66 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7 
trensas. In practically every Tarascan pueblo 
women, children, and sometimes men weave 
trensas in their spare time, while walking to and 
from market, and while herding sheep. Braids 
are sold in the main markets, where they are 
purchased by hat makers. Little wheat straw is 
now braided, palm leaf being more durable and 
more easily handled.” After they are pressed 
and straightened with wooden rollers (fashioned 
like a clothes wringer), the braids are sewed 
together in spiral form, beginning at the crown. 
The brim and crown are made separately and 
sewed together. In JarAécuaro wooden forms are 
used to block crowns. Most hatters employ a 
Singer sewing machine, but those of Urapicho, 
Pamatécuaro, and Zacén sew by hand. In some 
towns hat making is disappearing, owing largely 
to factory competition. Pich&taro, formerly an 
important hat town, now has but four hatters. 
In 1936 the industry disappeared completely in 
Tirindaro. 
Tule weaving.—The indigenous sleeping mat or 
petate (k‘uirakua) is found in most of highland 
Mexico. Also, the fire fan or soplador (p‘unita- 
tardkua), an indispensable kitchen utensil, is 
woven of tule. Mats and fire fans are made 
wherever tule is available—along the shores of 
shallow lakes, marshy areas, and river banks. 
Consequently, the villagers living around Lake 
Patzcuaro are the chief tule weavers in the 
present Tarascan area (map 20; pl. 12). In San 
Andrés 90 percent of the werking population 
make petates. Even a few families in the Sierra 
towns of Pichaétaro and Cherdn fabricate mats 
from tule reeds imported from Erongaricuaro. 
Formerly the towns near the northern march 
districts were important petate producers, but 
there the industry has greatly declined with the 
desiccation of wet areas and disappearance of the 
tule brakes.“8 Tule is likewise being depleted 
along the shores of Lake Pitzcuaro. The peta- 
teros of Pudcuaro, Napizaro, and Uricho import 
reeds from Jardcuaro Island, the local supply 
having been exhausted years ago. 
Tule reeds are cut with the sickle, semidried, 
and bundled for transport or storage (pl. 8). In 
447 Hats of wheat straw are now made only in Pamataécuaro, Teremedo, and 
Apo (mestizo). 
148 A few petates are still made in Tarascan Tarejero, on the border of the 
former Zacapu marshes; in mestizo Ettcuaro (Tangancicuaro Basin); and in 
TacAtzcuaro (near the Cotija graben lakes). Moreover, the industry is still 
carried on in some of the Lerma Delta towns east of Lake Chapala, and in 
a few villages around Lake Cuitzeo. 
the Lake area a twilled technique is used in mat 
making, which is performed on the ground, the 
only tools being a knife or sharp stone to cut tule 
stalks and a wooden mallet to flatten the reeds as 
they are twilled. Several sizes of mats are made; 
the largest, called simply k‘ufrakua-k‘éri, meas- 
ures 1.5 by 1 m.“° Both mats and fire fans are 
taken to the Lake markets (Patzcuaro, Erongari- 
cuaro, Quiroga), where they are purchased by the 
Sierra people and buyers from the tierra caliente. 
Basketry.—Ihuatzio and San Jerénimo in the 
Lake area are the only modern Tarascan towns in 
which baskets are made. The former Tarascan 
towns of Tangamandapio (west of Zamora) and 
Panindicuaro (north of Zacapu) are the main 
basket centers in the general area, supplying the 
Sierra people with the Sindiéa, or harvest baskets 
for maize. The Ihuatzio baskets are made of 
split carrizo stalks, which grow in abundance in 
local house lots. Both wicker and twilling tech- 
niques are used (pl. 12). 
Netting.—In all fishing villages around Lake 
P&tzcuaro nets are made by men, women, and 
children in their spare time. On Janitzio and the 
Urandén Islands a few professional rederos fabri- 
cate nets to sell to fishers in other pueblos. Cotton 
thread purchased in P&tzcuaro is wound on the 
hilador (Soréranskua) and five to six strands are 
twisted with the native malacate or with the 
European spinning wheel. The twisted strands 
are water-soaked and sun-dried. Nets are made 
with the éurikua, a large wooden needle (20 cm. 
long, 2 em. wide). 
Capote making.—In many parts of indigenous 
Mexico the palm-leaf raincape (capote), similar to 
those worn in the Orient, is a common outdoor 
apparel during the wet season. Capotes are made 
by women in three Tarascan towns—Quinceo, 
Arantepacua, and Turicuaro—using leaves of the 
palma pimu (Acoelorraphe pimo), which are im- 
ported from the tierra caliente below Ario de 
Rosales..° The capes are fabricated by tying 
soaked strips of palm leaf onto braided cords, two 
of which are stretched parallel and one foot apart 
on pegs driven into the ground. The strips of 
140 Other types: The k‘amériéa (1.3 m.X80 em.) and the ¢im4nitepémueta 
(1 m.X50 em.), both used for sleeping; the jatapetakua, a small knee mat; 
idstitan, a long, narrow mat sold to mestizos as a sort of rug. Many more 
sizes and varieties occur, the names and types varying from place to place. 
The terms and types given above were observed in Ihuatzio and some of the 
ranchos along the shore of the Taasfu-k‘éri Peninsula. 
180 Most of the palm leaves used in Arantepacua are said to come from the 
localities of Rosario, La Playa, Charapendo, and San Marcos, south of Ario, 
