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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 13 



His friends and relatives smirk indulgently but 

 are not concerned by his dabbling in an essentially 

 feminine art. 



Despite the fact that every woman knows how 

 to make pottery, some have better luck than others 

 and some have more free time, hence there is a cer- 

 tain amount of specialization. If one housewife 

 is "too busy," she may ask a friend, who prides her- 

 self on her baking plates, to sell her one or two. 

 Or another friend, thought to make good water 

 jars, will be asked to make an extra one for sale. 

 Prices are moderate; in fact, the cost of a large 

 jar is hardly sufficient to pay for the wood used in 

 firing. 



Pottery making in Taj in is a seasonal activity. 

 During the spring drought, the clay is hard and 

 thus difficult to dig. Often a woman lays in an 

 extra supply, which she stores in large jars until 

 needed. Moreover, the spring may be hot and 

 windy, so that the vessels dry too rapidly. "They 

 should be barely dry, and no more, or they crack. 

 And if the wind strikes them, they warp." Ac- 

 cordingly, it is preferable to concentrate ceramic 

 activities between All Souls' Day and mid-March. 



As the latter date approaches, there is a great 

 flurry of pottery making, so that the household 

 may be fully stocked before the deadline. 



VESSEL FORMS 



Local products include jars {olios; Aamank) of 

 various shapes and sizes (fig. 41). Those with 

 concave base, made to fit the head (fig. 41, A), 

 receive a special name (sauwat) ; they are scarcely 

 manufactured today, and lighter weight commer- 

 cial jars, chiefly from Zacatlan (fig. 39), have 

 replaced them. 



Every household is well supplied with home- 

 made pottery jars. Ana Mendez believes it in- 

 dispensable to have one devoted exclusively to each 

 of the following : {a) storing drinking water ; {o) 

 making coffee ; (c) making maize gruel ; {d) pre- 

 paring nixtamal; (e) making tamales; (f) cook- 

 ing beans; {g) heating bath water. In addition 

 (A), several jars contain the water used for 

 laundry and bathing and {i) others are used for 

 odd storage, such as sand or clay for pottery 

 making. 



Figure 41. — Pottery jars. The manufacturer of e considers it a jar; a neighbor woman, a bowl. Redrawn from field 

 sketches, a, d, In use; thickness could not be determined. Various women potters represented. Scale: }i natural 

 size. 



