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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 1 



UEBAN OCCUPATIONS 



The farmers, farm laborers, wood cutters, 

 charcoal burners, and batelleros constitute the 

 rural workers (those who gain their liveliliood 

 mainly by work in the country), who live both in 

 Quiroga and in the ranchos. Practically all of the 

 others gainfully employed work and reside within 

 Quiroga town, with the exception of the 31 men 

 employed in transportation. Various categories 

 can be set up (such as cottage crafts, food proc- 

 essing, building trades, etc.), but these categories 

 are not mutually exclusive, and some individuals 

 carry on several occupations at the same time or 

 during 1 season or 1 year. For convenience in 

 discussion we have used several conventional 

 groupings, but these categories are not important 

 in themselves. The important categories are the 

 individual occupations, crafts or guilds (gremios), 

 but the majority of the forms of employment were 

 never organized into recognized guilds. Since the 

 gremio as developed in Mexico was primarily for 

 the protection of the interests of the members 

 and for religious purposes, there has been a steady 

 decline in its importance along with the decrease 

 of the power of the church and with the improve- 

 ment of the position of labor. The gremios in 

 Quiroga retain very little of the earlier guild 

 organization excepting a few officers whose main 

 function is to collect money for the masses, fire- 

 works, and other expenses connected with their 

 traditional festivals. These festivals occur on 

 the days of the patron saints of the various guilds. 

 Also a number of the guilds contribute toward 

 the expense of masses, fireworks, music, etc., dur- 

 ing outstanding general holidays (such as Corpus 

 Christi, and the day of San Diego — patron saint 

 of Quiroga), and they likewise contribute to masses 

 on specified days during the highly religious 

 month of May (the month of Mary). There is no 

 general agreement as to what crafts and occupa- 

 tions had guilds at one time or another in Quiroga. 

 The consensus is that there were guilds of at least 

 the bakers, weavers, shoemakers, masons, tan- 

 ners, carpenters, and arrieros, and that during 

 the nineteenth centiu-y the arriero guild was the 

 strongest. At least the first three groups are 

 still functioning, since each paid for the masses 

 for one day in May of 1945. The farmers were 

 once united loosely in support of the festival for 



their patron saint, San Isidro, which falls on May 

 15, but we observed no special festivities on this 

 day while we were in Quiroga. Probably the 

 agrarian ejidal organization has supplanted what- 

 ever other organization of farmers once may 

 have existed. Although the Franciscan mission- 

 aries or Bishop Quiroga "assigned" the craft or 

 qficio of working and decorating items of wood 

 (principally bateas, chests, and writing tables) to 

 the inliabitants of Cocupao-Quiroga, there seems 

 to be no present organization other than a partici- 

 pation of some batelleros in the Corpus Christi 

 festivities. A worth-while and much neglected 

 field of research in economic history would be 

 the study of the various gremios in Mexico. So 

 far only the silversmithing guild has received 

 much study. 



COTTAGE CRAFTS 



The term "cottage crafts," if literally applied 

 to every type of manufacture or elaboration of 

 goods within the home, would embrace the major- 

 ity of constructive occupations in Quiroga, since 

 nearly everything from weaving serapes and deco- 

 rating bateas to making or repairing shoes, baking 

 bread, and tanning hides is done in the home. 

 However, this matter is complicated by two 

 circumstances. A few central workshops have 

 been established in the recently developed chair 

 and woodturning business, and part of the work 

 is done in these shops and part is farmed out and 

 done in private homes by carpenters, painters, 

 etc. Also, some of the weavers, bakers, painters, 

 shoemakers, tanners, and others have large enough 

 establishments in their homes to justify bringing 

 in other workers. Under such an arrangement the 

 situation is reminiscent of the organization of 

 European trade guilds. The proprietor or patron, 

 who also works, is presumably the most skilled 

 worker and is often referred to as maestro or 

 "master." The skilled and semiskilled workers 

 who come in daily are termed oficiales, obreros, 

 jornaleros, and peones, which would be equivalent 

 to "journeyman." If an individual craftsman is 

 not definitely employed at some establishment he 

 will be referred to as an itinerant journeyman; 

 e. g., obrajero obrero ambulante or "itinerant jour- 

 neyman weaver." Apprentices are usually of 

 the family of the proprietor, and are known as 

 family helpers; e. g., obrajero ayuda familia. 



