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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 1 



are sold in the shops, by streethawkers, and by 

 men who visit the ranchos and other nearby 

 communities. Instead of the ice cream cone the 

 favorite product is the paleta which is a block of 

 mediocre ice cream frozen around a stick. There 

 is one l&rge fdbrica de duJces or sweetmeat shop, 

 housed in a private home, which hires up to 17 

 workers. Its chief products are sweetened fruit 

 pastes or ates and sweetened ground parched 

 maize (pinole). Occasionally candied pumpkins, 

 squashes, and sweetpotatoes are made in several 

 homes and are sold to stores or are vended in the 

 streets. Most of the candy consumed in Quiroga 

 is hard sugar candy purchased in the stores. 

 Chocolate candies are practically unknown . There 

 is nothing in Quiroga like a soda fountain, con- 

 fectionery store, or milk bar. 



BUILDING TRADES 



ADOBE MAKERS 



The building trades in Quiroga comprise the 

 adobe makers {adoberos), masons {albaniles), tile 

 and brick makers (tejeros or alfareros as they 

 are sometimes called improperly), and carpenters 

 (carpinteros) . As was mentioned previously, car- 

 penters are relatively unimportant in a community 

 where most of the structures are of adobe, tile, and 

 stone. They may be called on for the doors, 

 windows (if any), and the wooden framework of 

 the roofs, but quite often all of these wooden ele- 

 ments are elaborated by noncarpenters. Of 

 greatest importance are the adoberos, but the 

 technique for making adobes is so simple that 

 practically every man who erects a house can make 

 his own adobes. In our census of 1945 there were 

 only four men who termed themselves adoberos, to 

 which should be added a variable number of the 

 day laborers who are hired to make adobes when 

 the occasion demands more adobes than the house 

 builder can make himself or purchase. Inciden- 

 tally, there are no house builders as such. Wlien- 

 ever a man wants to build a structure he either 

 does all the work himself (aided by members of his 

 family), or hires day laborers, adobe makers, 

 masons, et al. Several details concerning adobes 

 have been given previously in the discussion of 

 Quiroga houses (pp. 48-49). As mentioned before, 

 the adobes commonly are made in the solar where 

 the house is to be erected. If high-quality adobes 

 are wanted a master adobero is hired at $3 or $4 



a day, and two or three day laborers at $2.50 

 a day. A maestro and three peones can turn out 

 250 adobes a day if water and the straw binder are 

 available at hand. When aU materials are pro- 

 vided the adobes cost from $40 to $50 a thousand; 

 but seasoned adobes packed into a house site have 

 an over-aU cost of $70 to $80 a thousand. The im- 

 plements consist of open frames or forms (adoberas) 

 of the proper sizes, shovels, mattocks, and a four- 

 handled table or panel of wood (burra de madera) 

 upon which the mud is carried from the mi.xing 

 pit to the forms. Wheelbarrows are not used. 

 The outside dimensions of the most commonly 

 used adobera are described as three cuartas by one 

 cuarta and a sesma by 12 cm. A cuarta is the span 

 of the open hand from thumb to little finger, and 

 a sesma is the width of a hand with the fingers 

 held together. 



MASONS 



There are 28 masons and bricklayers who are 

 divided into the grades of master mason (albanil 

 maestro), "half-mason" (medio albanil or media 

 cuchara) , and worker (peon) . There have been no 

 stonecutters or canteros for years, and whenever a 

 stonecutter is needed he must be brought in from 

 Morelia. The bulk of the work consists of laying 

 out the stone foundations for houses and in brick- 

 laying. A strong religious guild of masons existed 

 until 1910. This guild took care of the expenses 

 of a religious festival on the 15th or 28th of May 

 of each year, and commonly spent about $100 for 

 the masses, fireworks, music, etc. The guild was 

 rim by a directive committee consisting of a mana- 

 ger (empresario), secretary, and treasurer. In 1922 

 or 192.3 the local parish priest founded an "Asso- 

 ciation of Catholic Workers," but a number of the 

 constituent groups, including the masons, with- 

 drew after a time because (so some of the masons 

 informed us) the priest used the common funds 

 or contributions to aid only his favorites. About 

 1942 the masons ceased to undertake the religious 

 and other expenses of some day in May. During 

 the latter period of highway building through 

 Quiroga (1939-42), when buildings demolished to 

 widen the highway were replaced with brick fronts, 

 a syndicate of masons and bricklayers was formed 

 to regulate such matters as wages, hours of labor, 

 and who should be employed. It is largely due 

 to the demand for workers in 1939-42 that there 

 are so many albaniles in Quiroga at present. There 



