58 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 13 



the east and is of limited utility, since it is subject 

 to flooding. However, it is kept cleared and occa- 

 sionally serves as a baseball field; or school chil- 

 dren march there in honor of some official holiday. 

 Downstream, along the arroyo and including the 

 island enclosed by an ox bow (map 7) is a strip of 

 land which likewise is not generally exploited, 

 since the stream occasionally makes minor changes 

 in course. 



The plaza lies toward the northern limits of the 

 fundo, surrounded by the equivalent of city lots 

 (solares), each approximately 25 X 50 m. Al- 

 though the fundo was set aside in the course of 

 the 1876 survey, lots were not laid out until many 

 years later. One informant thinks that lots were 

 measured and thoroughfares cleared as early as 

 1910 or 1911 ; others date this undertaking as about 

 1926. In any case, actual settlement of the solares 

 was not general until 1928. 



Lots were sold at $25.00 apiece and titles i*egis- 

 tered in Papantla. Most of the lots now are pri- 

 vately owned. Reputedly by Federal order, in 

 1945 or 1946, the granting of new titles to public 

 lands was discontinued, and at present, several 

 families live on solares which still, officially, are 

 public domain. The occupants have registered in 

 Papantla and, strangely enough, pay taxes on this 

 land, to which they do not have title, with the 

 understanding that when the Federal ruling is al- 

 tered, they will have first chance at purchase. On 

 map 7, they appear as owners of the land. 



At the specific request of local authorities, our 

 map of the fundo legal is somewhat idealized. 

 Individual lots, or solares, are fairly well defined 

 by a series of substantial posts of resistant wood. 

 But the streets are far less obvious than the sketch 

 indicates. The so-called Avenida 16 de septiembre 

 (pis. 3, a; 9, /) is kept cleared at all times, through 

 communal labor. It connects with the main trail 

 to Papantla and continues west, across the fundo, 

 to other Totonac communities, such as Plan de 

 Hidalgo and Plan de Palmar. Accordingly, it is 

 a main artery. The Calle Nacional likewise is a 

 main thoroughfare (pi. 3, c), at least north of the 

 plaza. It adjoins another branch of the main 

 Papantla trail and runs north to the archeological 

 site. Other streets are far less conspicuous and 

 are little more than narrow, overgrown trails. 

 The Calle General Zaragoza, for example, was 

 scarcely discernible, although its limits were 



marked by on occasional post. Through communal 

 labor, this "street" was reopened for our benefit, 

 so that it might appear on the map. 



The plaza is simply an open plot of ground 

 toward the northern limits of the fundo. Weeds 

 are kept cut through communal labor (pi. 3, b-d), 

 but there is no pretense at a garden and not even 

 a makeshift equivalent of the kiosk which so often 

 dominates the plaza of towns in Mexico. Except 

 for the plaza proper and for the unoccupied ex- 

 panse of land to the west and southwest of it, the 

 fundo is relatively well wooded. Naturally, every 

 inhabited lot contains a house clearing, but in most 

 a good many trees remain standing, and a certain 

 amount of low ?nonte gives privacy. 



On the west, the boundary of the plaza is irregu- 

 lar, owing to the intrusion of a solar and the school 

 building (pi. 3, e; map 7, B). The latter, con- 

 structed through communal enterprise, is of ma- 

 sonry (ftn. 8, p. 176) and is the pride and joy of 

 Tajin. Toward the southern limits of the plaza, 

 a small, windowless, mud-plastered building (pi. 

 3, a, d; map 7, A) sits in isolated dignity. It 

 formerly functioned as the municipal office, but 

 now is relegated to use as a jail and for storage, 

 and the local government holds forth in rented 

 quarters (map 7, lot No. 2, house b) . Between the 

 old municipal building and the school is a low 

 mound of stones, all that remains of a former 

 chapel. 92 



The fundo legal is the closest approximation to 

 an urban center in Tajin. Here settlement is rela- 

 tivefy concentrated; here are the school and the 

 municipal office ; and here the men present them- 

 selves one day a week throughout much of the 

 year, to give free communal labor. Here too are 

 clustered all but two of the little stores which sup- 

 ply the Totonac with "city" merchandise, when 

 they do not go to Papantla for their purchases; 

 and one of the remaining stores is situated on the 

 Calle Nacional, only a few hundred meters north 

 of the limits of the fundo. Architecturally, the 

 fundo is pretentious, by local standards, and has 

 a higher percentage of mud-plastered buildings, 

 of plank walls, and of tiled roofs than is found in 

 outlying parcels. 



62 As recent arrivals in Tajin, we asked if there were a church. 

 The answer was regretful : formerly there had been one, but it 

 had fallen in an earthquake, and "we have not had time to rebuild 

 as yet." Upon further inquiry, it turned out that the disaster 

 had transpired "about 30 years ago." 



