84 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 2 



riage, and to a lesser extent with birth and 

 death. A very significant consumption of 

 goods occurs in connection with religious activi- 

 ties, particularly in relation to the mayordomias 

 Less important, perhaps, is consumption in 

 connection with governmental activities. All 

 of these, nevertheless, are subordinate in im- 

 portance to consumption by family groups. 



titles may be consumed in connection with any 

 festal occasion. Consumption of any other 

 items will depend upon the amount of money 

 available. 



The major food consumption of the family 

 has already been analyzed (Beals and Hatcher, 

 194.3). In monetary terms it has been shown 

 that great differences exist. Food expenditures 



ASUGAR^CAHE 



A5UGAR CAME 



'A5UGAR/CAINE: 

 / A.5U&XR CANE 



ASUGAR CANE 

 ASUGAR CANE 



'^ASWEET5 



/ 



FOOD 



'^ACOOKED 



AFRUITS 

 yA VEGETABLES 



'ABREAD AV^GETABLES 

 ABREAD AVCGETABLE5 



AVEGETABLES 

 /ATAMALE5 AMEDICINAL HERB5 



/ ABREAD\APOTTERy ^SOAP ROOT 



/ ^s^A^POTTERy^ 



/ \^APOTTERy 



Figure 11. — Market at Chilchota, showing the location of the vendors. 



The major product consumed by the family 

 is maize. In the vast majority of cases most 

 of, if not all, the maize consumed is produced 

 by the family. The same is true of a number 

 of supplementary items in the diet such as 

 fruit, cabbage, and other vegetables. On the 

 other hand, beans, meat, cheese, and fish, im- 

 portant constituents of the diet, are usually 

 purchased. Maize consumption is about one- 

 half liter a day per person (averaging the 

 consumption of all ages) . Much greater quan- 



vary from 11.6 to 17.8 centavos a day per 

 person. In general, a very poor family with 

 its own maize supply will spend 5 to 10 

 centavos in chiles a week, 3 to 5 centavos in 

 cheese every 3 or 4 days, 1 or 2 centavos in 

 sugar or brown sugar. daily, and perhaps occa- 

 sionally 5 to 8 centavos in beans. Unless the 

 family is quite poverty-stricken, about 2 cen- 

 tavos a day is spent in having the maize ground 

 in a nixtamal mill. Among families in slightly 

 better circumstances, about a peso a week is 



