THE TAJIN TOTONAC — PART 1 KELLY AND PALERM 



217 



Sand collected from the arroyo is washed on the 

 spot. It is placed in the wooden tray; water is 

 added and allowed to run off, carrying with it ex- 

 traneous matter. The sand then is spread in the 

 sun to dry and later is passed through a sieve made 

 of a perforated half of a calabash shell. In this 

 state, the temper is ready for immediate use. 



The clay receives little preliminary preparation ; 

 it is not spread to dry. When it is brought to the 

 house, a bit of water may be added and the con- 

 tainer covered with castor leaves. The moist clay 

 is worked between the hands; a bit of the pre- 

 pared sand is dropped on the surface of an in- 

 verted wooden tray and the clay kneaded with it. 

 During the process, small stones are removed. 

 When the clay is smooth, more sand may be 

 sprinkled over it and worked in. The amount of 

 temper is not measured; the potter judges from 

 the feel of the mixture. 



MANUFACTURE 



Jars. — The detailed description below, of the 

 manufacture of a jar by Ana Mendez, may be con- 

 sidered representative. The number and size of 

 the initial coils vary with the size of the pot, and 

 some women smooth with a rag instead of the 

 hand ; but, by and large, the technique seems 

 pretty much the same among our several friends. 



Dona Anita has the clay already prepared and covered 

 with leaves, to keep it moist. She inverts an old box 

 and uses its upper surface as a table, on which she 

 spreads a banana leaf, split down the middle, so that it 

 will lie flat. 



She then removes a sizable lump of clay from her main 

 stock and turns it counterclockwise in both hands, squeez- 

 ing at the same time, so that the clay forms a long sausage, 

 held vertically, which is 7 or 8 cm. in diameter (pi. 24, a). 



Now, she arranges the roll of clay on the banana leaf 

 in the form of a half circle. She prepares another roll 

 in precisely the same manner, and with it completes the 

 circle, pinching the joints together. She repeats the proc- 

 ess, and this time places the new roll of clay directly on 

 top of the already formed coil (pi. 24, b). She adds an- 

 other roll, to complete the second circle, and again pinches 

 the junctures together. Next is added a third circle of 

 clay, consisting of one very long and one very short roll. 

 At this point, there are three circles of clay resting on top 

 of one another (pi. 24, c), each formed by two discrete 

 rolls of clay pinched together at the respective junctions. 

 The first circle has its joints along the axis of the banana 

 leaf ; the second is joined at precisely opposite points (that 

 is, 90 degrees removed) (pi. 24, &) ; the third circle like- 

 wise has the joints broken. 



Dona Anita now places her left hand against the ex- 



terior of the three superimposed circles, as a support ; and 

 with the right hand, she applies upward strokes to the 

 interior, fusing the coils. Then, with her left hand sup- 

 porting the interior, she strokes the exterior upward. 



By this time, the cylinder of clay stands about 35 cm. 

 tall (pi. 24, d). An old corncob (with clay from previous 

 operations embedded in its hollows) is dipped in water, 

 and with it the upper part of the exterior of the cylinder 

 is scraped, using an upward, vertical movement (pi. 24, e). 



Next, Dofla Anita selects one of two fragments of the 

 calabash shell, which have been cut with a knife to form 

 rough, concavo-convex disks. With one of these, she 

 scrapes the interior of the upper part of the cylinder, using 

 the same vertical motion. During this process, the left 

 hand is held against the exterior, to support the wall 

 (Pi. 24, /). 



Then the interior wall is smoothed with her right hand, 

 by means of horizontal stroking motions, while the left 

 hand is held against the exterior. The latter has dried 

 somewhat, for the sun has come out ; Dona Anita dips her 

 hand in water and rubs the exterior wall horizontally. 



Stroking with the corncob has produced a considerable 

 flare at the upper edge of the cylinder, and this is to be- 

 come the rim of the jar. The belly now is expanded, by 

 rubbing the wall horizontally on the interior and pushing 

 outward, with the right hand, while the left, on the ex- 

 terior, protects the wall from undue pressure (pi. 24, g). 

 Dona Anita steps back to view the result, then attempts to 

 expand part of the body still further, so that the vessel 

 may be approximately symmetrical. 



At last, she is satisfied, and the partially shaped vessel, 

 innocent of base, is allowed to stand 4 or 5 days. The 

 lower part of the belly is carefully covered with castor 

 leaves, to keep the clay moist, while the rim and upper 

 part are exposed to dry. By the end of a few days, the 

 vessel is inverted, to stand mouth downward on the box. 

 The unfinished base now points upward. Because of its 

 covering of leaves, the clay still is humid. Also, it is very 

 thick at this point where, previously, it rested on the 

 box. With gentle, upward strokes, the clay is thinned 

 and pressed upward, to close the aperture; (plate 19, h, 

 shows this operation nearly completed on the vessel in 

 the right foreground). Sometimes more clay is added, 

 in the form of a roll, or as a small cake. 



If the jar is small, handling is less hazardous 

 and the base may be completed immediately the 

 walls and rim are finished. A completed jar is al- 

 lowed to dry, after which the interior base is 

 smoothed somewhat, and the exterior of the vessel 

 is polished with a pebble. Despite these atten- 

 tions, the surface of a jar generally is rough and 

 gives little evidence of polishing. Often the ver- 

 tical striations which have resulted from stroking 

 with the corncob are to be seen on the finished 

 specimen, just below the rim. 



The next step is firing. Any kind of wood may 

 be used, provided it is thoroughly dry and the 



