THE TAJIN TOTONAC PART 1 — KELLY AND PALERM 



191 



stones used. One family thinks that less firewood 

 is burned if the platform has a flat top. In some 

 cases, special provision is made for the support of 

 the cooking vessels. Stones are placed on top of 

 the platform to outline a U-shaped ridge (hor- 

 nilla) or two contiguous ones (pi. 14, a; figs. 25, b, 

 32, c-e, I). In the latter case, one is sufficiently 

 large to receive the flat baking plate on which 

 tortillas are cooked ; the other generally is smaller, 

 and on it may be set a bowl or a pot in which other 

 food is being prepared. 



a thatched roof. Since the oven seldom is for 

 personal use, it generally is known which houses 

 are so equipped. In the entire community, there 

 are 11, possibly 12 ovens. One near the fimclo legal 

 is used pretty regularly, 1 day a week, to make a 

 small quantity of sweet rolls for local sale; three 

 more in the fundo are used only intermittently and, 

 in fact, two of them seem to have fallen into 

 complete disuse. Other ovens function on special 

 occasions only — some, exclusively for All Souls' 

 Day. At that time, the family bakes bread for 



Figure 25. — Kitchen hearths. See text (pp. 190-191) for description, a, Basic frame for table type platform; b, c, table 

 type platforms mud-plastered, b has raised and c has depressed homilla. d, e, Solid platform hearths, d shows 

 hearth in use. Two shelves hang above the platform. Against the back wall, a baking plate stands on edge; to its 

 right is a clay pot supported by firedogs, which are three smaller pots, inverted; to its left, is a commercial grinding 

 bowl. At the extreme right, a pottery vessel sits on a stand, which happens to be a metal ring, e, Hearth in an un- 

 occupied house; hanging shelf and coiled frame for food storage have been abandoned along with the dwelling. /, 

 Ground plan of e, showing arrangement of posts and transverse poles of the hearth. 



Occasionally, the U-shaped rests are depressed 

 instead of raised (fig. 25, c). As the earth fill 

 hears the top, stones are arranged to outline two 

 U-shaped areas open at the front of the platform. 

 The fill is packed around these and the whole sur- 

 face plastered with mud. 



OVEN 



The oven (homo) is a large, dome-shaped affair, 

 built either in the kitchen or out of doors, beneath 



its own offering for the dead and, by previous 

 arrangement, for that of the neighbors. Fili- 

 berta Gonzalez sometimes bakes for special fiestas, 

 the purchaser providing flour and lard in advance. 

 A few individuals of either sex know how to make 

 bread; most of them have learned in Papantla. 



The oven stands on a platform of mud and 

 stones, which is something under a meter in height. 

 Ordinarily, a mason comes from Papantla to build 

 the dome, which varies somewhat in construction. 



