194 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 13 





Figure 28. — Wooden stools; all one-piece. See text (p. 193) for details. Redrawn from field sketches; scale: Yn natural size. 



One informant had heard that in "former times 

 there were no chairs, only small stools," and the 

 banco mentioned by Clavijero (1 : 303) may refer 

 to one of the latter. In any case, it seems likely 

 that the simple stool is an old and widespread 

 culture element in eastern and southern Mexico 

 and farther south. 19 However, Las Casas (p. 461) 

 and Torquemada (1:398) speak of "chairs," 

 and the former (p. 463), adds a somewhat con- 

 fusing statement to the effect that the ancient 

 Totonac priests used backrests of rushes. 



Nowadays, long plank benches (sraan ta-stikat', 

 long stool; langa ta-stikat', large stool) are com- 

 mon. When a sawyer is cutting lumber for the 

 house, a thick plank from the center of the cedar 

 tree is set aside for a bench. At each end, it is 

 perforated to receive two squared legs, which are 



VJ The Sierra Totonac sit on "small stools made from chumps 

 of wood'" (Lombardo Toledano, p. 35), and the modern Chinantec 

 use low stools, "often mere blocks of wood" (Bevan, p. 79). In 

 Zapotecan Yalfllag, formerly stools were made "of roots and 

 trunks of trees" (De la Fueute, p. 44). 



Although these descriptions are by no means precise, it is clear 

 that a one-piece stool, hollowed on the under side, and sometimes 

 handled, is of very respectable distribution. In the Chicontepec 

 area of the Huasteca, Alfonso Medellin has seen stools similar 

 to those of Tajin, as has Angel Palerm, in some of the Sierra 

 Totonac villages near Zacatlan, in Puebla. Roberto Williams re- 

 ports similar specimens from Santa Maria Tatela, in the Huatusco 

 area of Veracruz. A photograph taken in Zapotecan Mitla shows 

 a stool identical with those of Tajfn (Parsons, pi. XLVIIIb). 

 Among the Popoluca, the stool may be with or without handles 

 (Foster, 1940, p. 14) ; and the Maya appear to use a handleless 

 form (Steggerda, pi. 10c; Wauchope, pi. 34n). The Lacandones 

 do not share this culture element, but the Tzeltales are said to 

 have such stools, handled (information from Philip Baer). More- 

 over, in the National Museum, in Washington, four specimens 

 labeled "Talamanca" Indians, Costa Rica, are on display. All 

 are one-piece, four-footed ; and one lias a handle in effigy form. 

 Similar specimens are reported (Stone, fig. 7b, c) for the Boruca 

 of Costa Rica. 



inset at an angle (pi. 14, /) . Similar benches, but 

 poorly made, are reported for some of the Sierra 

 Totonac, near Zacatlan (information from Angel 

 Palerm). 



Today, simple, straight chairs are common; 

 they have horizontal back slats and a seat of woven 

 palm. Eight or ten men in Tajin, not regarded 

 as carpenters, make such chairs for their own use 

 and, by request, for sale to neighbors. The cur- 

 rent price is between $3.00 and $4.00 pesos. There 

 are two heights: one, which we should consider 

 normal for adults; another, which to us would be 

 considered child's size. The latter height is the 

 more popular, and both children and adults use 

 these low chairs (pis. 14, &, 28, e). 



The roughly hewn frame is of cedar (No. 219). 

 Leaves of the palma redonda (No. 259) are spread 

 to bleach on top of one of the trimmed chote trees 

 (No. 10) usually used for drying clothing. They 

 are exposed to sun and dew for several days, care 

 being taken that they do not become too moist 

 and, as a consequence, dark in color. As the seat 

 is woven, two strips of the palm leaf are twisted 

 slightly in the hands; as needed, a new strip is 

 inserted into the twist. Seats sometimes are woven 

 in simple, pleasing patterns which, unfortunately, 

 we did not record. 



Occasionally, one sees a butaca (no Totonac 

 name), identical in form to one illustrated by 

 Covarrubias (1947, p. 267, lower right). The 

 frame is of cedar, and the continuous back and 

 seat may be of thin, transverse slabs of wood, or of 

 deerskin or canvas. This semireclining chair is 

 much more common in Papantla than in Tajin. 



