THE TAJIN TOTONAC PART 1 KELLY AND PALERM 



197 



SLEEPING ACCOMMODATIONS 



The hammock is unknown in Taj in. As far as 

 we know, there is but one bed with springs in the 

 entire community, the proud possession of a pros- 

 perous merchant, Totonac, but a native of Pa- 

 pantla. Some of the more sophisticated families 

 have one or more canvas cots — the canvas stretched 

 taut between two poles which, at each end, are 

 attached to scissorlike supports. The latter may 

 be closed, but the lengthwise axis of the cot is 

 stationary. Of the 39 families covered by the 

 census, nearly half sleep exclusively on woven 

 palm mats which are spread on the earth floor 

 by night and which, by day, are rolled and stood 

 in one corner of the room. A simply trestle or 

 platform bed, described below, likewise is popular. 



These sleeping facilities are found in various 

 combinations : 



Number of 

 families 



Bed with springs 1 



Oanvas cots exclusively 3 



Canvas cot and floor 2 



Canvas cot and platform bed 2 



Canvas cot, platform bed, and floor 2 



Platform bed exclusively 4 



Platform bed and floor 8 



Floor exclusively 17 



39 



The above sleeping accommodations may be ar- 

 ranged in order of elegance and comfort as fol- 

 lows : bed with springs, canvas cot, platform bed, 

 and floor. This sequence accords very neatly with 

 what might be called social stratigraphy within 

 the family. If the household boasts a canvas cot, 

 invariably it is occupied by the head of the family 

 and his wife; the sons may sleep on a platform 

 bed, and the daughters, on the ground. Simi- 

 larly, if the trestle bed is the best the house has 

 to offer, it is occupied by the man and his wife. 

 Other members of the family may sleep on the 

 floor, although sometimes the sons likewise are 

 given trestle beds, while their sisters make shift 

 on the floor. In all cases, first preference goes to 

 the parents; next, to the sons. The daughters, 

 although adult, usually sleep on the ground. One 

 man jocosely expresses the situation thus: "The 

 children and the lazy ones sleep on the floor." 



The frame of the platform or trestle bed con- 

 sists of four forked posts set into the ground, with 

 a connecting pole on each long side. At either 



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Figure 31. — Bed frame. Specially prepared bamboo is 

 laid lengthwise on the trestle; see text (p. 197) for de- 

 tails. Not to scale. 



end, a transverse pole is added (fig. 31), and on 

 this simple frame, are laid specially prepared 

 lengths of bamboo : 



The unsplit bamboo stalk is cut to the length of the bed. 

 Its joints are trimmed with the machete, so that the 

 surface is relatively smooth. Next, the bamboo is par- 

 tially shredded by being hacked lightly with the machete, 

 but it is not broken sufficiently to part company. Finally, 

 the machete is laid longitudinally against the shredded 

 bamboo and is pounded with a stick, to open the stalk 

 definitively (pi. 14, e) . Thus severed, the bamboo is spread 

 to form a broad, more or less flat surface — largely split, 

 but held together at the joints. Several such lengths are 

 laid longitudinally on the trestle. 



On top of the split bamboo is spread a woven palm 

 mat, purchased in Papantla. One woman prefers 

 the floor to the bamboo bed because the latter 

 "once dry, squeaks unpleasantly in the night." 



A pillow is used, even if one sleeps on the 

 ground. In one household, it is a small, cylindri- 

 cal trunk of wood. More commonly, a simple bag 

 of cotton cloth is filled with rags or with the lint 

 of the local perennial cotton, and the open end 

 is tied. 



Bedding is definitely casual. A man uses his 

 poncho (jorongo) as a cover; for the women, a 

 good many families buy cheap, cotton blankets in 

 Papantla ; those not so equipped, use an odd grain 

 sack as a cover. 



house decoration; altars 



It is very much in vogue to hang large motion 

 picture posters, in lurid colors, on the interior 

 walls of the "parlor" (pi. 15, Z>, either side of 

 altar). Usually they are hung vertically, but 

 other arrangements, which do violence to the 

 lettering, are not spurned. These posters are sold 

 in the Papantla market. Highly colored pictorial 

 wall calendars also are popular. If they are pub- 

 lished in several sheets, the latter are hung sepa- 



