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INSTITUTE or SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 11 



periodically by the people of Santa Fe. Some 

 fire fans of wheat straw are decorated by the 

 painters of Quiroga, but these fans are made in 

 the three western villages of the municipality. 

 Practically all of the cordage and other manu- 

 factures of agave fiber are brought in from the 

 states to the north. Hammocks are not used in 

 Quiroga excepting for a few in some of the 

 wealthier homes which are used for daytime 

 relaxation. 



FIREWORKS 



The makers of fireworks or coheteros occupy a 

 very important and honored position among the 

 craftsmen of Quiroga. Ever since the introduction 

 of Christianity fireworks of various types have 

 been an indispensable part of religious festivals, 

 and far more fireworks are used today in religious 

 celebrations than in patriotic and other celebra- 

 tions. For some years there have been but two 

 coheteros in Quiroga, but these two (aided by 

 members of their families) are able to meet the 

 local demands. Although a variety of fireworks 

 are made to order, the most important and most 

 costly are the frameworks of cane and twine with 

 attached firecrackers {cohetes or homhas). The 

 most common shapes are towers (castillos) and 

 large Catherine wheels (ruedas grandes). The 

 implements used are simple, consisting of mortars, 

 pestles, knives, and a set of shaping irons. Local 

 canes and paper purchased in the stores provide 

 the framework and the containers. The other 

 materials are potassium nitrate, chlorate, sulfur, 

 charcoal, and bitmnen. The large jobs with 

 elaborate frameworks are done on special contracts 

 which may involve several hundred pesos. Should 

 the fireworks "fizzle out" the maker may lose all 

 of the contract money and even may be fined. 

 The day by day work is the making of the indi- 

 vidual cohetes. The leading cohetero, with the 

 assistance of two sons, turns out about a gross 

 and a half of firecrackers a day. These cohetes 

 seU for $6 a gross, which amounts to a net income 

 of between $3 and $4 a day for the family. When 

 not engaged in making fireworks they make 

 blankets. 



BLACKSMITHS AND TINSMITHS 



There are four blacksmiths (herreros) who work 

 in two home smithies; and there are two tinsmiths 

 (hojalateros) each with his own home shop. In 

 the previous century there were a number of 



smithies, and there was a street of blacksmiths, 

 but the great reduction in the packing business 

 {arrieria) together with greater availabihty and 

 cheapness of iron and steel goods manufactured 

 elsewhere in Mexico, or imported from Europe 

 and the United States, has greatly reduced the 

 variety and number of items elaborated by the 

 smiths of Quiroga. Although they can and will 

 make almost anything from a machete or a plow- 

 point to an iron grill or a heavy chain, most of 

 theu' work is confined to making small and simple 

 items used by farmers, such as mattocks, axes, 

 plowpoints, sickles, gads, shoes for equines, etc. 

 The equipment is such as could be found in a rural 

 smithy in the United States a couple of genera- 

 tions ago. Nearly all of the adzes, drawshaves, 

 plane blades, locks and keys, bits, saws, hammers, 

 and most of the other iron and steel items in com- 

 mon use come from Mexico City or Monterrey; 

 pocket and belt knives are principally European; 

 and most of the machetes come from Guerrero 

 and Connecticut. Although there is a tradition 

 that the original bells of the parish church were 

 cast in Quiroga, the present bells came from out- 

 side of the State. Most of the protective and 

 ornamental bars and grUls (rejas) were purchased 

 in Morelia, and probably were made in the State 

 of Puebla or in Mexico City. Other than for the 

 equipping of the pack trains there never was an 

 ironworking tradition in Quiroga. However, only 

 one of the Tarascan villages (San Felipe de los 

 Herreros) ever had such a tradition, and even 

 there the quantity and quality of the ironwork is 

 low. Villa Escalante (Santa Clara de los Cobres) 

 supplies the copperware in use in Qukoga. The 

 two tinsmiths do not work consistently at their 

 trade, and their production of candleholders, 

 frames, trays, lanterns, etc., is quite small. They 

 use both commercial tinsheet and the material 

 in "tin cans." Quite definitely Quiroga is not 

 much of a user of items of metal other than in the 

 woodworking occupations and in some of the farm- 

 ing implements. Leather and cordage replace 

 chains and nails, stone and wood are the common 

 fence materials, items of stone, and wood and 

 terra cotta dominate the kitchens, etc. 



SKIN AND LEATHER WORKING 



Although the cin-ing of skins and the working 

 of leather were qficios given in early colonial days 

 to the neighboring village of Teremendo, there 



