THE TAJIN TOTONAC PART 1 KELLY AND PALERM 



215 



Bowls (cajetes; la ? , l.Ak 2 ) vary considerably 

 in form and size (fig. 42) . Some, seen from above, 

 are round; some are oval; and a few are three- 

 sided. The latter are made occasionally to receive 

 the ground maize as it comes from the milling 

 stone, although the oval form is more favored. 

 Still other cajetes, used to protect plants from 

 arriera ants, have the form of a hollow doughnut 

 sliced in half. A special product, a pottery replica 

 of the wooden tray used in laundering, probably 

 should be classed with bowls. Of these, we have 

 seen only three examples, presumably of local 

 manufacture. The present owners received them 

 from former occupants of the house site. Large 

 and clumsy, they would not have been easy to 

 transport. 



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t_ J. 



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Figure 42. — Pottery bowls. Redrawn from field sketches. 

 a, b, In use; thickness could not be determined. Various 

 women potters represented. Scale: Slightly less than 

 Ys natural size. 



The differences in shape between jars and bowls 

 is not always clear. They do not rest on propor- 

 tion, inasmuch as some jars (fig. 41, c, «, j) have 

 greater diameter than height. For the most part, 

 jars have rounded bellies, rounded or pointed bases, 

 and flaring rims, while bowls have rounded or flat 

 bottoms, with the rims direct or incurved (fig. 42) . 

 In the minds of informants, the distinction does 

 not depend on rim form, since one squat vessel 

 (fig. 41, e) is regarded by one woman as a jar; by 

 another, as a deep bowl. Perhaps, in the last 



analysis, function is more important than shape, 

 and a vessel used for storing water or for boiling 

 probably passes as a jar. Neither jars nor bowls 

 can be considered decorated, although occasionally 

 bowl rims are notched or scalloped (fig. 42, e-g). 



In most households, a bowl is earmarked for 

 each of the following uses: (a) washing hands 

 before a meal; (b) washing nixtamal; (c) re- 

 ceiving the ground maize from the mill ; (d) stor- 

 ing tomatoes; (e) storing chili; (/) storing other 

 foods; (g) dipping lye- water from the storage 

 jar; (h) dipping untreated water. In addition 

 (i), in many families, children eat from home- 

 made pottery bowls; and (j) a sizable one may 

 serve as a dishpan (fig. 42, a). 



The baking plate (comal; palk?, palka) is a 

 large circular, ideally flat clay tray on which tor- 

 tillas are cooked. "It should be more or less thick, 

 so that the tortillas will not burn. But if it is 

 very thick, it takes a long time to heat." Accord- 

 ingly, Maria Loreto makes both thick and thin 

 baking plates and uses the latter when she is 

 pressed for time. 



A pot cover (tapadera; limakacawan, Aitakacu) 

 is flat, like the baking plate, but has an effigy 

 handle in the center (fig. 43). Relatively few 

 families use such covers and they may be a recent 

 innovation. 



Figure 43. — Clay pot covers. Models made for us; a, by 

 Ana M£ndez; b, by Carmen Pe>ez Reyes. Scale: }i 

 natural size. 



Every household has a certain amount of cer- 

 amic ceremonial equipment, in the form of candle- 

 sticks (candeleros; putaikatila (figs. 44, 46, a) 



Figure 44. — Candlesticks. Pottery models made for us by Ana M6ndez. Scale: Approximately l / a natural size. 



