While an experimental project was begun a few years ago to produce lumber for the paper

302 Toilet Women comb and braid their hair usually after morning breakfast chores are finished. The hair is braided in one or two braids. Ribbon may be intertwined in the braids on festive occasions. Women usually wash their hair in connection with washing clothes and bathing. Hair is washed with prepared zapote shampoo and corkwood-bark rag, and then zapote oil is rubbed into the hair to make it shine and to keep it from drying out. Persons of the opposite sex do not bathe publicly together. Men bathe at the end of the day after the day’s work, women more often in the late morning in connection with washing clothes. Bathing is performed inside or just outside the home on special occasions such as after childbirth women or after a snakebite cure men and women. Women bathe in a squatting position in the river or near water supply for reasons of modesty and water is thrown over the back. Men tend to stand while bathing, covering their genitalia with one hand or turning their backs in the presence of others. But modesty does not prevent bathing in a brook at the intersection of a path where others of either sex may pass at any time. Those who pass ignore the bather, averting their eyes. Expressions of personal embarrassment are suppressed when someone of the opposite sex inadvertently encounters a person who is undressed while bathing. In the 1960s, elimination took place in secluded places in town or in the forest. By the 1980s the government had required the construction of outhouses within village limits. 303 Manufacture of Toilet Accessories A strip of majagua , the inner bark of the corkwood tree [Heliocarpus-donell-smithii], of about five by thirty centimeters, was traditionally beaten on a rock at the river with a stone until softened. This bark was then used to wash the hair by dipping it into the zapote powder-and- water shampoo prepared from the stone of the zapote fruit. The stone of the marmalade fruit Sp. zapote colorado [Pouteria mammosa], Ch. ta³joh¹³; tag³ ‘zapote stone’ was toasted on a griddle and ground into a fine powder on the metate to extricate its natural oil. The powder was then mixed with water and used as shampoo. The oil is used to condition the hair after washing and also to soften cradle cap or other scalp infections of small children. 313 Lumbering The gathering of lumber from the forest for house construction is described below in section

342. While an experimental project was begun a few years ago to produce lumber for the paper

mill near Tuxtepec, there is no other commercial use of lumber in the area. The ejido controls the cutting of any lumber of commercial value, but this is limited and only used locally. Firewood. Men may assist women in this task but it is generally considered a woman’s responsibility. Women often go together with friends to gather firewood. Dead wood is gathered in the forest and it is also available from trees not consumed in clearing and burning fields. Such trees are cut and stacked in the field until needed as firewood. A large supply is usually kept stacked around the outside walls of the house under the eaves to allow it to dry out well before use. Old posts or beams of a house that have been replaced are also eventually chopped into firewood. Women use machetes only, but men also use axes. 314 Forest Products Incense. Most people in Palantla acquire incense Sp. copal , Ch. chiun² from Highland Chinantec peddlers, but it is also possible to manufacture it from the resin of the liquidambar tree hma² lie³ . They slash the tree with a machete to allow resin to flow. Eight or ten days later the resin-covered bark is removed from the tree and allowed to dry in the sun. When dry, resin is stored until needed for ceremonial use. 323 Ceramic Industries The Tlatepuzcans do not generally make pottery. The humid climate is not conducive to this industry and Chinantec and Zapote peddlers from the more arid highlands to the south frequent the area with pots of various kinds for sale. A few women are known to make their own comals. The clay is formed by hand and baked slowly in the sun outside the home. Most comals, however, are purchased from peddlers. 324 Stone Industry Lime. The Tlatepuzcan homeland rests on mountainous terrain that provides a plenteous supply of limestone. Limestone is fired either by digging a hole underneath it or by removing it to a convenient or prepared location. After several days of firing, householders pour water over the limestone to cause it to powder; then they package the powder is in leaf bundles for storage or for sale. The lime is an essential ingredient in the cooking of maize for tortillas. 342 House Construction and Maintenance Palantla homes vary in size, but an average one in the 1960s was from four to six meters deep and from seven to nine meters wide, divided into two rooms of about equal size—a kitchen and a ‘living’ room. Sleeping took place on the floor of both rooms, although a corkwood bed shelf occasionally graced one wall of the living room, raised on short posts. Both rooms were used for food preparation, such as shelling beans and maize. Chickens, dogs, and pigs were fed within the home and in the patio. Chickens, especially egg-laying hens and chicks, might be housed within the homes, as well as dogs; but roosters, turkeys, and pigs were housed in smaller buildings or in pens, fowl especially being enclosed at night to protect them from predators. Before the arrival of electric power at the end of the century, families retired shortly after the evening meal, around 7 p.m.; and the family slept together on woven grass sleeping mats Sp. petate , Ch. jmung² placed on the dirt floor with small children between the parents. Another mat made of sugarcane husks Sp. bagazo de caña , Ch. cu³løg² was placed directly under the grass mats to keep them clean and give further protection from the cold and moisture of the dirt floor. Two nuclear families in a household slept in separate rooms. Young children were known to sleep in the loft, a shelf over the hearth and under the roof resting on boards or poles fastened to house beams. Babies always slept with their mothers, except during the day when they might sleep in a cloth bu³ hung from a hook hláh³ suspended from a house beam. More recently, families have begun to sleep on cots of burlap or beds that are homemade or purchased. Women arise first, around 4 a.m. to begin preparation of the morning meal. Men arise shortly thereafter. From the viewpoint of the 1960s, a well-constructed home with a proper grass roof would last for fifteen years, but eventually it must be replaced after the roof deteriorates to the point that maintenance is a losing proposition. Replacement is best done in late spring, before the summer rains begin, or otherwise in a slack time in the agricultural cycle. A site is chosen, usually immediately adjacent to the existing home, and the location is cleared and leveled as may be required. Materials are sought in the forest in advance, over a period of weeks or months. All materials are gradually collected and transferred to the site, except for the six main posts and three main beams, which are cut and left in location until needed. Family and friends who will need similar help in the future are asked to help for one or two days in the construction. This favor will then be returned when those who help need to replace their homes. Logs for posts and beams are dragged to the site and the frame of the house is constructed with the owner acting as foreman and engineer. A wealthy host might hire his help and have them complete the house, but most individuals promise to work for their neighbors without charge for as many days as they have worked for him. The main frame of the house has seven elements: posts, beams, joists, rafters, ridgepole, ribs, and cross braces. The largest and heaviest pieces of lumber are the posts and beams. Several species of hardwood trees are used particularly for posts e.g., hma² dsø³, hma² møi¹guiéng², hma² ta³lo¹³ lih², hma² u²nung² . Straight trees are sought for beams, such as hma² ta³lo¹³ teg² . Three beams hma² chié¹² , sometimes squared by hand in the forest, are placed across and seated upon three pairs of posts hma² dsøa¹² , without any sort of binding. The weight of the finished roof is sufficient to keep it in place on the posts and no amount of binding would hold it in place against a force sufficient to move it. If beams are not completely squared, it is at least necessary to shave that portion of the surface at each end of the beam that will sit on the two posts. This is extremely important for the stability of the house. The beams must all be the same length and must extend one cubit ca² lø² ‘the distance between elbow and fingertips’ beyond the posts at each end. When the posts and beams are in place, three long joist poles are lashed to the three beams. Two hma² løah¹³ are placed just outside the position of the house posts at each end of the beams as a base support for the main rafters of the house. The third joist hma² hiu³ niúh¹ jein³ is positioned across the center of the beams and functions primarily to support a storage loft. These and other house timbers are lashed together using certain strong vines, such as uøin² teg² cuøin¹² , which are found in the forest and split into strands, or with majagua , the inner bark of the corkwood tree uøin² hma² chiég¹³ or uøin² hma² je³ , sheets of which are loosely coiled together to form rope. Six main rafters Sp. cabrio principal , Ch. hma² dsiúh³ are lashed together in pairs at one end. Each pair is then stood on one of the three beams, with lower ends spread out against and lashed to the joists that have been secured at the extremities of the beam. They are then temporarily Figure 8.3.. Structure of Traditional Tlatepuzcan Home braced until the ridgepole hma² dsǿ² guiuh¹³ hniú¹² , ribs hma² tég² , and cross-braces hma² ŋií³ can be secured to them with majagua rope to form a strong, rigid frame. The frame to hold the thatching can be lashed to this structure, in the form of vertical rafter poles hma² hma¹³ lashed to the outer joist, ribs, and ridgepole, and horizontal laths, lashed to the vertical poles. The poles are spread at equal distances of about one cubit at the bottom, less at the top to allow for a slight inclination to the gable ends of the building. These vertical poles are of bamboo or other straight poles. For a grass roof, the material of choice for the horizontal lath to which the grass is tied is split reed grass Sp. caña brava , Ch. hma² cuú¹² , tied at intervals of about a handspan. The roof is thatched with one of three materials, a tall grass, a special leaf, or tied bundles of maize leaves. The premier material is a tall grass known as zacate colorado ŋiing² , which was kept in good supply on a hill near town by frequent cutting, and which lasted on a home for fifteen years. As its name indicates, this grass has a reddish brown color when newly dried. When harvested, this grass is tied at one end into bundles Sp. manojos , Ch. hŋiúh² about five centimeters thick at the tied end and perhaps seventy-five centimeters long. These are tightly tied side-by-side in rows like shingles. To cut down on his obligations, a man may choose to thatch the roof himself, with only his sons or other close kinsmen helping him. In the 1960s, this source of grass became the property of San Lucas Arroyo Palomo and is no longer available to Palantla. After a roof begins to deteriorate, leaks may be stopped by inserting leaves into the worn out areas from the inside of the roof. Corn leaves or sugar cane leaves are sometimes used when better materials are not available. One low-cost material, when nothing better is available, is fish tail Sp. hoja de bobo , Ch. moh¹³ quieg³ , the leaf of a small tree whose trunk grows to 2-inches in diameter. The small tree is bent over to permit leaves at the top to be cut. The leaves are folded along the stem and bundled together before tying them to the roof laths. After the roof is up and thatched, the interior floor of the house is leveled and the exterior walls are tied on. These consist of five-centimeter thick slabs of corkwood known locally as jonotes Ch. hma² je³ . A framework of vertical poles planted in the ground under the eaves of the house and horizontal poles lashed to them is assembled. A foundation course of rocks is then placed at the foot of this framework, and jonotes are stood on the rock and tied to the framework with majagua. Jonotes are highly susceptible to deterioration by termite infestation and need to be replaced every few years. House posts also need to be replaced perhaps every two or three years. These are cut and left in location until a crew is assembled as in the original house construction. This is a big enough task to require friends to take turns helping one another to accomplish it. The logs are then dragged from the forest and put in place. The old posts are eventually used up as firewood. The dirt is removed from around the posts one-by-one and they are inspected. Only those posts that have deteriorated sufficiently are replaced. 422 and 423 Ownership A man owns his clothing, personal effects, machete, house, animals horse, mule, dog, and chickens, and cash earnings. Women own clothing, personal effects, metate, cash earnings, and domestic animals. Land is held in usufruct. Under Mexican law, Palantla land is government owned, but a person can, in principle, buy and own land. School property is held at the disposal of the community as constrained by federal education authorities buildings, books, land, furniture, sports equipment, boards, and cash from sale of produce from designated school property. The community church has wealth at the disposal of the community buildings, equipment, and materials. Projects associated with the Virgin of Candlemas and the Christ child hold assets earned from festival sales, held at annual interest 25 in 1957 by individuals in the community. 443 Retail Marketing The small-scale, retail sale of such things as beverages, notions, and food products, from the home, provided a handful of families the means to obtain small quantities of cash. One individual, in the 1960s, P250 Marcelino Manuel García, stood out as the most industrious and successful store owner in Palantla. He was able to develop a business relationship with suppliers outside of the village from as far away as Orizaba, Puebla, and was constantly on the move, traveling here and there to bring in supplies. When he discovered that my family and I preferred cola drinks, he was sure to always have a good supply of Coca Cola or Pepsi Cola on hand. Apart from having specific saleable items in stock, all families had agricultural and animal products for sale from time to time and would either take them to buyers in Valle Nacional themselves or sell them to buyers who would periodically pass through Palantla looking for such things as pigs or chickens. Buyers would usually take the poultry with them but arrange for a seller to deliver his own hog to Valle Nacional himself. Surpluses were not always available for sale, but coffee was almost always available annually for sale even before the expansion of that industry in the 1980s. At present, coffee is the primary source of income for all households every year apart from funds electronically transferred home from the U.S. through Tuxtepec banks. When maize was the primary crop, before the 1980s, a good year would mean a surplus was available for sale; but a bad year would mean that other resources would have to be converted to cash to buy maize for household consumption. Poultry and eggs also provided cash income for most households, as did oranges in season that were there for the picking. But without roads and large vehicles to transport products in large quantities, the earnings from a product like oranges were minimal. Even today, with a road into town and daily vehicular traffic, I am not aware of any extensive effort to exploit the orange crop for financial gain. However, I did travel recently with a driver who had taken the trip to Palantla from Valle Nacional with the specific purpose of purchasing several stalks of bananas for a community situated south of Valle Nacional along the highway to the State Capital. Perambulatory peddlers from the highlands provided many products for purchase in the early and mid-twentieth century: cloth, mats, pottery, machetes, knives, and so forth; and, as mentioned above, aguardiente was brought in from Cuicatec territory to the east. 702 Military Recruitment and Training In recent years, but not at the present time, the federal Mexican government imposed one year of military training on all males to be accomplished before the eighteenth birthday. Boys from Palantla were required to drill each Sunday for one year in Valle Nacional after which they received an ID card that they were required to carry with them at all times. A few young men continued on for additional years in military training and service, but this was not common. One young man from Palantla, P175 Pánfilo Martínez de la Cruz 1951–, chose a career in the Mexican army and was, until recently, stationed with his Palantla wife and family somewhere near Mexico City. 744 Public Health and Sanitation The Mexican government routinely sends medical teams through rural Oaxaca to attack a variety of endemic health concerns. In the 1950s, the worldwide United Nations-sponsored attack on malaria reached Palantla. All the homes were numbered and censused, and teams of technicians gave instruction about the problems of standing water that would breed mosquitoes, and so forth, and a systematic program of spraying insecticides was begun that continued for several years until malaria was virtually eradicated from the area. A similar program against onchocerciasis also reached Palantla in the 1960s, even though Palantla was at the very northern fringe of the area in which that disease was endemic. I do not remember a specific program to fight tuberculosis, another widespread disease; but in one way or another, the incidence of tuberculosis has also diminished considerably. Sometime during the 1980s or 1990s, a period when I was personally not regularly visiting the area, the government successfully put a stop to owners allowing their poultry and hogs to scavenge without restriction throughout the village and required every household to build and use outhouses. This project has put a huge dent in the occurrence of intestinal parasites that was a major problem before that time. The medical personnel in these visits were sometimes able to help with other ailments as well. Our neighbor, P132 Juan Crisanto Manuel, had been bitten in the hand by a fer-de-lance; and, though he survived, the wound continued to weep and did not totally respond to antibiotics until Juan Crisanto convinced a member of a medical team that had come to town on other business to look at the wound. This man performed minor surgery on Juan Crisanto’s hand, removing a small unattached segment of bone that was putrefying, after which the wound healed. Medical clinics staffed by government doctors and nurses now exist in many villages of the region. The closest one to Palantla at the present time is in Arroyo de Banco, two-thirds of the way toward Valle Nacional and no more than twenty or thirty minutes away by truck. 754 Witchcraft I plan to deal with this topic in more detail in another study relating to traditional worldview, but just one item is considered here. Fingernails are one of the items thought to be of use by those who might wish to make a person sick. If a person tears a fingernail while working away from home, he puts it in his pocket until he returns to his own village, lest a witch Ch. dsa² ji²nah³ find it and use it against him. 757 Medical Therapy Healers. Mostly elder persons, men and women, traditionally function as healers Sp. curandero, Ch. tøa¹² mǿa¹² ‘master of medicine’, using a variety of herbal and ritual cures. In some cases, they purport to communicate with the unseen beings of Chinantec myth to seek the release of the captured ‘spirits’ of afflicted persons in order to gain their healing. Another study will look in more detail at the mythical aspects of Chinantec life; only a limited and miscellaneous list of herbal remedies is presented here. Treatment. A medical practitioner is asked to attend to a sick person by members of his household who promise that payment will be made. The patient or members of his household describe the patient’s symptoms to the practitioner. This description sometimes includes a degree of self-examination by the patient as to whether he has recently been frightened, has argued with his wife, or has committed some misdemeanor. The practitioner checks the patient’s pulse. The patient extends one arm directly toward the practitioner with his palm facing up. The practitioner grasps the hand and wrist with both hands placing both thumbs side-by-side on the inside of the wrist and parallel with the patient’s arm. He maintains this grasp for about twenty seconds and then repeats the procedure with the patient’s other arm. This may be done before stating the diagnosis, and may be repeated several times during an extended cure. This procedure is usually followed by a statement of prognosis. The practitioner announces the cause of the illness, the means of curing it, and prognosis for recovery. Divination is reported as a means of determining the prognosis, but I have never observed it. Therapy varies with the illness and involves procuring, preparing, and administering medications. Aguardiente or rubbing alcohol may be sent for from the local store. The practitioner himself usually goes to the forest to collect required herbs, but common ones may be gathered for him by anyone. Payment. When the cure is completed, the patient or his family discuss the fee with the practitioner. This may take the form of cash, goods, or alcohol. In addition, the practitioner has been supplied with aguardiente throughout the time he has served. He usually does not leave the patient’s side for more than a few moments until the cure is complete, and is usually intoxicated before then. Herbal remedies. A few sample medical preparations are described below. Some of the simple remedies are applied by individuals in the home without the more complex context of professional therapy. For erysipelas skin infection, three kinds of herbs are collected, ground together, and boiled together in water and aguardiente for the skin infection called ŋøa¹² guiéng² ; namely, høg² dsí² crǿg¹³ Chromolaena odorata, høg² lí³ juu² , and høg² ŋøa¹² tsønh² . After cooling, the moist leaves are made into a poultice that is rubbed over sores and then wrapped around them with cloth to be kept on for twenty-four hours. This is repeated for three days. Other herbs also used for erysipelas include the following, also ground and mixed in water, aguardiente, or both: høg² dsí² lih² this preparation is very caustic and burns the skin, madder Sp. crucecillo , Ch. hma² jøah¹² cah³ moh¹³ , and a vine Ch. høg² ma²jmung² dsøi² , also known as høg² quiah¹² ŋøa¹² ‘erysipelas herb’, which may be hoja santa [peperomia glabella]. For a fungal skin infection, two herbs, høg² hma² juu¹² and høg² ma²jmung² dsøi² , are ground up together and boiled in a small amount of water. The mash is rubbed over the sores. If høg² ma²jmung² dsøi² is not cooked well, it causes pus. For boils, the leaves of a vine called høg² dsí² lih² are used in a compress. For stomachache, mint leaves Sp. hierba Buena , Ch. høg² mong¹² quiah¹² ca³juu² are put in aguardiente, which is drunk. For earache, mint leaves are placed in boiling water. After cooling, a little of the liquid is poured into the ear, and the leaves are secured over the opening of the ear. For cough, two herbs, the leaves of what Chinantecs call ‘pineapple’ fern Ch. høg² ma³nang³ joh¹³ and the tender top leaves of the sour guava tree Sp. punta tiernita del guayaba agrio , Ch. níh¹³ hma² guii²joh¹³ are mixed in water, heated, and the liquid drunk. For tonsillitis Ch. táh² dsi³ dsa , the same two herbs are prepared and drunk as for a cough, above, without heating. Then the leaves are also secured under the chin wrapped in a cloth or large leaf. The liquid is also sprinkled on the head. The ‘brain is pushed back into place’ by pressing up on the roof of the mouth with two fingers. Certain people are said to be susceptible to this illness. For fever, the fright herb Ch. høg² juøh¹² is ground up, mixed in cold water, and drunk. The liquid may also be sprayed from the practitioner’s mouth into the patient’s face as well. The patient lies quietly covered up. He may bathe indoors with warm water, but is not allowed to bathe in the river, lest he should get aches and a headache. For malarial ague, the legs, body, and forehead are rubbed with lemon leaves Ch. moh¹³ hma² hu²tu³ jinh² that have been boiled. If this proves insufficient, the forehead is rubbed with alcohol and lemon leaves, and some of the leaves are secured to the forehead with a kerchief. For chronic dreaming a sick person is susceptible to dreaming, moh¹³ jang¹ ? is placed in water and the liquid is sprayed on the patient. Aguardiente is used instead of water if the illness is severe. Moh¹³ jang¹ is also rubbed together with sweet basil Ch. høg² quiig² and held in the loosely closed fist. Then cold water or aguardiente is sprayed on the patient through the leaves and the opening of the fist. Sweet basil Sp. albahaca , Ch. høg² quiig² cah³ can also be made into a warm drink to cure dreaming. For craving, if a person’s desire for a certain meal is unsaturated and there is no more, he may get sick a few days hence, eyes aching with dark rings forming around them. The particular meal craved is eaten by the patient to assure a cure. An unsatisfied desire of a child for cracklings is likely to cause the child to get head sores. To create a hot pack, the leaves of chople [Critonia morifolia] Ch. moh¹³ hma² ti²lǿg² are made into a bundle and filled with hot coals, which is rubbed over an aching body part, at childbirth, for snakebite, and so forth. Fright therapy. I observed the following event: A child was sick with diarrhea and intestinal parasites and had been given a dose of worm medicine purchased at a pharmacy. The native healer arrived. He felt each of the child’s wrists and announced that he had suffered a fright Sp. espanto , Ch. juøh¹² . He asked if the child had been to the river that day and spoke of an evil place at the river where a bad spirit lives. It turns out that the child had fallen down outside of the home while playing. The healer asked the parent if she had blown on the child immediately. She had, but not then and there. She was told that she should have blown on him then and there. He asked for one peso worth of distilled sugarcane alcohol. The child cannot drink any because he has taken store-bought medicine for worms. While awaiting the arrival of the wine, the healer, with the leaf of an herb for Fright called frog-fruit Sp. hierba del espanto or yerbabuena [Lippia geminata] in his mouth, blew on the child’s arms in an upward motion from hand to head of the child. When the alcohol arrived he took some in his mouth, with the leaves, and then sprayed a mist of wine in the child’s face and over his front side from his mouth. He turned the child and blew up and over his back. He poured alcohol into the mother’s hand that she rubbed over the child’s body—back, stomach, chest, legs. With a leaf of the herb he made the sign of the cross on each bare arm, on the chest, and on the forehead, reciting “in the name of the father, the son, the holy ghost, the holy Trinidad” in Spanish. He then repeated this at a distance with the hand and without leaves. He pronounced that the child would recover. Other herbs for fright are høg² juøh¹² dsi¹³ guiuh¹³ hma² lit., ‘fright herb that grows up in trees’, Mexican cypella [ cipella mexicana ] Ch. høg² huø³ , flor de rosario [Aphelandra aurantiaca], Acanthus Sp. rama de toro [Ruellia aff. jussieuoides], Ch. høg² juøh¹² chii² ja³ quiing² , and water willow Sp. monte de oro or pluma de oro [Justicia Cf. tuerck-heimiana], Ch. høg² juøh¹² tig² . These are ground up, mixed in water, and drunk. Snakebite therapy. There are several kinds of poisonous snakes in the area around Palantla, including the coral snake Sp. coralillo , Ch. møh² chi³dság¹ , tropical rattler Sp. cascabel tropical , Ch. møh² hna² , Mexican moccasin Sp. mocasín , Ch. møh² ta³ lí³ , young of fer-de-lance Sp. rabo de hueso , Ch. møh² tig² cong¹² , adult fer-de-lance Sp. nauyaca or sorda , Ch. møh² tióg³ , and jumping nauyaca Sp. mano de metate or nauyaca saltadora , Ch. møh² nah³ . Up to forty or fifty different herbs are used to treat snakebite. The treatment is as follows: Seven stones are heated in a fire and then taken one at a time from the fire and dropped into cold water with assorted herbs to create a medicinal steam. The patient is placed in a hammock with the extremity that has received the snakebite suspended by a tumpline Sp. mecapal , Ch. ni³heh¹³ immediately above the container of water to allow the rising steam to bathe the wounded area. The steam is directed to and held around the wound by use of an inverted elephant ear leaf Sp. quequexte , Ch. mung² sei³ juǿin³ . The result is severe blistering, either from the venom or the steam, which I witnessed but which is said to always occur. This process is repeated with seven hot stones every few hours or whenever the extremity begins to ache again. The steam is said to kill the power of the snake venom. The blisters are said to be filled with venom as a result of the battle between the venom and the steam tán¹² nǿng³ jah quianh¹³ dsieg³ . When the seven stones have been used, snakebite herbs in an elephant-ear leaf are wrapped around the wounded member with a cloth to provide a little warmth. The patient cannot drink cold water, but only warm water prepared with the same snakebite herbs. The extremity is tied with a loose tourniquet as soon as the bite occurs. Four or five of these may be applied as swelling proceeds up the limb and can be loosened or removed as this happens and as they begin to cause pain. The healer also blows on the patient with herbs and distilled sugarcane alcohol. Some healers wrap hot ashes in a bundle of the leaves of the critonia plant Sp. chople , Ch. hma² ti²lǿg² , which are 7–10 inches long, and rub it over the patient from the head down to cool the snake venom güenh¹ jáh² or calm the venom siág¹² dsa nǿng³ jah . The steaming process is repeated three days in a row if the patient survives that long, after which the patient bathes to remove all the venom. The clothes are changed and the old ones are boiled and then washed in the river to finish destroying the venom. A few of the herbs used in snakebite therapy include: what the Chinantecs call ‘dove’s foot’ fern Ch. ma³nang³ tai³ jug² , a type of mimosa Sp. rabo de iguana , Ch. tang¹² tsíg³ , and, as mentioned above, critonia Sp. chople , Ch. hma² ti²lǿg² , which is also used to relieve the pain of childbirth. 787 Revelation and Divination Omens. Traditional Chinantec beliefs concerning the origin and nature of humans and other animals lend themselves to the idea that certain situations involving certain animals may, in fact, be communicative events that portend specific future events or situations for those who experience them. A selection of such ominous situations may be listed as follows: If a bridled weasel jǿin³ crosses a person’s path, it is a sign that a family member related to that person is about to die. If a frog enters a home when marriage arrangements are being made between two families, the marriage will not work out well. If a person encounters a certain species of black wasp jinh² , he should not continue in the direction he was headed or he will encounter a snake. If a person encounters a spider wasp hiég³ carrying a spider, it is a sign that a person in his family is about to die. If a person hears a wren calling in a certain unusual way, he will encounter an animal that is good to eat. The hummingbird is considered a bewitched animal jáh² ji²nah³ . If it enters a home, a baby in the home will die. A rainbow jah¹tsǿi³ believed to have animal status portends landslides tsøi² and torrential rains. If it precedes the sun, the phenomenon is past; if it follows the sun, it is still to come. Ribboned stratus clouds are said to anger snakes jneng¹² cuǿh¹² møh², cuénh² dsa², li¹hne² jáh² so that they are prone to bite people. Certain physiological characteristics or natural events also portend specific results: Twitching eyes portend sickness. If a child’s teeth are late in coming, the child’s head is said to be hard huh² dsi³ tsih² . This portends difficulty in learning to read and learning numbers. When a person sneezes away from home, it is said that someone at home has said of him, “He will be home soon.” When a person is suffering from a cold, it is said that God is dealing with him or her. A person who hiccoughs desires something. An earthquake indicates God’s anger towards someone and his desire to destroy the world by shaking it. The church bell is immediately rung and again in the evening of the same day to request God’s help. Taboos. A limited list of dangerous or inappropriate behaviors follows: A person should not bathe or say evil things on Easter not practiced by all. A child’s hair is not cut until he begins to speak lest he or she will take a long time to learn. The consumption of pork after having taken store-bought nontraditional medicine results in swelling of the face. A person must not work on a church festival day. This is particularly true of the Festival of Saint George of dragon fame, 23 April, which falls in the middle of the busiest field cutting season, because snakes are particularly active on that day. A pregnant woman should not eat honey lest the body be sluggish when the time comes for her child to be born. The anecdote is for the woman to eat honey when in labor. Babies are not permitted to cry lest an evil spirit think the child is unwanted and carry off its spirit, causing the child to sicken and eventually die. If a person continues to work during an earthquake, he will sink into the earth to hell. 788 Ritual The burning of incense. The burning of incense is a regular part of the Roman Catholic ritual practiced traditionally in Palantla. At the death of all baptized persons and at the return of the dead on All Saints’ Day, incense is conspicuously seen in the homes, near the body of the deceased from time of death until burial, and before the altar in the home during the All Saints’ festival. Hot coals are placed in a used sardine can with lid bent back as a handle, and a piece of incense is added. Keeping the coals hot requires near constant attention. There is also a metal censer with accompanying chains for swinging it, in the church, for the use of the priest when he comes to town for a festival event. 796 Organized Ceremonial Prayer reading. A lead singer with one or more assistants and instrumentalists, if available, may perform liturgical songs in the church on Sunday mornings or other religious holy days throughout the year. These are private citizens who have informally attained their skills through individual initiative. Roman Catholic liturgy is used in Spanish, which is not understood by many present. Performances may also occur in private homes by hire on special occasions such as death, All Saints’ Day, or on a birthday, which is equivalent to a person’s saint’s day. The reason for the latter is that names were traditionally chosen according to names of saints listed for the day of one’s birth in the Santoral , the Calendar of Saints’ Days. 827 Ethnopsychology No one gets a haircut away from one’s home town because a person is said to become accustomed to any place where he leaves his hair. If a person sells a pig and it continually returns home, the new owner will cut off some of the pig’s hair and place it around his own home so that the pig will become accustomed to live there. 844 Childbirth When labor contractions begin, a woman’s husband hangs a tumpline Sp. mecapal , Ch. ni³heh¹³ from overhead joists in the front room of the home, as a strap for her to hold onto during delivery, and a worn straw sleeping mat is spread on the floor beneath the hanging tumpline. The doors of the home are closed to avoid drawing the attention of neighbors or other passersby. The woman in labor takes her place on a low wooden stool, holding the strap above her head with both hands and draws up her knees close to her in a tight, but spread, squatting position. Her husband seats himself directly behind her on a second stool, straddling her body with his legs and embracing her around the abdomen with both hands, just above the fetus. When a labor contraction begins, the woman pulls herself up a little, by the tumpline, and her husband tightens his grip on her abdomen with downward pressure. The husband may be spelled by one of his or his wife’s male relatives or by an elderly neighbor. The woman is not allowed any luxury and is not permitted to lie down from the time labor begins until delivery, which is sometimes many hours. The infant is delivered onto a few cloths placed on the sleeping mat beneath its mother. An elderly female attendant, such as the woman’s godmother, after seeing that the mother is made more comfortable, ties and cuts the umbilical cord and withdraws to the kitchen fire with the infant where she proceeds to cleanse it by rubbing it with a leaf bundle of hot coals. If the infant is stillborn, he or she is buried without ceremony. The afterbirth is buried near the house in a worn jar, but is covered carefully so that dirt does not get into it. Dirt on the afterbirth would cause eye pain for the infant and would require unearthing the jar to clean the afterbirth. In the 1960s, the village authorities were advised within a few days of a new birth, and the secretary filled out a birth certificate that the father would sign when it was ready. The town secretary would then send a record to Valle Nacional every six months of all births and deaths. More recently, all parents are required to make their report to Valle Nacional where births and deaths are now recorded.

Chapter 9 The Second Twenty-Five Years, 1957–1982