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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 13 



in Tajin. It is not cultivated, and the supply 

 now is greatly diminished, owing to demands for 

 house building. However, it is said that in the 

 Totonac settlements of Talaxca, north of Pa- 

 pantla, a smaller cane (koskiwi) , not hollow, often 

 is planted during the rainy season, and is used in 

 basket making. This cane does not occur at 

 Tajin, either wild or cultivated. 



GARDENS 



The clearing which surrounds the house or the 

 cluster of houses is the patio. It is bounded by 

 monte bajo, rarely by anything resembling a fence. 

 Within the patio, stand a few trees of the monte 

 which have been spared — for shade, for decora- 

 tion, or for some other reason. Most patios, for 

 example, have a chote tree (No. 10), cropped so 

 that it grows in a squat, mushroom form, and on 

 top of it laundry is spread to dry. 



Generally the yard boasts a few fruit trees, one 

 or more shrubs of physic nut (No. 192), perhaps 

 a cotton plant, a calabash tree, a bit of cane, and 

 a variety of other plants already noted as grown 

 in the house clearing. Often there is a small as- 

 sortment of herbs, such as goosefoot, rue, or basil 

 (Nos. 75, 317, 318). 



Gardening possibilities in the patio are limited. 

 The arriera ant presents a chronic hazard, and 

 several women have made special pottery devices 

 to protect their plants. They may be described 

 as hollow doughnuts, bisected laterally. 68 One of 

 these circular vessels is placed on the ground, en- 

 closing the young plant. The cavity is filled with 

 water and the ants are unable to pass. 



Apart from the depredations of the arriera ant, 

 domestic animals — fowl, pigs, clogs, and cats — run 

 free. As protection, an old clay pot, innocent of 

 base, may be inverted over a young plant. How- 

 ever, the flowerpot, and informal substitutes for 

 it, are conspicuously absent in Tajin, although, by 

 and large, they are highly characteristic of most 

 Mexican communities, urban and rural. The 

 Totonac simply do not grow plants in containers. 

 Sometimes small sticks or split bamboos are stuck 

 in the ground close together and form an enclosure 

 about a tender plant. Occasionally, a small plot 

 for flowers is fenced by upright poles or by bam- 



boos, placed sufficiently close that fowl cannot 

 penetrate. 



Most families make an effort to have at least a 

 few flowers growing in the patio, and many take 

 pride in their small, well-stocked, and somewhat 

 disorderly gardens. Girls wear flowers in their 

 hair; young men decorate their hats with them; 

 and there is a considerable demand for flowers to 

 ornament the family shrine. On the whole, women 

 seem to take more interest in flower gardens than 

 do men, and, occasionally, a woman has requested 

 that we bring her seed from the capital. In at least 

 one case, a small flower garden was abandoned 

 completely following the death of the woman of 

 the household. However, men too are fond of 

 flowers, and one, Matias Perez, professes such pro- 

 found affection for them that he informs us, not 

 entirely truthfully, that three of his children are 

 named, respectively, Flora, Florencia, and 

 Florencio. 



We made no attempt to list systematically the 

 flowers found in Totonac gardens. Often plants 

 are uprooted in the monte and brought home to be 

 transplanted — as, for example, a beautiful climb- 

 ing verbena (No. 201). Not infrequently, orchids 

 are brought to the house and affixed to a nearby 

 tree. 



Flowering trees and shrubs are extremely popu- 

 lar — particularly the flor de m-echtcda (Nos. 55, 

 115) and the handsome flor de mayo (No. 151), 

 which comes in various tones of cream, rose, and 

 red. The chanacol (No. 153) also is common, but 

 one thinks twice before planting it, for if this tree 

 (perhaps only the red-blossomed form) grows in 

 the patio, the daughters of the family "will not 

 turn out well. They will not marry properly, but 

 will go off with some man." The mirasol (No. 

 120) is infrequent. All flowering trees are planted 

 from cuttings, and almost any small branch stuck 

 in the ground Avill take root. However, a cutting 

 which is brought home and taken inside the house 

 prior to planting will not grow. It is possible that 

 this belief applies specifically only to a form of 

 hibiscus. 



Common garden flowers include many kinds of 

 roses, various plants disguised under the blanket 

 term of jasmine, begonias, hibiscus, several kinds 

 of lilies, what apparently is mock orange, and a 



M Precisely the same sort of pottery protector for plants is 

 found in mestizo communities in Jalisco and in Acatlan, 

 Puebla (p. 218). 



great 



many more : adelfa, chisme, mariposa. 



ilusion, lluvia, mechuda, and so on. A few deco- 

 rative garden plants, selected very much at ran- 



