62 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 2 



Ritual dancingi 

 Sorcery 



Women 



Midwifery 



Domestic service (rare) 

 Curing- 

 School teaching (rare) 

 Minor church servicesi 

 Ritual dancing (pastorela onlyi) 

 Sorcery 



^ Occupations without pay ; some involving outlay of money to 

 participate. Women's household duties are not listed. Elsewhere 

 the distribution of women's time is discussed (p. rj7). 



Information from day laborers on the whole 

 was unsatisfactory. Not only are they sensi- 

 tive about their position, but there is some con- 

 descension toward them on the part of land- 

 owners despite the lack of explicitly drawn class 

 lines. When an older man jestingly suggested 

 that one of our local assistants should get in 

 practice to carry a harvest basket, the young 

 man replied that he didn't intend to carry a 

 harvest basket, or plow either. "That is what 

 you have peons for," he said. 



Information about day laborers indicated a 

 return of from 40 to 50 centavos a day, depend- 

 ing on season and labor. Some workers also 

 do work by the job. Men employed to thresh 

 wheat will sometimes get about IV2 centavos a 

 liter. The most accurate-sounding informant, 

 a man from Nahuatzen, estimated he could 

 thresh 80 liters a day, a return of about $1.20 

 a day. This seems high, but one informant 

 produced estimates which would have him earn- 

 ing $25 a day.-i 



Unemployment for laborers usually comes 

 about the same time as the slack season for 

 farmers, January and July. Often workers 

 will take a vacation in this period. The more 

 energetic will seek work at this time — bring in 

 building stones, work in the woods, try for odd 

 jobs about town, bring in firewood for them- 

 selves or for sale, or fatten a pig for sale. One 

 of the storekeepers evidently will pay $2.50 a 

 dozen for building stones delivered at his store 

 for later resale. Pine firewood can be sold 

 usually at four sticks for 1 centavo, oak at 

 three sticks for 1 centavo. 



-1 In Ang.-ihuan, Rendon found similar situations. Building fences 

 pays BO centavos a day without meals. Other field work, however, 

 is never paid in money. Harvest workers receive three mcdidas of 

 maize, and breakfast and dinner. Ox-team drivers receive two 

 truih'iJas of maize and n"eals. 



Low as wages are, Rendon collected an 

 account which indicates that wages were only 

 12 centavos a day within the lifetime of elderly 

 men. The informant stated that he preferred 

 to work at Nahuatzen because meals were in- 

 cluded in the wage, which is not the case in 

 Cheran. This requires verification, as Nahuat- 

 zen normally has a larger labor supply than 

 Cheran. 



In addition to paid labor or labor for one's 

 own account, men are required to perform 

 certain public services. These include main- 

 tenance of the aqueduct and improvement of 

 roads and trails. Young men may also be re- 

 quired to do certain work in connection with 

 fiestas, particularly the fiesta of the patron 

 saint and the Day of the Dead. There is also 

 obligatory assistance of relatives in connection 

 with ceremonials and house moving. These 

 requirements are dealt with later. 



No data were secured on the relation between 

 labor demand and labor supply. As indicated 

 by the presence of labor from other towns at 

 some .seasons, it is believed that at peak periods 

 there is an undersupply of labor in the town. 

 Much of the year, however, there probably is a 

 labor surplus in the sense that many farm.ers 

 often have time free which they could use in 

 some other employment were it readily available. 



CAPITAL 



Efforts to define capital for Cheran meet 

 with the same difficulties that are to be met 

 with in our own society. Money used for pur- 

 chasing food ordinarily is not considered capi- 

 tal ; yet insofar as it makes the individual 

 capable of producing additional goods or ser- 

 vices through which his wealth is increased, 

 such money, or stores of food accumulated for 

 this purpo.se, might be considered capital. 

 Money accumulated to buy land for the produc- 

 tion of food for sale or export would usually be 

 considered capital ; is the land purchased to be 

 so considered also? In the case of Cheran, I 

 think it is, for, although most farmers would 

 not so regard it, a considerable number of 

 Cheran men have bought land for the express 

 purpose of increasing wealth, not through their 

 own efforts, but through those of a tenant 

 farmer. 



