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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 13 



equipment, such as a wooden cover for water jars 

 (fig. 37, a), or a stand for a petroleum lamp (fig. 

 37, b) . The former is cut to fit the mouth of the 

 jar, and a short stub protrudes as a handle. 



More elaborate wooden articles are produced 

 for special occasions. Either a carpenter or a 



E 



J 



Figure 36. — Gruel paddles, a, b, d, Models made by 

 Donate- Santes; c, redrawn from field sketch of stirring 

 stick used by Felipa Garcia, likewise made by Donato 

 Santes; e, used paddle purchased from Luarda Garcia. 

 All of zapote chico wood. Length of a, 95.5 cm.; others, 

 same scale. 



nonprofessional may make the hinged wooden 

 puppet (pi. 23) which is associated with 

 Christmas festivities. Wooden masks (pi. 22, 

 a, c, e), of cedar, are used by the various dance 

 groups; at jDresent, in Tajin, only Donato Santes 

 attempts to make them. Upon request, he also 

 produces a jointed wooden snake used by the 

 Negrito dancers. 



mm 



^^ 



Figure 37. — Wooden pot cover, lamp stand. Both from 

 wood of commercial boxes, a, Sketched in the house 

 of Lorenzo Xochigua; b, in house of Augustina Mendez. 

 Not to scale. 



Every household has a series of wooden trays 

 (bateas). A large oval one (fig. 38) is used in 

 laundering; a smaller, circular one (pi. 21, a, b) 

 has many uses, but most often is the container in 

 which the Totonac woman carries burdens on her 

 head. To us, the circular trays appear to be 

 roughly the same size, and some claim that all have 

 a capacity of 12 liters; however, others say that 

 size varies. 



Cedar (No. 219) is preferred for these trays. 

 Occasionally, one is made of frijollo (No. 193) ; 

 and some are of mahogany (No. 194), "but they 

 are no good. They retain the moisture and never 

 dry ; they are heavy and of little use." Now that 

 cedar is scarce in Tajin, few trays are manufac- 

 tured there. The supply comes chiefly from other 

 settlements, where monte alto still is abundant — 

 Plan de Hidalgo, Plan de Palmar, Furbero, Jorge 

 Cerdan, and other small communities to the west. 

 We met one man from Agua Fria, en route to 

 Papantla, where he expected to find a ready mar- 

 ket for an assortment of trays with which he had 

 two pack animals loaded. 



Apparently anyone who has the necessary wood 

 is considered competent to make a tray. The tree 

 is felled and a block the necessary size is hacked 

 from the lower part of the trunk. A sizeable 

 cedar may yield three or four circular trays; for 

 the larger oval batea, a tree with a diameter of at 

 least 24 inches is required. One of the local car- 

 penters says that for a circular tray he uses a 

 compass; a straight adz, to shape the exterior; and 

 a curved adz for the interior. 



