184 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 1 



obtain adequate figures. In addition to the local 

 manufacture in two shops, a very large number 

 are brought in from Santa Fe, and especially 

 large or fine candles come from Morelia and else- 

 where in the Republic. Candles of paraffin and 

 of beeswax and paraffin are made in quarters at- 

 tached to the stores of two Quiroga merchants. 

 Candlemaking is a part-time occupation filled by 

 several men and women, but no person describes 

 himself as a candlemaker by profession. The 

 beeswax (cera) is purchased chiefly from ranchos 

 to the north — Icuacato, Sajo, and Tzintzimacato — 

 where there are some families (in the two last- 

 named ranchos) which raise only bees and have 

 up to 400 hives. There is a slight production of 

 wax in Quiroga and the nearby ranchos. The 

 beeswax is purchased in cakes or "cheeses" 

 which vary from gray to blackish in color although 

 yellow is the most common color. The color of the 

 wax depends on the nature ot the bee pasture. 

 Unbleached wax cost $6.25 to $6.50 a kilo in 1945. 

 Candles are made of both bleached and un- 

 bleached wax. The bleaching process consists of 

 melting the beeswax, pouring it onto shallow 

 containers where thin sheets or shells are formed, 

 and exposing the sheets to the sun for a day or 

 longer if necessary to obtain the desired whiteness. 

 Although some candles of pure beeswax are made, 

 they are more expensive than those of paraffin. 

 Probably a majority of the candles made are of 

 pure paraffin, and next would come candles of 

 mixed paraffin and beeswa.x. We were unable to 

 find out what proportions were used. Paraffin 

 is purchased from local retail merchants at $2.50 

 a kilo, as are the cotton wicks or mechas. Most 

 of the candles made locally are for domestic illu- 

 mination. These candles weigh 50 gm. and sell 

 for 20^. In one shop the slow dip (many succes- 

 sive dips) method is used, and in the other shop 

 the rapid immersion method is used. There is 

 no molding of candles. Probably not more than 

 300 kilos of candles are made a year in Quiroga. 

 A poor semiliquid soap known as lejia is com- 

 monly made in the patios of four Quiroga stores, 

 and sporadically in other stores. Enough is 

 made to supply the local demand for this soap, but 

 all other soaps are imported. The lej'ia is com- 

 monly used for the first soaping of clothes. The 

 frequency of manufacture seems to depend upon 

 the rate at which each merchant accumulates 

 tallow and crackling scraps by trade and purchase. 



The local tallow (sebo) costs $1.80 a kilo; the cost 

 of imported American caustic soda (sosa) was not 

 ascertained. The fats (50 parts by weight), 

 alkalies (15 parts), and water (200 parts) are 

 placed in a cauldron and boiled, then the sapona- 

 ceous mixture is put into kerosene cans which hold 

 about 18 kilos each. The semisolidified grayish 

 mixture with various impurities is ladled or 

 scooped out of the cans and retails at 30fS a kilo. 

 The chief producer makes about 720 kilos of 

 lejia a month. Formerly bar soap was made in 

 Quiroga, but now it is brought in from Morelia, 

 Toluca, Guadalajara, G6mez Palacio, etc. Also 

 formerly there were establishments which ex- 

 pressed oil from local linseed and chicalote seed, 

 and there was a little manufacture of castor oil. 



MISCELLANEOUS SERVICES 



There is a large amorphous "labor pool" com- 

 prising 145 individuals without special skills who 

 term themselves manual or day laborers. These 

 persons go by such names as jornaleros, traba- 

 jadores, labradores, braceros, and peones. The 

 majority (122) earn most of their income from farm 

 labor and have been listed already under agricul- 

 ture. However, these agricultural workers turn 

 to many other forms of employment when farm 

 work is not available. Such individuals, together 

 with the 28 nonspecialized jornaleros, may be 

 found cutting firewood, carrying water, making 

 adobes, and tile, performing simple tasks in the 

 chair factories and the mills, doing road work, 

 etc. They have not been included in the num- 

 bers given for the various trades and occupations 

 since they have no specialized skills and neither 

 consider themselves nor are considered to be any- 

 thing other than day laborers. Out of their num- 

 bers come the individuals who may act as male 

 servants or men-of-all-work (mozos) in some of the 

 stores and homes. However the regular occupa- 

 tion of male servant does not exist in Quiroga. 

 It is somewhat different with the women. There 

 have been mentioned already the women who go 

 to homes to grind nixtamal and to sew. In addi- 

 tion, there are 31 women whose occupation is 

 house servant (criadn, sirmenta), of which num- 

 ber about half live in the homes in which they 

 work. These women may be used for anything 

 from house cleaning and washing clothes to 

 grinding nixtamal and cooking. Since a number 

 of these women are employed in the hotels and 



