THE TAJIN TOTONAC — PART 1 — KELLY AND PALERM 



101 



appears stunted. All are said to have been planted 

 simultaneously. Other factors may be involved, 

 but the implication of soil depletion is strong. 



On the contrary, we have figures from one field 

 which has been planted continuously for 7 years 

 (ftn. 44, p. 119), but the yield of which neverthe- 

 less is well above the general average. This sug- 

 gests that the local situation may be parallel to 

 that of Yucatan, where a series of controlled ex- 

 periments indicates that soil exhaustion is slight 

 and that decreased yield is attributable chiefly to 

 "increasing weed competition" (Morley, p. 148). 



Fertilizers are used only incidentally in Tajin 

 and are limited to the ash from the initial clearing 

 and, in subsequent years, to the litter of stalks 

 from the preceding crop and the weeds removed 

 in the course of cultivation. One of our friends, 

 thoroughly bilingual, does not even know the 

 Spanish term for fertilizer. 



While most Totonac take soil exhaustion as a 

 matter of course, an exception is Santiago Sim- 

 bron, owner of the field mentioned above as still 

 producing a better than average harvest after 7 

 years of continuous planting. He expresses his 

 opinion thus: 



The soil does not wear out. The first harvest is as good 

 as the second, or the seventh; and the first year and the 

 last are the same. At least, so it seems to me. What 

 changes are the rains, the sun, and the wind — but not the 

 earth, if the planting is made in the same field. 



The only deliberate rotation of crops is found in 

 the maize-vanilla cycle. Some plant sugarcane 

 when the maize yield declines, but apparently this 

 is not a general practice, probably because of dif- 

 ferences in moisture and drainage requirements. 

 However, inasmuch as most crops, except vanilla 

 and cane, are planted in the maize field, auto- 

 matically they follow the cycle of the latter. 



In any case, there is a long term maize-vanilla- 

 monte rotation, which takes 20 to 25 years to com- 

 plete and during approximately half of which the 

 land lies fallow. If this cycle is applied strictly, on 

 the assumption that all land is equally suited to 

 maize and vanilla, each family would require about 

 12 hectares of land. 29 



How does this theoretical requirement accord 

 with the amount of land available? If we dis- 

 regard a scattering of fields which spill over into 

 Tlahuanapa, Gildardo Munoz, and Coatzintla 

 (map 8) , there are 114 parcels of land, of approx- 

 imately 31 hectares each, which either belong to 

 Tajin or which are exploited by the Tajin Totonac. 

 And these 114 parcels are utilized by a total of 205 

 families. 30 There is, accordingly, an average of 

 about 17 hectares per household. If we deduct the 

 vacant land parcels and those which are not 

 planted, a total of 99 parcels actually is exploited, 

 and the average per family drops to about 15 hec- 

 tares — somewhat more than present minimum 

 requirements. 



All this reckoning is, of course, largely theoret- 

 ical, but it agrees pretty well with our general 

 impression that there is a comfortable surplus of 

 land. Naturally, in practice, the distribution of 

 lands is quite uneven, and while some families are 

 abundantly supplied, others are beginning to feel 

 the pinch. We may guess that within another 

 generation or so, the present allotment will be 

 barely sufficient for the needs of the community, 

 provided the current pattern of land utilization is 

 continued. 



of vanilla. In the seventh year, it would have a new maize field 

 of 1.5 hectares, and vanilla holdings of 3 hectares. By the tenth 

 year, vanilla would have increased to 4.5 hectares, to which we 

 shall arbitrarily limit it. With the start of the thirteenth year, 

 the original field — which has been planted 3 years to maize, 

 followed by 9 of vanilla — is allowed to revert to monte. In the 

 sixteenth year, fallow land amounts to 3 hectares ; in the nine- 

 teenth, to 4.5 ; in the twenty-second year, to 6 hectares. 



Years 



Maize 



Vanilla 



Fallow 



1-3 



1.5 

 1.5 

 1.5 

 1.5 

 1.5 

 1.5 

 1.5 

 1.6 







4-6 



1.5 



3.0 

 4.5 

 4.5 

 4.5 

 4.5 

 4.5 





7-9 





10-12 





13-15 



1 5 



16-18 



3.0 

 4 5 



19-21 



22-24 



6.0 





20 This figure has been calculated as follows : We assume that 

 each family plants 1.5 hectares of maize each year. We assume, 

 further, that the same plot is planted for 3 successive years, at 

 the end of which time it is given over to vanilla and a new field 

 cleared for corn. Accordingly, beginning with the fourth year 

 (see below), a family would have 1.5 hectares of maize and 1.5 



By the end of the twenty-fourth year, 12 hectares of land are 

 or have been in use. Also, by this time, the original 1.5 hectares 

 have lain fallow for 12 years, and the cycle starts anew. 



30 There is a total of 186 families in Tajin ; moreover, two fami- 

 lies from Papantla and one from Tlahuanapa exploit Tajfn lands, 

 as do 16 who give public labor in Ojital. The total, therefore, is 

 205. 



This figure is only approximate. For example, 10 of the Tajfn 

 and one of the Ojital families do not plant ; another Ojital family 

 plants in Coatzintla. We assume that these discrepancies are 

 offset by (a) the several Tajfn families who plant on lands out- 

 side the community, and (b) the Ojital parcels which are ex- 

 ploited jointly by Tajfn and Ojital citizens, although, with few 

 exceptions, neither the fields nor the houses of the latter appears 

 on map 8. 



