164 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 13 



hard-boiled eggs, cinnamon, and toasted bread. It 

 then is shaped into small round cakes. Choco- 

 late — almost invariably made with water, not with 

 milk — is beaten with a special instrument, which 

 is a local product of considerable ingenuity (pp. 

 195-196 ) . Often, only the froth is served, dropped 

 on top of a cup of atole. Sometimes egg is added, 

 so that the foam will be more abundant. 



The local equivalent of lemonade, is made with 

 the juice of the bitter orange or of the lime (p. 

 163). 



If one happens to be in monte alto and is thirsty, 

 but there is no water at hand, he cuts the thick 

 stem of the bejuco de parra (No. 187) and sucks 

 the liquid it contains. A bromelia (No. 301) also 

 provides water in an emergency. During hot 

 weather, the cana de puerco (No. 158), which 

 grows wild along the arroyos, is cut and chewed ; 

 it is said to be "refreshing." 



Alcoholic beverages. — The Totonac, especially 

 the men and the elderly women, are enthusiastic 

 imbibers. Today, the main reliance is upon com- 

 mercial drinks. Beer is popular and generally is 

 available in the small stores in Taj in; for large 

 celebrations, such as a wedding, it is bought in 

 Papantla, by the carton. 



At certain festivals, it is socially correct to offer 

 refino, jerez, and anisado to the guests. The first 

 is distilled cane alcohol, apparently of poor qual- 

 ity, purchased either locally or in Papantla. At 

 feasts it is served plain to the men. Jerez, which 

 is sherry only by name and by courtesy, is a sweet 

 red wine; anisado, a liquor with anise flavor. 

 Both are purchased for feminine consumption and 

 circulate principally in the kitchen, among the 

 women who assist the hostess in preparing food. 



With refino as a base, several drinks are made 

 locally : 



Seven or eight dry vanilla pods are macerated and 

 refino poured over them. The resulting beverage is not 

 considered medicinal ; it represents, incidentally, the only 

 local use of vanilla. 



Honey of the wild bee is mixed with refino to make a 

 drink known as picadito; "some like more alcohol than 

 honey." This mixture is considered a cure for stomach 

 ailments. 



Various kinds of "punches" (ponci [sic]) likewise are 

 regarded as medicinal and are taken principally to treat 

 loss of appetite or a stomach upset : "but some people, for 

 sheer pleasure, drink punch early in the morning."' 



One such "punch" is made by breaking an egg into warm 

 water and by adding either refino or what passes for 



sherry. The mixture is beaten until it foams, and the 

 froth is drunk. 



Another "punch" is made from ginger (No. 32). The 

 tuberous rhizome is pounded, and then boiled with white 

 or brown sugar ; refino and two or three raw eggs are 

 added ; and the thick liquid is drunk. 



Similarly, a drink with rue (No. 317) flavor is prepared. 

 A bunch of small sprays is boiled, and alcohol and raw 

 eggs are added. This is taken early in the morning, before 

 breakfast. 



Not all alcoholic drinks are commercial, and a 

 number of fermented beverages are made locally, 

 or at least were current in former times. These 

 are known as wines {vinos) or pulques; neither 

 appears to have a Totonac name. 



Pidque de zarza is a mildly alcoholic beverage, 

 now little used, made from sarsaparilla (No. 252). 

 The root is cut, roasted on the coals, then chopped 

 and placed in a vessel with water. One informant 

 adds brown sugar at the start; another says that 

 either white or brown sugar is added following 

 fermentation. By the odor, one knows when the 

 drink is ready for consumption. It is "very re- 

 freshing" and sometimes is taken to the fields for 

 the enjoyment of men working in the milpa. Ex- 

 posed overnight to the dew, it is drunk in large 

 quantity as a cure for gonorrhea. 84 



Formerly, fermented drinks were prepared from 

 capulin (No. 21), from the ripe fruit of the gua- 

 pilla (No. 283), from one of the annonas (pos- 

 sibly No. 57) , and from pineapple. For the latter, 

 rind and flesh wei*e shredded, placed in water, and 

 allowed to ferment. It is quite possible that the 

 simple fermented beverages listed above may be 

 ancient among the Totonac ; at least, they are based 

 on plants native to the area. 



The same does not hold for pulque de caiia, the 

 fermented drink most in vogue today. Sugarcane 

 is crushed in the mill and the juice collected in a 

 clay pot or a large copper vessel. If allowed to 

 stand, it becomes sour, "like vinegar"; so that it 

 may ferment properly, an additional substance, 

 known as the pie (lees) is added. 



This may be prepared from several lengths cut 

 from fresh stalks of uncrushed sugarcane. They 

 are roasted, allowed to cool, and a bit of cane juice 

 poured over them. When this ferments, it forms 

 a sort of vinegar, which is the pie. It is added in 

 small quantities, for a day and a night, to the main 



** A sixteenth-century report from Mastlatlan notes that sarsa- 

 parilla is used to treat venereal disease (bubas) and other ail 

 inputs (Paso y Troncosco 5:119). 



