (few) 



Hat making (few) 



Plank making 



Shake making 



Cutting railroad ties 



Charcoal burning 



Blanket weaving (few) 



Broom-handle making (rare) 



Gathering raiz de paja (few) 



Wild-honey collecting (few) 



Bee keeping (few — one woman) 



Baking bread (one making pan dulce) 



Ice cream making (one) 



Brickmaking and tilemaking (rare) 



Carpentry (few) 



Wood turning (rare) 



Blacksmithing (rare) 



Masonry (few) 



Brush making (few) 



Painting and plastering (rare) 



Fireworks making (one) • 



Tailoring 



Twine making (few) 



Women 

 Embroidering 

 Belt weaving (few) 

 Paper-flower making (rare) 

 Herb gathering (rare) 

 Gleaning 



Cloth weaving (one) 

 Baking bread 

 Tailoring 

 Mat making (rare) 



DISTRIBUTIVE 0CCUPATI0N3 

 Men 

 Storekeeping 

 TVading 



Selling at markets 

 Butchering 

 Transport 



Women 



Storekeeping (helpers) 

 Local food selling 

 Selling at markets 



SERVICE OCCUPATIONS 

 Men 

 Grain threshing 

 Operating nixtamal mills 

 Barbering (few) 

 School teaching (few) 

 Billiard-hall operation (two) 

 Marriage managing (few) 

 Water carrying for pay (rare) 

 All political officesi 

 All formal church officesi 

 All public worksi 

 Mayordomias''^ 

 Musician 

 Rezadores (men who pray) 



