THE TAJIN TOTONAC — PART 1 — KELLY AND PALERM 



211 



The oval tray is unadorned (fig. 38) and is 

 simply gouged out of the block of wood. Circular 

 trays are of two kinds : shell (concha) and ribbed 

 (de costilla). The former (pi. 21, a, b) has a 

 smooth surface; the latter, vertical channels, cut 

 with a chisel, at spaced intervals on the exterior 

 wall, sometimes with corresponding ridges on the 

 interior. 



Some of the ribbed trays have half the rim cut 

 away, so that the surface is in two levels; deco- 

 rative notching of such a rim is common. It is 

 said that formerly even the oval tray had a "dou- 

 ble" rim, because it is less likely to crack with use. 



Figure 38. — Cedar laundry tray. Made in Agua Fria, 

 for sale in Papantla. Long diameter, 80 cm. 



Painted decoration is confined to circular trays. 

 Occasionally, someone in Taj in tries his hand, 

 but most trays are taken to Papantla, to be painted 

 by one Luciano Cano, a native of Chicontepec. He 

 is a job printer and, on the side, does a sprightly 

 business decorating trays and calabashes for the 

 Totonac trade. With cheap oil paint, he coats the 

 exterior with red or orange, and over that, ap- 

 plies gay, polychrome designs. The Totonac pro- 

 vides the tray and Don Luciano, the paint and 

 the labor ; his current charge is $8.00 pesos. 



A painted tray figures prominently among the 

 wedding gifts which the bride's parents request 

 from the family of the groom. Such trays are 

 cherished, and in the course of 8 months in Tajin, 

 we were able to purchase only two specimens. 



A container similar to the trays, in that it is 

 excavated from a single block of wood, seems to 

 have been current in former times. We have seen 

 three fragments, called canoas. They are large, 

 deep, and oval ; at least one had a lug at either end. 

 Use seems to have varied. One is said to have 

 caught the juice from the sugarcane, as the latter 

 went through the mill ; another is said formerly to 

 have been used in making some kind of "wine"; 

 and the third contained salt for cattle, in the days 

 when Tajin was supplied with stock. Its owner, 

 however, came originally from Hidalgo, and in- 

 formants believe he introduced the idea of using 

 a wooden dugout for salt. 



Another wooden artifact, now no longer to be 

 seen, is an ox yoke, used in crushing cane. We 

 saw one rotted fragment but do not know how 

 general was the use of the yoke or, for that matter 

 the use of oxen with the sugar mill. 



A modern touch is provided by the manufacture 

 of baseball bats. Some j^ears ago, two brothel's, 

 who are not carpenters, started to make bats for 

 sale, using the wood of the chote, polo de rosa, or 

 palo bianco (Nos. 10, 171, 342) . Their first prod- 

 ucts, based on a model manufactured in the United 

 States, were shaped with a machete and a plane. 

 Later, a professional carpenter from outside, en- 

 gaged to install shutters in the Tajin school, as- 

 sisted them in setting up a lathe. They still 

 produce bats on a small scale and have sold them 

 for $8.00 pesos apiece in Poza Rica, Poza Larga, 

 and Papantla ; they speak of looking for a market 

 in Mexico City. 



GOURDS AND CALABASHES 



We have found no early reference to decorated 

 gourds or calabashes among the Totonac, although 

 Mexican sources suggest that such manufactures 

 were current in the nearby Huasteca. There is, for 

 example, one mention of a yellow material with 

 which "they anoint and dye gourds (jicaras)" ; 

 and upon another occasion, the vanquished Huas- 

 teca offered the Mexicans "large worked gourds" 

 (xicaras grandes labradas) (Tezozomoc, pp. 110, 

 296). In any case, there is no evidence of lac- 

 quer or near-lacquer as a native craft among the 

 Totonac, although possibly the trays and cala- 

 bashes, now painted in Papantla for Totonac 

 trade, may represent a weak and altered survival 

 of an old art. 



893477—52- 



-15 



