39 

 village. A young man, recently married, typically will hunt and work with his father, father-in-law, or 

 other adult male relatives for 1-2 years until he accumulates enough resources and experience to 

 become economically independent. 



Maya men and women at X-Hazil Sur and throughout Quintana Roo have separate roles in the 

 household. Men hunt, plant gardens, harvest chicle, extract lumber, provide firewood, maintain the 

 house and yard, and care for goats and cattle in outlying corrals. Women attend to the house and the 

 children, tend house gardens (cf., Forrest, 1991), and raise and sell domestic animals (e.g., pigs, 

 turkeys, and chickens) in order to supplement family income. Some of these products are sold locally, 

 while others are sold in the town market at Felipe Carrillo Puerto. 



Maya children at X-Hazil Sur often assist their parents with household chores. A young boy 

 may accompany his father to the garden, but will do little manual work (e.g., planting, weeding, or 

 harvesting) until he attains 10-15 years of age. Young boys, however, often are sent on minor errands, 

 for example, to find firewood or to scare animals from the gardens. Boys usually don't begin hunting 

 until about 15 years of age. 



Young Maya girls, on the other hand, experience a vastly different childhood than boys do. 

 From the time she is about 5 years old, a young Maya girl assists her mother by helping in the kitchen, 

 caring for younger siblings, and by bringing corn to a local store to be ground into meal. Girls don't 

 hunt or clean game, but are expected to cook the meat and prepare tortillas after the men return. By 

 about the age of 15 years, most Maya girls have learned their adult roles and are able to manage a 

 house and care for a family, while most boys are just beginning to learn their corresponding roles. 



Social su-ucture in Maya communities is Yucatan has been a difficult subject among 

 anUiropologists. While clear economic differences exist among individuals and families, these have not 

 resulted in structured hierarchies of social classes. Redfield (1960) notes that the ideology of Yucatec 

 Maya villages promotes egalitarian relationships. At the same time, the history of the 19th century 

 Caste War in Uie area (Bums, 1977) suggests that social stratification along patrilineal family lines was 

 an important feature of Maya political organization (Jones, 1977). One thing many authors have 



