CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 13 
professional traders gather at Patamban to buy 
pottery for the various Sunday markets. 
Besides the regular weekly markets, in practi- 
eally every village lively trading accompanies the 
annual religious or semi-religious celebrations. In 
some instances such markets are large enough to 
be termed fairs. Commercially, the most im- 
portant of the annual fiestas is the pueblo’s saint’s 
day, attended by traders and villagers from miles 
around. Other fiesta markets occur during the 
Corpus Christi, Easter, and Christmas celebra- 
tions. Often a particular village, such as San 
Juan Parangaricutiro, holds special religious (and 
commercial) festivals to honor a special saint or 
miraculous event.!® 
Trading in the market is done mainly on a 
monetary basis. Little outright bartering takes 
place. An interesting exception occurs at Erong- 
aricuaro, where wives of fishermen exchange 
baskets of fresh or dried fish for piles of firewood 
carried in from the Sierra. Another instance of 
barter takes place at the Patamban market; there, 
women from the Pamatdcuaro ranchos trade 
tamales for pottery and fruit. 
The market takes place in the town plaza, and 
when the number of traders is exceptionally large, 
some sellers are crowded off into adjoining streets. 
Each vendor pays the municipal authorities the 
piso de plaza, or tax for the use of a small selling 
space on the sidewalk. By custom, stalls are 
segregated according to the type of article sold, 
pottery being dispensed in one section of the plaza, 
foods in another, etc. (pl. 14). (See illustration 
of Chilchota market in Beals, 1946, p. 84.) Ex- 
cept in special markets, such as Patamban, the 
number of merchants of fruit and vegetables ex- 
ceeds all others. (See Beals, 1946, p.82.) More- 
over, in the large towns professional mestizo 
vendors of factory-made clothing, hardware, ete. 
are numerous, while the Indians selling handicrafts 
are relatively few. The P&tzcuaro, Erongarf- 
cuaro, and Paracho markets, on the other hand, 
are composed of a much larger percentage of 
native traders. 
The village stores.—Almost without exception 
every Tarascan village boasts of at least one store 
165 Of interest are the Palm Sunday (Ramos) fairs held in Periban, Zamora, 
Uruapan, and Patzcuaro. Exchange of tierra caliente and tierra fria products 
is particularly significant at these markets. 
166 At the Ramos fair at Periban (April 14, 1946) at least three-quarters of 
the selling space was occupied by tropical fruit vendors and sellers of factory- 
which handles mainly staple food imports (salted 
dried beef, dried fish, salt, piloncillo, lard, beans, 
and wheat flour) and beverages (soft drinks, beer, 
and hard liquors). A small assortment of canned 
goods can be purchased in the stores of the larger 
towns. Often other items, such as cigarettes, 
kerosene, and metal household ware, are carried. 
In the small villages stores are customarily oper- 
ated by well-to-do Tarascan families, often by the 
wife and children, while the man farms.'*” In the 
large pueblos the storekeepers are usually mestizos 
who have moved in from neighboring towns.!® 
Significantly, the infiltration of Spanish-speaking 
storekeepers into indigenous towns often repre- 
sents one of the initial steps toward hispaniciza- 
tion of the native population.!” 
The professional traders.—The huacalero (in- 
spikuuiri, or ‘‘one who trades”) represents the last 
vestige of the ancient Indian carriers (tamemes), 
formerly important agents of distribution throvgh- 
out Mexico. Few such traveling merchants, each 
of whom carries his wares in a wooden crate 
(huacal, képartakua) tied to his back, remain; 
the majority have been displaced by burro and 
motor transportation. As late as 1900 large 
numbers of Tarascan huacaleros from many 
Sierra villages carried handicrafts into the Balsas 
Basin, the coast of Guerrero, and Colima and 
returned with tropical fruit, salt, and cheese. 
Today about 15 huacaleros operate out of Pama- 
tacuaro, carrying locally made wooden spoons 
and bateas, Patamban pottery, morrales from 
made goods from Zamora, Guadalajara, Morelia, and México. Regional 
handicrafts were represented as follows: 
Article: Origin Vendors (number) 
Blankets 222-2 2222 --5-- Gharapan=<_ 27 - ssssae- 10 walking vendors. 
BlanketSis-ss-------=- PAQUIN SNe se aeeaeeeee a= 1 stall. 
Rebosos: ss. sass 4235 Paracho 1 stall 
Women’s belts__--_---- Nahuatzen_--- 1 stall 
Strew. hats: 2-:__=-.-<:- IADOs -222c8-s5-<scs-hoe 1 stall. 
Agave TOpe222_- ===. Tarecuato: = 222. sssc-5 2 stalls. 
Otter yee aasesccsen= Patamban_--.- = 12 stalls. 
Pottery - Santa: W622 2------- 1 stall. 
Pottery2--20-2-2-22.-=- San Juan Tlaquepaque 1 stall. 
(Jaliseo). 
Wooden tops-__-------- Paracho-se. sete ecc ons 1 stall. 
Wicker baskets___-.__- Tangamandaplo- 1 stall. 
iuaraches*-.2-2sso=-2- Los Reyes--.-- - 8stalls. 
Hiuarachess..-2==------ PeribSn'2=.- sfecs2c ss 1 stall. 
167 Chern, as Beals points out (1946, p. 79), is unique in that, although it is 
the largest Tarascan town, the storekeepers are Tarascan. 
168 For example, although Tarecuato is almost wholly native in speech, 
its three or four stores are operated by mestizos. Merchants of Paracho, 
Patamban, and Nahuatzen are all mestizos. 
169 Apart from its distributive function, the village store (mestizo or in- 
digenous) frequently serves as the only readily accessible publie place where 
a stranger may introduce himself and ask questions about the town. Except 
in the municipal seats, the town officials, all of whom hold nonremunerative 
posts, are rarely found in the jefetura. or tow hal! 
