SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARY
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
PUBLICATION NO. 7

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE
MODERN TARASCAN AREA

by
ROBERT C. WEST

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
PUBLICATION NO.7 ~

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE
MODERN TARASCAN AREA

by
ROBERT C. WEST

Prepared in Cooperation with the United States Department of
State as a Project of the Interdepartmental Committee
on Scientific and Cultural Cooperation

One of a series of monographs describing the results of the joint field investi-
gations of the Institute of Social Anthropology and the Escuela Nacional de
Antropologia of Mexico in the Tarascan area of Michoacan, Mexico, 1945-46

—.—————————————————————————————

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE e WASHINGTON :1948

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25,D.C. - - - ---+-+-++-+ee28 6 Price 75 cents

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
InstiTuTE oF SoctaL ANTHROPOLOGY,
Washington 25, D. C., June 13, 1947.

Srr: [Ihave the bonor to transmit herewith a manuscript entitled “Cultural
Geography of the Modern Tarascan Area,’’? by Robert C. West, and to recom-
mend that it be published as Publication Number 7 of the Institute of Social
Anthropology.

Very respectfully yours,
Grorce M. Foster, Director

Dr. ALEXANDER WETMORE,

Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

Preface. __-_-
Iphoneticmotes.—2 oe =) eee

CONTENTS

Thesmodern Tarascan. areas -=._---.---2--=-===-

Tarascan population—____

The physiographic areas____-__ ~~~
Climateiand vegetation--—~—.=-- _-- --=-.—_ =

The recession of mative: evan
Modern linguistic distributions______-

Tarascan settlements _----___-- ee oe eae

IEOUSeHUYIDCS= = 22 = eee eo ea een
The land system and the pueblosos2 22 sse225-

Tarascanveconomy====-~ == 2222522252822 22 - ee

QaQOorwnre

SHO AOANOARWN

Agricultural systems and associated crop types-
Field agriculture and associated crops___-
Monbiculnlte saan = aes ee eee

PAGE

Vv
VI

Tarascan economy—Continued

Bibliography----__--

Stock raising and animal products___-__-___--
Food- patie ae ecuvitles en ee Sigs

Fishing... Be Re ee ee ee
umbering activities: =_- =. 229) 225) sae
andicraftis=--=- So - 2
@Weramics=. 2. 225 2k oe ee
chextiles= 22 a5 == ee ee AS Soe ees
Wooderafts=—-2---.53
Lacquer work _______-
Leathercraft______ 2
Metalcraft ___-
Stonecutting_____
Trade and transport __

ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATES
(All plates at end of book)

. Physical landscape.
. Water supply and settlement.

House types.
House types.

. Maize culture.

Wheat culture.

. Horticulture and domestic animals.
. Fishing and forest exploitation.

. Ceramics.
. Ceramics.

Pottery making at Cocucho.
Pottery making at Cocucho (con-
tinued).

. Textiles.

. Textiles.

. Woodwork.

. Markets and transport.

FIGURES

. Decline of Tarasean population, 1500—1940____
. Growth of population in the Sierra, 1750-1940_
aelarascan planting tO0lss=s==-—5— eer a= ase =
. The T‘apdératdirakua irrigation device__-____--_
ae Lhedishyspearseandfisqa_ =. see = 2-2 se
Srbhegwheellathesea=s a= ee eee eS SS

PAGE
22
23
37
48
52
68

. Distribution of

MAPS

. Topographic map of the modern Tarascan area_
. Geognostic map of the modern Tarascan area__
. Length of frost season in northwest Michoacdn_

Climati¢e map of Michoac4n=_.--_--------=.-
Vegetation types in the modern Tarascan area
Soil types in the modern Tarascan area_______

. Pre-Conquest and modern boundaries of Taras-

Can speecht. == ==. eee {8

. Area of Tarascan speech, ca. 1750________----
. Area of Tarascan speech, ca. 1800____--------
. Area of Tarascan speech, ca. 1850__- ~~ --- oaEe
, Area.of Tarascan’ speech, 1940._> -=2=-2222==
. Distribution of Tarascan speech by settlements,

. Distribution of monolinguals in the Tarascan

area 19408250252 so: 3 ee

. Distribution of La Cafiada settlements, 1580

and. 19462222. 3232-2 222 eee

ePlanvof Uringuitiro,, 194622 = — 3: See
. Plan of Ahuiran,
=ePlan of irindaro, 04 G2e= see =e ee
. Distribution of house types in the Tarasecan

194625. 22. S22 eeee ee e

ares sl 78oandel94Gr cee e. = ee eee

handicrafts in the modern

Tarascan area

. Distribution of markets and their local trading

territory in the modern Tarascan area------
1m

PREFACE

The present study was done under the auspices
of the Institute of Social Anthropology, Smith-
sonian Institution, Washington, D. C., and in
cooperation with the Escuela Nacional de Antro-
pologia, Mexico, D. F. The study proposes to
serve as a background for the various detailed
pueblo monographs executed in the Tarascan
area by other members of the Institute.

Being a report on the cultural geography of a
region, the present paper is chiefly descriptive,
although a developmental treatment has been
employed wherever the scanty historical materials
would permit. Physical background is only
briefly considered; emphasis is on material culture,
particularly modern Tarascan economy: agricul-
ture, handicrafts, and trade. In addition, an
attempt is made to describe the areal recession
of Tarascan speech since Spanish contact.

Field work was done in April, May, and June
of 1946. With the exception of Cherandtzicurin,
all Tarascan towns were visited. Many neigh-

boring mestizo pueblos (formerly Tarascan) were
inspected to obtain comparative data. Approxi-
mately two-thirds of the field season was spent
in the Sierra. Archival research was done in the
Archivo del Arzobispado de Michoac&n, Morelia,
the Archivo General de la Nacién, Mexico, D. F.,
and the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico,
D. F.

I am especially indebted to Sr. Pablo Valasquez
G., a native Tarascan and anthropology student,
who accompanied me in the field. His intimate
knowledge of the Tarascan Sierra, its language,
and many of its customs was an invaluable aid,
not only in the field, but also while the report
was in preparation. Velasquez read a large part
of the manuscript and corrected the use and spell-
ing of all Tarascan words employed in the text.

Rosert C. West.

Mexico, D. F.
March 1947.

PHONETIC NOTE

The phonetic symbols used conform to the Tarascan alphabet approved by the Congreso
de Filélogos y Lingitistas of México in 1939 and employed by the Tarascan Project of the
Departamento de Asuntos Indigenas. The alphabet is based on standard Spanish usage
insofar as possible, with additional symbols added for Tarascan and with some clarification
of the Spanish symbols as indicated below.

The vowels a, e, 7, 0, u have Spanish values. The vowel a is intermediate between Spanish
t and u.

The consonants b, d, f, g,j, k,l, m, n, p, 7, s, and t have regular Spanish values. In addition
the following symbols are used:
is the equivalent of English or Spanish ts.
is the equivalent of English ch.
is used for the sound of English vg in “‘sing.”’
is the equivalent of French j.
is intermediate between Spanish l and r.
is the equivalent of Spanish rr.
is the equivalent of English sh.
is the equivalent of English z.

‘ &, k‘, p‘, and ¢‘ are aspirated forms of the consonants given above.

Mm & HS BR Org OD
_

—,

e tava

eae al got
ae Wing =

vd

Willa Jiménez

rajomonsaie 3
Be

‘ H 0
' dae }
f ‘ £ Tanganofcuoro /
re 1) a % ©.DEEA ALBER

a eel \v \ a
“La Wontera L-- Ko
a : 7
S-—s8000—

>

yi -

ase,
gfoptevare eA)

aad £3 a a
ae San José em

j
at) '
fa MS °

~ a Los Ganoas

IONACIO.
‘OR

Tipidio Gres
Sec ae | — y

sree soles mie, ) 2
i via

3 S
if Wieden hgaw
a

’

‘one n~.
pTifguindin }

| we f uv Ss ‘y >

bat Santo nr Fr Gu j

0,
Tocumbo

!
Hi
'
\ ;

~cherén
ee ant ne ‘| (one axAWpana
Zipcitos | 2 t

7 .
bZsonBenito 1 Aeiees
{Rancho Nuevo, i Peicciehs

f CELA ALBERGA ‘ & %
ra jes ‘ / \ ce 4 =
wy ‘ so me Tee Ahuiron s/f . ( sa
Sicvichoy | M4 co ‘ Boon ; Fi at

| vase Bhardan, - om , s Me Nahuatzen va M5660
Chefatog seRANJUATA oy 4 sabe «) “ 4 o> 1)
2, 4 eed ~ . J gXxuian

“* °

Se!
(pagotdcuarsy, 7
a

%~, ” fe Ae eT . ((/DE SAN MARCOST;
CDE LA VARA oo ii Pomacuordn fr j

’ a we A + Me \
( ~ / Naplzorog-
~ rongérfeuard
ve Sli IF ae buSrey

A Neen, ek”

pio Siago°
“VS UATRER! H

‘ ) ‘s~, NG:DESGHIVOIE aroeutin
“Pog uare!

Nocutzepoo,

ed toa ee \
Capacuaro/ AS me
1 lit, Lat (yes whta's. 900 y
( ELA ¢ RONA) Y, we EL REY VALIENTE! SS Ne
IN ftom
\ a) ie
SY *s 19" Tingambato,

aw
'

\ ’
A
aa

Huiramangaro\
San Juan Tumbio'

7 ;

Sim aa
') 6 9écom
“\

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‘
RINDO

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Coltzontyin

cob

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FS \
ne SAN LORENZO

a
/ Ea ens \

\ Sox

open Oe oy : j dToretan

\
ms
TARASCAN PUEBLO
MESTIZO PUEBLO
TARASGAN RANCHO
MESTIZO RANCHO
sm ALL-WEATHER HIGHWAY
—— ORY SEASON AUTO ROAD
owm= TRAIL
+++ RAILROAD

ra f *
Toneitaro ~
2

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c4
Le, sees

o Oe
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Cosil¥e ) a)
7 sok.
— ~~ Nillo Silva 7

[ 2

AREA OF
maP

8rco. dees Boncos

Contour interval 1000 feet

748988 O - 48 (Face p, 1)
Map 1.—Topographie map of the modern Tarascan area.

6
he Janitziog

v
—Oardeuaro
2 ape

101° 30°

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Iratzio

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*~ @thuotzi

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{ ©-DEL Yugo | pYAMEL %
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BARRA

101°30°

Cultural Geography of the Modern Tarascan Area

By Rosert C. West

THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA

The present territory of Tarascan speech con-
sists of a relatively small area (about 3,500 sq.
km.) in northwestern Michoacan. Approximately,
the modern area extends eastward from the
Zamora-Los Reyes railroad to the east shore of
Lake PAtzcuaro, and southward from the M éxico-
Guadalajara highway to a line drawn between
Patzcuaro and the peak of Tancitaro (map 1).!
A few small islands of Tarascan-speaking folk
exist south of the main area. Within the present
area nearly 55,000 individuals of indigenous speech
live in 66 Tarascan pueblos and 50 ranchos.

Four geographical regions comprise the modern
Tarascan area. (1) The Sierra (called by the
Tarascans Sierra or Siéris) is the largest of the
regions, the main portion of which extends west-
ward from Lake Patzcuaro to slightly east of the
Zamora-Los Reyes railroad.“ The northern

! Map 1 is based on an enlarged portion of sheet 643A (Uruapan) of the
AAF Preliminary Base, 1:500,000. This sheet was compiled by the U. 8S.
Aeronautical Chart Service in January 1945 from AAF trimetrogon photog-
raphy taken in December 1942. Positions and names of topographic fea-
tures which appear on the accompanying map were checked on the ground
during the spring of 1946. Some errors were encountered on the original
map: misnamed localities (e. g. Ajuno), small errors in routes of highways
and railroads, mistakes in elevations. Drainage was found to be fairly
correct. Onmap1only the more important trails are indicated. Numbered
localities refer to the following ranchos:

1. Guarachanillo. 14. San Maros Aracht- 27. Patambicho.
2. Aranza. cuta. 28. Ojo de Agua.
3. Las Trojes. 15. Huancho. 29. Ichupio.
4. Las Cafias. 16. Las Cocinas. 30. Tarerio.
5. El Venado. 17. San Nicolas. 31. Ucasandstacua.
6. Tapan. 18. La Alberca. 32. La Vinata.
7. Tierras Blancas. 19. La Atascada. 33. Las Granadas.
8. La Mesa. 20. El Rosario. 34. Yunuén.
chars 21. El Tepemal.
9. La Tinaja. 22. Tepetate 35. Tecuena.
10. Queréndaro. 23. Tejamanil. 36. Urandén Morales.
11. Zarzamora. 24. Pacdpatiro. 37. Urandén Morelos.
12. San Luis Sorena. 25. Chupicuaro. 38. Urandén Carian.
13. La Jolla. 26. Oponguio, 39. E] Padre.

The following Tarascan ranchos (listed in the official 1940 census) are not
located: Tzintzicha (municipio of Chilchota); Agua Escondida (municipio
of Tangancicuaro); Las Encinillas and Los Laureles (municipio of Tanga-
mandapio); La Providencia and El] Tropezén (municipio of Los Reyes); El
‘Tejocote (municipio of Paracho); Revolucion (municipio of Erongaricuaro);
and Itziparamucu (municipio of Tzintzuntzan).

1a On modern maps the high area west of Lake Patzcuaro is termed “‘Sierra
de los Tarascos.’’ In colonial documents the area was usually called ‘‘Sierra
de Michoacan.”’

boundary approximates the México-Guadalajara
highway, while the steep escarpment that plunges
into the Balsas-Tepalcatepec Basin marks its
southern limit. An eastward extension lies south
and southeast of the lake and joins with the Sierra
de Ozumatlan in eastern Michoacan. Containing
60 percent of the present indigenous group, the
Sierra west of the lake is the modern center of the
Tarascans. (2) The Lake Patzcuaro (Japinda.zu,
Inéimecuatu) area contains 19 percent of the
Tarascan population distributed in 13 pueblos and
13 ranchos along the lake shore and on the islands.
Formerly one of the political centers of the
Tarascan Empire, the lake region, in terms of
indigenous speech, has declined rapidly since late
colonial times. The speech of the entire south
shore and the towns of Quiroga, Tzintzuntzan, and
Erongaricuaro is predominantly Spanish. North
and northeast of the Sierra lie two small areas of
indigenous speech, which appear to be remnants
of the once large northern Tarascan zone. One of
these is (3) La Canada (EréSeman), a small narrow
valley located at the northern edge of the Sierra.
This valley was the region of the ‘‘onze pueblos” of
colonial days. Today nine towns with 9 percent
of the total Tarascan population are clustered
along a strip of alluvium within the valley. (4)
The other remnant of the northern zone lies north
and northwest of Lake Patzcuaro and contains
seven pueblos and 9.5 percent of the total number
of Tarascan-speaking folk.2 Other regions of
Tarascan speech consist of “islands” south of the
main area. Cuanajo, located southwest of Mo-
relia in the western extension of the Sierra, is the
Jast fragment of the former indigenous area south-
east of Lake Patzcuaro. San Angel Zurumucapio
and the newly formed towns (Caltzontzin and
Villa Silva) harboring refugees from the stricken

2 These pueblos include Tirindaro, Tarejero, and Naranja on the shore of

former Zacapu marsh; Azajo and Comanja on the northeastern edge of the
Sierra; Teremendo and Zipiajo at the northern foot of Cerro el Zirate.

ry

2 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

zone around Paricutin Volcano, are the remaining
predominantly Tarascan settlements in the tierra
templada, the upper part of the plateau escarp-
ment (2 percent of Tarascan population in 1940).
Formerly an important part of the Tarascan
Empire, the hot lands of the Tepalcatepec and
Balsas Basins (tierra caliente, Jusio) have lost
completely the last vestige of spoken Tarascan.

A small number of Tarascan-speaking folk live
in some of the larger mestizo towns adjacent to
the main Tarascan area: Uruapan, Patzcuaro,
Coeneo, Zacapu, Zamora. With the possible
exception of a few old households in Uruapan, the
presence of aboriginal speech in the large mestizo
settlements probably represents a recent influx
from rural areas (a desire for urban life, migration
from the voleano-devastated areas) rather than
linguistic remnants.

THE PHYSIOGRAPHIC AREAS

The Sierra.—The Tarascan “Sierra” is not a
mountain chain; it is rather a volcanic plateau,
whose average elevation is some 1,500 feet higher
than that of the surrounding areas and whose
surface has been roughened by large composite
volcanoes, scores of small cinder cones, and ex-
tensive lava flows (malpais). Lying within Mex-
ico’s transcontinental volcanic axis, the Sierra is
the locale of the country’s newest active volcano,
Paricutin.’ Within the central part of the area
elevations range from 6,900 feet to over 12,660
feet (Cerro de Tancitaro). The altitude of the
plateau increases from west to east. Elevations
of towns in the western half of the Sierra range
from 5,180 feet (Atapan) to 7,800 feet (Pamaté-
cuaro);in the eastern half, from 8,040 feet (Sevina)
to 8,460 feet (Cumachuén), the highest pueblo in
the Sierra west of Lake PAtzcuaro. Even higher
settlements (e. g. the rancho of Cruz Gorda,
8,987 feet) exist southeast of the lake, and the
highest point in Michoacan, the Cerro de San
Andrés (12,840 feet), lies in the Sierra de Ozu-
matlin, 62 km. east of Morelia.

Tertiary and Quaternary vulcanism has pro-
duced the major land forms in the Sierra (map 2).
In age the volcanic forms range from probably
Eocene to the present time. The oldest are mas-
sive composite volcanoes, the highest and most

8 The chief scientific references on the Paricutin Voleano include Ordéiiez

(1945), Robles Ramos (1943), Pérez Pefia (1946), Mexico City Universidad
Nacional Instituto de Geologia (1945).

prominent landmarks in the area: Cerro de
Tancitaro (12,660 feet), Cerro de Patamban
(12,300 feet), Cerro de Quinseo (10,800 feet),
Cerro el Zirate (10,955 feet). The flanks of these
mountains are composed mainly of andesite with
some pinkish rhyolite near the summits; small
veins of mineral-bearing quartz sometimes occur
within the andesite. Conical shape and radial
drainage characterize these voleanoes, but most
craters have been destroyed by erosion. Fre-
quently erosion of soft consolidated ash situated
between andesite flows has formed caves, which
have acquired importance in Tarascan folklore.

Cinder cones and lava flows, Pleistocene to
Recent in age, represent the younger forms in the
Sierra. The entire area is dotted with cones, 250
to 700 feet high, with no apparent alinement.
Most are composed of semiconsolidated ash,
cinder, and large blocks of explosion remnants.
Two types of cones occur: (1) the symmetrical
cone with a well-developed, flat-floored crater,
and (2) the breached cone, with one side partially
destroyed, initially by explosion or lava flow and
subsequently by erosion. Some cones are ribbed
by radial drainage; others carry scars of surface
slips; owing to porous surface materials, a few
show little effects of erosion, in spite of high
(35°-45°) angle slopes.

Basaltic lava flows, originating usually from
Pleistocene or Recent fissures in the sides of old
volcanoes or occasionally from large cinder cones,
have descended slopes in narrow corridors and
have fanned out in wide expanses on gentle
eradients. Fantastically rough surfaces charac-
terize the flows, which form the Sierra’s badlands—
agriculturally unproductive and barriers to horse
and wheeled traffic. Comparative age of the
flows can be roughly determined by the degree
of rock decomposition and character of vegetation
cover. In some flows, such as that south of
Pomacuaran, depressions and crevasses are par-
tially filled with alluvium; large areas are covered
with a thin soil mantle; sizable pines and oaks
cover most of the flow. These features evidence
a long period of exposure. In contrast, the
rough, blackened, almost treeless malpais north-
west of Zacapu at the Sierra’s northern edge,
appears to be a much younger flow.

Volcanic activity in the Sierra has possibly been
continuous from Eocene to the present day.
Jorullo (1759) and Parfcutin (1943) represent

102°30

Map 2.—Geognostic 1
(malpais). (4) Le
of stream alluviu

oe en ae

rn ar

a

102° 30°

id
oa
he Torecuato

wake
Patambon

Pomatdcuaroo | fo Cocucho ot
Urapicho, A

e
Ms ¢ <= oAhuiran

Sicuichog | =®
° Choropaneee @

eo?
ae
ee

s
oAngahua
“hee e
e

©Zirosto

e e
°
Peribon : A
o e A
<a Oe Gar e ie vKa
2 @VOL. DE PARICUTIN Tingombato
x KAKA) ce
A
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? el

°
6. DE TANCITARO i ifs ANA *oQer" Ang
‘ Uruopany QS i .
, RA

oToncitaro
a)

102°

Map 2.—Ge :

: 0; s :

jeognostic map of the modern Tarascan area. Explanation of symbols: (1) Steep slopes of Tertiary composite volcanoes.
unconsolidated ash, cinder, and other volcanic debris.

malpai d i
a sa Low er slopes of volcanoes, cols, mesas, small flattish basins of consolidated and
alluvium and lacustrine deposits. (6) Highly dissected volcanic slopes of the southern escarpment.

@° Azojo

San Jerénimo b>

De

, Oo

f

eg

Q oO

* of 2
mroageifeaera see »
°

PGtzcuaro \
go GD)
A )

aot
Guanajot

ow Wd
Santa Claraom—" Y

101" 30°
(2) Recent cinder cones.

Data from aerial photographs and field notes.

(3) Recent lava flows

(5) Large flattish-floored basins

7148988 O - 48 (face p. 2)

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 33

historical examples of vulcanism within or ad-
jacent to the area. However, vulcanism associ-
ated with human ancient settlement in the area,
is unquestionably evidenced by the occurrence of
charred maize ears embedded in a basaltic lava
flow 18 km. northwest of Morelia.*

Aside from land forms resulting directly from
vulcanism, others caused by depositional processes
occur within the Sierra. Between the old com-
posite volcanoes and young cinder cones flattish
surfaces have been formed first by ash and cinder
fall and later by aeolian and alluvial deposition
from surrounding slopes. Such surfaces, which
compose only a small percentage of total land
area, are the agriculturally important sections of
the Sierra. Some form saddles or cols between
adjacent hills; the larger plains form basins of
interior drainage. The largest basins are Llano
Grande, southeast of Charapan; the Plan de
Nurio; that of Paracho, Aranza, and Cheran; the
plain of Nahuatzen; of Sevina; of Paracho; ete.
(map 2; pl. 1). Minor forms include dissected
aprons of alluvium and semiconsolidated ash at
the base of volcanoes and steep-sided arroyos
eroded into alluvium in the upper parts of the
basin plains.

One of the most characteristic physical features
of the Sierra is the paucity of perennial streams
and lakes. Although this is an area of moderate
summer precipitation, the porous volcanic surface
quickly absorbs most of the available moisture.
A few permanent, spring-fed streams occur on
the northern and western flanks of Cerro de
Patamban and on the western and southern sides
of Cerro de Tancitaro. Small springs occur on
the flanks of the old composite volcanoes, whose
porous rocks form a reservoir of rain water. Such
springs afford the sole water supply for many
Sierra villages. Only on the edges of the Sierra
plateau, at the contact of porous and impervious
rock layers, do large springs occur.

The Lake area.—At the eastern edge of the
Sierra exists a depression filled by Lake P&tzcuaro.
Sierran geomorphology (young and old volcanic
forms) almost surrounds the lake, but predomi-
nates on its northern, western, and southern shores.
Twelve kilometers south of Pétzcuaro small Lake
Zirahuén, within the eastern prong of the Sierra,
appears to have been formed by a lava-blocked

4 An excellent specimen of charred maize so embedded is in the Museo
Regional Michoacano, Morelia,

stream.’ Both lakes present similar shore fea-
tures—moderately steep banks alternating with
wide, flattish delta fans.

In other respects the two lakes are distinct.
Patzcuaro is shallow (deepest point in the southern
arm, 20 feet; in the northern part, 50 feet, in
1941); Zirahuén is relatively deep (148 feet, maxi-
mum sounding). Moreover, while the level of
Zirahuén (6,953 feet in 1942) is relatively stable,
that of Patzcuaro (6,671 feet in 1942) has fluctu-
ated frequently in historical times. Since 1939
the lake level has descended nearly 4 feet, exposing
large areas of mud flats along the shore and re-
vealing one new island (Pastora) near the south-
west corner of the lake (pl. 1). In some places
the descending waters have uncovered old tree
stumps, indicating that formerly the lake level
was even lower than at present. On the other
hand, the western portion of the large lacustrine
plain of Chapultepec in historical times formed
an eastward extension of the lake’s southeast arm,
denoting a former level higher than the present
one.® The cause of flucuation in level is not clear.
De Buen (1944), judging from meteorological data
(1939-43), has suggested a correlation between
rainfall and evaporation variation on the one
hand and lake surface fluctuation on the other.
The excessive evaporation and low rainfall during
those years likely affected lake volume, but normal
precipitation and evaporation in following years
have not halted the gradual decrease in lake level.
Moreover, if fluctuation is caused by meteorolog-
ical elements, one would expect neighboring lakes
to be similarly affected. Periodic clearing and
clogging of sublacustrine crevices, often associated
with lakes of volcanic origin, is another popular
hypothesis applied to Lake Patzcuaro.

The lake contains 10 islets on which live some
of the most conservative of the Tarascan people—
the fishermen. The four islands off the Taafu-k*éri
Peninsula (Pacanda, Yunuén, Tecuena, and
Janitzio) are old volcanic hilltops with steep banks
and, with the exception of flat-topped Pacanda,
with little land suitable for cultivation. In the

5 De Buen (1944) assigns the origin of all present and former lakes in the
western Portion of the Mesa Central to disruption of normal drainage by
vuleanism. He also suggests that Lakes Patzcuaro, Zirahuén, Cuitzeo, and
Yuriria were formed from portions of Rio Lerma drainage, since the fish
Chirostoma, abundant in Lake Chapala and the Lerma, is found also in these
lakes, the number of species decreasing from Chapala (10) to Zirahuén (2).

6 The 16th-century map of Lake PAtzcuaro which accompanies the Relacién
de Michoacan (1903) clearly shows the former extent of the southeastern arm.
At the time of the Conquest this section included the island of Aputato, now
a hill some 300 m, from the water's edge.

4 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

shallow southern part of the lake lie JarAcuaro,
the largest of the group, and the newly formed
Pastora. (The former island of Copujo is now
attached to the mainland.) Both islands are low,
composed of semiconsolidated alluvial materials.
Along the southern shore only low marsh now
separates the Urandén islets (low voleanic hills)
from the mainland (pl. 1).

The southern escarpment.—Although geologi-
cally similar to the Sierra, the abrupt southern
escarpment, which forms part of the Mesa
Central’s southern wall, constitutes a distinct
physiographic area. Pleistocene and Recent
vulcanism continues from the Sierra to the Balsas
and Tepalcatepec Rivers, Jorullo having been the
most recent volcanic activity on the escarpment.
The canyons formed by deeply entrenched spring-
fed streams are the escarpment’s salient features.
Some barrancas exceed 500 feet in depth. The
upper tributaries of the escarpment streams are
eroding headwardly into the Sierra, capturing
enclosed basins and intermittent water courses.’
Above the barranca area shallow basins occur in
the upper portion of the escarpment. Probably
of volcanic origin, these flattish-floored valleys are
now tapped by escarpment streams. Typical
examples are the plains surrounding Uruapan,
those below Periban and Los Reyes, the valleys
of Tingambato and Tacambaro, all important
sites of former Tarascan settlement in the tierra
templada.

The northern plateau area.—The former Taras-
can area north of the Sierra forms part of the
interior plateau county of Central Mexico. For
the most part physiography is characterized by
old volcanic hills and mountains separated by
flat to rolling plains country. The part of this
region formerly inhabited by Tarascans extends
from Lake Chapala east to the Sierra de Ozumatlan
and from the Sierra north to the Lerma River.
(The low areas near the river and its tributaries
are often termed the ‘Bajio.”’) A narrow belt
of the hill and plains landscape also extends south
from Lake Chapala to include the Cotija-Tin-
giiindin area along the western side of the Sierra.
Average elevations in the interior plateau decrease
from 7,200 feet along the flanks of the Sierra de
Ozumatlin to 5,000 feet at Lake Chapala. The

7 For example, this phenomenon has occurred at the southwestern edge
of the Sierra, where a tributary of the Tepaleatepee has apparently captured

the drainage of the structural basin which runs east-west from Parangaricu-
tiro to Periban.

higher hills and mountains rise 2,600 to 4,000
feet above the surrounding plains.

The young volcanic land forms found in the
Sierra are lacking in much of the northern area,
where the principal elevations consist of eroded
composite Tertiary voleanoes. A few tongues of
Recent lava flow from the Sierra into the northern
edge of the plains, and cinder cones extend north-
ward from El Zirate. Many lakes, some cecupy-
ing structural basins, dot the northern area. The
extensive sections of old alluvium, which form a
good part of the plains, probably represent beds
of Pleistocene lakes. At the northern and north-
western base of the Sierra many spriag-fed lakes
and marshes existed in historical times, e. g.,
Ciénaga de Zacapu, de Tangancicuaro, de Chapala,
ete. The lacustrine basins and the borders of
the former lakes and marshes were the major
areas of Spanish settlement in the Tarascan North,
for both afforded year-round pasture and _ sites
for irrigated wheat farms. Some marshy sections
still exist, but natural desiccation and artifical
drainage have converted much of the wet area
to dry farmland. The once extensive chain of
lakes in the Cotija graben, west of the Sierra, has
almost completely disappeared, and the marshes
of Zacapu, around which are grouped a few rem-
nant Tarascan pueblos, have been converted into
a large farming area.

A unique physiographic subarea of the northern
zone, called “La Canada,” a narrow east-west
depression at the northern base of the Sierra, is
still one of the significant Tarascan regions. The
valley floor, 10 km. long and 2 km. wide, decreases
rapidly in altitude from 6,360 feet at its eastern
end to 5,840 feet at Chilchota, near the western
extremity (pl. 1). The western end of the valley
is marked by an ancient lava flow, which once
partially blocked normal drainage. Subsequent
deposition of alluvium (possibly lacustrine) behind
the lava dam has resulted in the present wide
flattish floor of the valley’s western half. Today
the stream draining the valley flows subsequently
through a deep gorge cut through the northern
end of the lava flow. The numerous intermittent
streams which descend from the adjacent hills
have built up small alluvial fans along the valley
sides. Like other areas at the edge of the Sierra,
La Canada is favored by numerous large springs
issuing from fissures at the southern and eastern
borders of the depression. Alluvium and water

rn

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST oO

have attracted human settlement to the valley
since prehistoric times. Sierra Tarascans, who
‘all La Cafiada “ErdéSemen”’ (view from above),
probably visited the valley for chile and early
maize before the Spanish Conquest. Spaniards
immediately seized the well-watered plains near
Chilchota for wheat fields. Today La Cafiada is
a garden spot of orchards and wheat fields amid
recky volcanic hills.

CLIMATE AND VEGETATION

Meteorological data.—In dealing with meteor-
ology, northwestern Michoacan will be treated as
a whole; attempts will be made to point out
regional differences in temperature and rainfall.
Meteorological stations in the area are few; data
are entirely lacking for the Sierra. Consequently,
only general statements can be made concerning
the weather and climate of modern Tarasca.

102°30.
Zamora

60

/ F
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[e} °
al
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o

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fe}

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Zirosto

CDE TANCITARO

102°30'

Map 3.—Length of frost season in northwest Michoacsn.

Annual temperature ranges throughout the area
are small.§ Lowest winter temperatures occur in
the Sierra, the Tarascan tierra fria, where noctur-
nal freezing and frosts are common from November
to March ® (map 3). Winter temperatures in the
northern plateau and Lake P&tzcuaro areas are
somewhat milder then those of the Sierra (January
avereges: Zamora, 16.2° C.; Zinapecuaro, 15.9°;
Paétzcuaro, 13.9°), and the number of days with
frost is smaller. winters of the upper
escarpment (tierra templada) are frost-free (Jan-
uary average for Uruapan, 16.0° C.).

The

Summer

§ Data from seven stations in the area give annual temperature ranges from
3.9° C. (Hacienda Tequecsran, 10 km. south of Uruapan) to 7.7° C.
(Zacapu). The meteorological data given in text are taken from Atlas
climatolocvieo de México (Mexico, Servicio meteorlogico mexicano, 1939).

® The mining town of Tlalpujahua (elev. 8,500 feet), on the eastern border
of Michoacan, 140 km. east of PAtzeuaro, may afford temperature data
similar to that of the Sierra. December and January are the coldest months,
with average monthly temperatures of 11.8° and 11.5°, respectively. Maxi-
mum temperatures occur in April and May (15.0° and 15.9° C.). whieh are
probably somewhat lower than those occurring in the Sierra.

101°30'

Coeneo
oO

°

5150
2p o Quiroga

°

Sonto Juana
°

Tacdmboro

101°30'

Isopleths indicate the average length of annual period in

days, in which frosts oecur. . Data are mainly from reckonings by local inhabitants.

6 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

temperatures are high over the entire Tarascan
area, but less so in the higher Sierra. The
warmest months are April and May, the period
immediately before the rainy summer (May
average temperatures: Zacapu, 19.1° C.; Uruapan,
22.4°; Zamora, 23.2°; Cuitzeo, 23.2°; Pdtzcuaro,
19.9°).

Precipitation in the area, as in most parts of
Mexico, is seasonal, 80 percent of the annual
total falling mainly as convectional thunder-
showers in June, July, August, and September.
In the Sierra the summer rains often continue as
drizzles for a period of 3 to 4 days, suggesting
local cyclonic origin. Occasionally during the
months of December and January light winter
rains, called cabafiuelas, or janingerkua, occur.
These rains prevail over most of western Mexico
when cyclonic disturbances over the Pacific reach
inland, a condition which occurs every 3 or 4
years.'° Such precipitation often falls as snow
on the higher volcanoes in the Sierra, such as
Tancitaro, Patamban, and Quinseo. Freak snow
storms have been recorded in historical times; in
September 1887 several inches of snow fell in the
vicinity of Charapan and San Felipe, caving roofs
and destroying the maize crop.!! Another curious
meteorological phenomenon of the Sierra is the
prevalence of radiation fog in the low basins from
late summer to early winter. Forming in the
early morning hours (after 1 a. m.), the fog evap-
orates by noon. Its presence lowers average
daily temperatures and prevents rapid evapora-
tion of surface moisture.”

Annual precipitation in the area north and east
of the Sierra averages from 750 to 850 mm. A
greater amount is recorded around Lake Patz-
cuaro (town of Patzcuaro, 1,109 mm.), and even
more probably falls in the Sierra, where no records
exist. The greatest precipitation in Tarasca is
recorded along the southern (windward) side of
the Sierra in the upper escarpment zone. (Aver-
age annual totals for Uruapan, 1,683 mm.; Ario
de Rosales, 1,225 mm.; Tacdimbaro, 1,240 mm.)

‘0 In northwestern Mexico, particularly in Sonora and the Sierra Madre
Occidental, the winter cyclonic storms are called equipatas. Although they
are part of the same frontal system, the eqguipatas occur more frequently
than the cabaviuelas since northwestern Mexico is nearer the North Pacifie
center of frontogenesis.

'' Lumholtz (1902, vol. 2, p. 365) states that water has been known to freeze
in Cherfn and Zacapu on June 10.

The Sierra fogs are often mentioned by colonial chroniclers. One,
describing the Charapan area in 1789: ‘ . . . continwalmente se ve el terreno
cuebierto de neblas, que evaporen y eralala humedad de latierra’’ (AGN Historia,
vol. 73, f. 219).

Climatic areas and associated vegetation.—
Sufficient statistical data are not available to
construct accurately a map showing climatic
types in the Tarascan area. Using (1) the avail-
able statistics from the few existing stations, (2)
vegetation boundaries taken from field observa-
tions and aerial photographs, and (3) elevations
from topographic maps compiled from aerial
photography, an attempt has been made to locate
climatic areas based on the Koéppen system
(map 4).

The Sierra.—The Cwb and Cwe climatic types
of Képpen"™ correspond to the tierra fria of the
Tarascans—the Sierra, its eastern extension (in-
cluding the Sierra de Ozumatlan), and the south-
eastern part of the northern plateau area. A
mixed oak-pine forest forms the dominant vegeta-
tion of the Sierra and its eastern extension, and
corresponds to the higher and colder phase of the
Cwhb climatic zone. (Cf. maps 4 and 5.) Pinus
leiophylla (pino chino) and P. michoacana var.
cornuta (pino lacio) are the principal pines
(p‘ukiri) of the Sierra (Martinez, 1945). (Pl. 1.)
The former species is the main turpentine pro-
ducer, while the latter, a straight, tall tree,
affords the best lumber. Minor species of pines
found in the Sierra include P. teocote, P. pseudos-
trobus, and in the upper escarpment zone, the
subtropical pine P. oocarpa. Even at high
altitudes the pines rarely form solid stands, but
are mixed with numerous species of oak, the latter
dominent at lower altitudes, the former at higher
elevations. Some 30 species of oak (urikua,
tuktis, Sariri), both deciduous and_ persistent,
occur in the Sierra and adjacent areas. Among
the more common are Quercus fulva, Q. acuminata,
Q. circinata, Q. laxa, Q. crassipes, and Q. pandurata
(Trelease, 1924). Often mixed with pine and
oak are madrofio (pandnksa; Arbutus sp.); various
laurels (Lauraceae); many hydrophytes in bar-
ranca bottoms, such as jaboncillo (saépu), palo
blanco (udrpit-uku; Alnus sp.), palo colorado
(éaraépit-uku).

On lower slopes one often sees the Mexican
“crab apple” (actually a hawthorne) or tejocote
(kaais; Crataegus mexicana) and the “cherry” or
capulin (Séngua; Prunus capuli), both of which

13 Mathematical values of Képpen symbols: C, temperature of coldest
month between —3° and 18° C.; w, dry winter, rainy summer; b, tempera-
ture of warmest month less than 22° C.; c, temperature of coldest month

above —38° C., and mean temperature of less than 4 months out of the year
is more than 10° C.

a

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8 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

are frequently semicultivated in hedgerows and in
house lots. Agave (akimba; A. latissima, A.
americana) is also a frequent hedge plant found
particularly on the outskirts of settlements, and
the tree yucca or izote (¢ambasa; Yucca australis),
although more common at lower altitudes, is often
seen In Sierra villages. Understory vegetation in
the oak-pine zone is sparse, possibly owing to the
annual burning of herbaceous plants in the forest
to improve summer forage. Some of the more
prominent understory plauts are zarzamora
(¢ttn; Rubus sp.), a wild blackberry especially
abundant along hedgerows, and wild grape vines
(Vitis sp.). Various epiphytes, such as orchids
of many species, are found on the trunks and
branches of pine and oak throughout the Sierra.

Although meteorological data are lacking, the
climate of elevations above 10,000 feet is possibly
Cwe, i. e., cold winters and cool summers (map 4).
Such elevations occur on the upper slopes cf the
higher volcanoes, where snow occasionally falls
and where fir (Abies religvosa) forms the ,dominant
vegetation. On slopes above 8,700 feet this tree
(pinabete, t*ktimbu) starts to appear among pine
and oak. At 10,000 feet solid stands of fir begin
and continue to the mountain peaks, where high
altitude pine (P. hartwegii) has gained a foothold in
eracks and crevices in rocky cliffs. Understory
vegetation in the fir forest coasists of various
herbaceous plants, including a bunchgrass cailed
zacate or j6éin (Muhlenbergia macroura). The
green shoots of j6¢in afford the principal forage for
sheep and goat herds which are grazed on the high
slopes of Cerro de Patamban and (before the
eruption of Paricutin) on Cerro de Tancitaro.

The type of original vegetation in the basin
plains within the Sierra is problematical. Prob-
ably cleared and cultivated for more than 300
years, these plains now show little evidence of
the original vegetation cover. The dark-colored
soil of the plains suggests the former presence of
a grass cover, possibly with scattered oaks and
pines.

The Lake district.-According to temperature
figures, the shores of Lake Patzcuaro fall within
the tierra fria climate (Cwb). Owing to higher
winter temperatures than those experienced in
the Sierra, and to absence of fog, the Lake district
enjoys a warm phase of Cwh (possibly transitional
between Cwb and Cwa). Oak and associated
broadleaf trees, such as madrono, jaboncillo, ete.,

PUBLICATION NO. 7

form the dominant plant complex of a belt 3 km.

wide around the lake. Moreover, colorfn
(pforén¢a; Hrythrina americana), casahuate

(Ipomoea murucoides), and zapote blanco (uriata;
Casimiroa edulis), all characteristic of the warmer
sections of the northern plateau, are common
hedge plants in the Lake area. Along the lake
shore, water-loving plants, including a willow
(tatimu; Salix bonplandiana), shrubs of ““tepozin”’
(Buddleia sp.), and clumps of bamboolike carrizo
(pfatamu; Arundo donar) are not uncommon;
while in marshy sections canebrakes (tule or
pa¢imu; Cyperus thrysiflorus) abound. Other
aguatic plants include various waterlilies and
hyacmths (Nymphaea sp.; ichhornia speciosa).
Possibly a mixed pine-oak forest once covered the
lower slopes bordering the lake, but, if so, the pines
have long since been destroyed for firewood and
lumber. Occasionally lone specimens of Pinus
leiophylla are found on the outskirts of lake
villages.

The northern plateau.—The Cwbh climate ex-
tends northward from the Sierra into the south-
eastern part of the northern plateau area. In the
middle and lower Rio Lerma Basin (Bajio) and in
La Canada, however, the Cwa climate of the
tierra templada occurs. In both Cwa and Cwhbh
areas of the northern plateau, oak and pine forests
occupy only the summits of the higher hills, below
which exist stands of oak and madrofo. The
lower slopes and plains carry an association of
grass and shrub, the latter consisting of casahuate,
zapote blanco, tejocote, palo blanco (Lysiloma
candida), granjeno (Celtis pallida), jara amarillo
(téksten; Senecio salignus), all typical of the more
humid portions of the central plateau. Xerophy-
tes, such as huisache (Acacia sp.), mesquite
(Prosopis juliflora), and various cacti (mainly
Opuntieae), are common. In the plains, fresnos
(padimu; Fraxinus sp.) form gallery forests along
streams, and in draws within the hills hydrophy-
tes, such as wild ahuacate and other laurels, pre-
dominate. Formerly extensive meadows existed
at the edge of swamps and lakes, particularly in
the lowlands east of Lake Chapala and the well-
watered plains near the northern edge of the
Sierra. In the northern plateau pine and oak
forests were formerly more extensive than at
present. Many of the hilltops north of the
present México-Guadalajara highway, which are
now barren cf arboreal vegetation, were once

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102°30'

101° 30°

748988 O - 48 (Face p- 8)
i hs and field notes.
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CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—-WEST 9

covered with pine and oak within the memory of
living inhabitants. Increased cultivation of slopes
and constant cutting for firewood and charcoal
will soon destroy the greater part of the pine-oak
remnants in the northern plateau.

The escarpment zone.—South of the Sierra lies
a series of climatic types arranged in altitudinal
sequence. The upper part of the escarpment
(5,600 to 3,600 ft.) is characterized by a narrow
belt of Cwa (tierra templada) climate, which is
followed abruptly by the subhumid tierra caliente
(below 3,600 feet), or Aw. Below 2,000 feet with-
in the Tepaleatepec and Balsas Basins, a semiarid
tropical climate (BSh) prevails.

The pine-oak association of the Sierra spills
over onto the upper escarpment, but the sub-
tropical Pinus oocarpus becomes the dominant
pine. Between 4,600 and 3,600 feet, pines disap-
pear, leaving an open oak forest mixed with sub-
tropical and tropical plants of southern Mexico.
At lower elevations the latter plants become
dominant."

SOILS

Three soil types, which tend to coincide with
climate and vegetation, predominate in the Taras-
can area: (1) a yellowish-brown leached soil of
the upper mountain slopes (Cwb to Cwe, pine-fir
cover); (2) a dark, fine sandy loam (t‘uptiri) of the
lower slopes and basins in the Sierra (Cwhb, oak-
pine, probably grass vegetation); and (3) the
reddish-brown clay soil (¢ar4nda) of the lower
altitudes (warm phase of Cwb, Cwa, broadleaf
vegetation) around Lake PAatzcuaro, in the lower
elevations of the northern plateau, and in the
escarpment zone (map 6). Transitional and special
soil types also occur; for instance, many of the
Sierra soils are termed “charandosas,”’ having a

; gees
higher clay content than the t‘uptri loams.

Yellowish-brown soil.—This soil develops in
high altitudes under seasonally humid conditions

“The tropical vegetation of the escarpment is characterized by a great
variety of genera and species. The most common plants include the
milky-sapped trees and shrubs of the family Moraceae—comuchin (Ficus
padifolia), siranda (F. petiolaris), saruma (Ceropia mexicana); the pod-bearing
Mimoaceae—timbin (Mimosa stipitata), guaje (Leucaena sp.), huisache
(Acasia sp.), tepehuaje (Lysiloma sp.), parota (Enterolobium cyclocarpum),
timuche (Pithecellobium lanceolatum), guamuchil (Pithecellobium dulce),
Calliandra sp.; the pod-bearing Caesalpiniaceae—habilla (Cassia occidentalis),
easacalote (Caesalpinia coriaria), etc.; the edible fruit-bearing plants of the
Annonaceae—chirimoya (Annona cherimolia); of the Lauraceae—ahuacate
(Persea americana); of the Sapotaceae—chicozapote (Achras sapota), mamey
(Calocarpum mammosum); of the Anacardiaceae—circuela, cupu (Spondias

mombin); of the Mirtaceae—guayaba (Psidiwm quayaba); and the copal-
bearing Burseraceae—copal ( Elaphrium jorullense).

and fir-pine vegetation. It is the soil of the higher
hillside maize plots in the Sierra; leached and
infertile, it will produce crops for no longer than
4 or 5 years, after which the field is abandoned.
The fine, sandy topsoil, however, is moisture
retentive, and is therefore known as “‘tierra de
humedad,” in which crops can be p'anted 2 months
before the rains. Podzolic soils (uncultivated)
probably occur above 10,000 feet in the fir forest.
T‘uptri.—The most productive of the highland
“humedad” soils is t‘uptri. Like the yellowish-
brown soil, the texture of the topsoil is extremely
fine. (Analyzed as fine sandy loam: 56 percent
fine sand, 23 percent silt, 21 percent clay, 1 per-
cent coarse gravel.) The surface drys to a fine
powder and acts as an insulator, preventing the
evaporation of moisture from the soil beneath.
Consequently, in April and May near the end of
the dry season the t'uptri soil is well moist 3
inches below the surface. T’uptiri usually occurs
between 6,500 and 8,600 feet on both the lower
slopes and in the basin plains. Being porous, the
soil soaks up moisture rapidly, preventing serious
sheet or guily erosion even on the steeper slopes.
Generally, the basin t‘uptiri is more fertile than
the yellowish-brown, the topsoil of the former
having a high humus content (6 percent), a fair
content of critical elements (e. g. 0.09 percent N),
but a deficiency of lime (0.31 percent). Various
subtypes of t‘uptiri occur, differences being based
mainly on soil texture. At the base of slopes or
on alluvial fans the topsoil is often partially com-
posed of coarse voleanic cinder. Such soil is
locally called ‘‘cascajo,” or gravel. Other sub-
types are characterized by an increase in clay con-
tent. These eecur on the lower slopes, and are
sometimes referred to as “tierra charandosa.”’
Caranda.—This is a reddish-brown clay soil,
which prevails below 6,500 feet and develops trom
the spheroidal weathering of volcanic rock under
warm summer and mild winter temperatures and
a cover of broadleaf plants. (Textural content:
39 perceat sand, 26 percent silt, 35 percent clay.)

15 Surface soil samples (to a depth of 25 em. below surface) were taken by
the writer in the Sierra and Lake areas and were analyzed by the Comisién
Nacional de Irrigaci6n, Direccién General de Agroeconémica, México, D. F.
‘Texturally the highland yellow-brown soils are sandy loams, (60 percent fine
sand, 20 percent clay, 20 percent silt, are highly water-retentive (30 percent),
and are low in hummus (4to 10 percent). All soils analyzed (including t‘uptri
and ¢aranda types) were low in lime content (0.24 to 0.34 percent), and
slightly alkaline to alkaline (pH values: yellow-brown mountain soils, 7.22
to 7.24; t‘upuri, 7.44 to 7.71; ¢aranda, 7.21 to 7.42; uirds, 8.05 to 8.13). Since
profiles were not determined, classification according to world soil groups is
not possible at this time.

ca
‘

PUBLICATION NO.

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY:

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CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST Tel!

Large cracks occur in the soil surface during the
months of March and April, and moisture is evap-
orated from a depth of many inches. Conse-
quently éardnda is a ‘‘temporal”’ soil, i. e., it can be
planted only after the rains begin. Because of its
clayey texture, it erodes easily once the plant cover
is stripped and the soil structure is destroyed.
The cultivated slopes around Lake Pitzcuaro, for
example, are one of the worst-eroded agricultural
areas of Mexico. Wherever éar4nda soils occur,
the surface is scarred by gullies, which are becom-
ing a characteristic landscape feature in the low
areas surrounding the Sierra.

Minor soil types——Among the most fertile in
the Tarascan area are a few minor soil types.
These include the alluvium in La Cafada and
the lacustrine deposits around the shores of Lake
Patzcuaro and within the recently desiccated
Zacapu Basin. Containing abundant organic

material and essential chemical elements, most
of these soils are cropped annually without fallow.
A peculiar soil type, called wirds, occurs near the
edge of a lava flow on the southwestern shore
of Lake P&atzcuaro, on Jaracuaro Island, and near
Thuatzio. The subsoil is a fibery-textured white
clay (35.4 percent fine clay), from which the
whitish-gray adobe bricks of Jaricuaro and
Thuatzio are made; the topsoil, when mixed
with lacustrine deposits (as on JarAacuaro Island),
forms a fertile loam extremely high in organic
matter (nearly 5 percent) and calcium carbonate
(7.7 percent). On the other hand, when the parent
material lies close to the surface (as around
Arécutin), the wirds is one of the poorest soils in
the vicinity.'®

16 A similar soil type occurs at the edge of a lava flow along the highway
on the outskirts of Zacapu. The relation between vulcanism and the forma-
tion of wirds is not clear.

TARASCAN POPULATION

THE RECESSION OF NATIVE SPEECH

One of the outstanding developments in Ta-
rascan history has been the drastic areal recession
of indigenous speech. Today the territory in
which Tarascan (P‘orépeéa) is spoken represents
only one-fifteenth of its pre-Conquest extent.
The pre-Spanish linguistic area (discussed by
Brand, 1944) included most of the present State of
Michoacan, except the Pacific slope of the Sierra
Madre del Sur between Colima and the lower
Balsas (map 7). The political limits of the
Tarascan state, however, extended beyond the
language boundary: in the west into Jalisco, in the
south to the Pacific, and in the north to the Bajfo
of Guanajuato (Brand, 1944; cf. Stanislawski,
1947 a). The Tarascan cultural core centered in
the north-central part of the Empire, comprising
the Lake P&tzcuaro-Cuitzeo area and the pine
forests of the Sierra and the upper escarpment
zone (Stanislawski, 1947 a). Tarascans extended
their speech southward into the tierra caliente
(basins of the Tepalcatepec and Balsas) by colo-
nization from the highlands during the 14th and
early 15th centuries. Likewise, the P‘orépeta
settlements around the eastern end of Lake
Chapala and south thereof (Mazamitla) appear to
have been 15th-century colonies. Within the
pre-Conquest area various islands of foreign
tongues existed; these represented colonies settled
with permission of Tarascan chiefs. There were

three inclusions of Matlaltzinca or Pirinda (Otomf
stock): (1) the largest, near present Morelia, from
Undameo northeast to Charo, (2) at Taimeo,
southeast of Lake Cuitzeo, and (3) at Huetamo
near the Balsas.” Moreover, a group of Apaneca
colonists lived at Guayameo, near Sirandaro on
the Balsas, and an islet of Teco occurred between
Tancitaro and Uruapan."®

Various factors contributed to the areal retro-
gression of Tarascans during the Spanish colonial
and postcolonial periods. One factor was actual
decrease of Indian population caused mainly by
European diseases. The population of some
areas was further weakened or depleted by
migration of Tarascans as laborers to distant
mining and agricultural centers. Moreover,
Spanish and mulatto settlement within the indig-
enous area was a powerful force of hispaniciza-
tion; wherever stock-raising estancias or sugar
haciendas were established, native speech slowly
disappeared. Conversely, in those areas shunned
by Spanish settlers, Tarascan has been preserved
to this day.

The most serious shock which the indigenous
cultures suffered from Spanish contact was the
frightful toll taken by the contagious European
diseases that became epidemic throughout centro’

1 Data obtained from the following Relaciones Geograficas in Mus
leg. 102: Rel. de Necotlin and Rel. de Cuseo; Mus. Nac., leg. 99
Charo Matlalzingo.

18 Mus. Nac., leg. 102, Rel. de Sirandaro y Guayameo; P’
1872, vol. 1, p. 131; Mus. Nac., Col.de Gomez Orozco, vol. 1, ”

102°

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY-—PUBLICATION

—— mm = Limits of Torascan Speech, ca.1550 (Brand)
Guadalajara
ch Inclusions of Foreign Speech, ca 1550
T7 > Area of Tarascan Speech, 1946
——--— Boundory of Michoacén
As aio te
X aa =
IN cree ge the ay
» LAGO DE CHAPALA “ . ‘ ? ‘ 0
iD pene Soe ce a Sa
es ‘ f oe ena Puruandiro
y a } o Sahuayo =— Os Pe
2o---— ip oC i] ozamora “So Sy Se
( Zp aarti = = —_— es
~~ oe fe} t |
Mazamitia? 5) Sy MaravatieN
0 TSN oe Re )
<A penonioag /
\ \ Lf. “nae 1
Periban + ag
\ | ° te % {(
Le tL oPatzcuaro
: oO
\ 5 ) usepan°® OS 52 ilacuaro
A Tol
Colime By / af eS : ih oluca,
a 1... es Ane \
Nt a ° y
as ea ; ;
Regan o\ I oApatzingan oracambaro 3
\"
, | -? ms < pe Tuzantla | a 19)
v ¢ vA
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Nee ~
\ “4
nS | da MATLALTZINCA...Huetamo ( if
\ le plas £0:
a ca eo EE A. \
APANECA 3 OSS
fi |
=
Guevings got lalpehuala
oe fe
ff
J ommend 18,
oe
too* =

Miap 7.—Pre-Conquest and modern
New Spain 1 year after the coming of Cortés.
Thereafter epidemics occurred periodically during
the colonial period, completely obliterating the
population of some districts, especially those in

the low, hot lands. Smallpox, measles, and
probably typhus (teré¢ekua) were the most
common kilers. Mendizdbal (1939) has. esti-

mated that in the first century of Spanish occupa-
tion the Indians of New Spain were reduced to 25
percent of their pre-Conquest numbers, and that
the pre-Spanish population of the diocese of
Michoacdn was possibly 200,000, which was
reduced to some 92,000 by 1550. Judging from
the accounts in the Relaciones Geograficas of
1579-81, the basins of the Balsas and Tepaleatepec
suffered the most heavily. There from one-third
all of the inhabitants of some villages were
ryed. Accounts of the 16th and 17th

> mention scores of villages in the Taras-

‘hich are now nonexistent, the inhabi-

» this calculation from figures given in the Suma de
Troneoso, 1905, vol. 1).

boundaries of Tarasea speech.

tants having been wiped out entirely, or the few

survivors having migrated later to larger towns.
Spanish exploitation and settlement in Mich-

oacdn slowly effected the reduction of Tarascan

speech. Guzman’s entrada (1530) left a trail of
destruction and displacement of population

throughout northern Michoacén. Moreover, dur-
ing the exploitation of placer gold along the
tributaries of the Balsas and Tepaleatepee (1524—
35) Spanish miners destroyed and dislocated many
Tarascans through enslavement and overwork.”

On the other hand, Franciscan and Augustinian
missionaries, who by the end of the 16th century
had established themselves in most of the large
Tarascan pueblos, were strong agents of accul-
turation, replacing many indigenous material and

2 The Indice de Protocolos, vol. 1 (ed. Millares Carlo and Mantecon),
gives abundant evidence of the feverish gold panning operations in the Balsas
and Tepaleatepee drainage from 1524 to 1528 and cites the wholesale use of
Indian slave labor. Such activity probably continued until the enforce-
ment (in the 1540’s) of the New Laws, which forbade slave labor and conse-
quently deereased the profitableness of gold washing. Furthermore, many
Spanish adventurers turned from gold panning to silver mining after the
discoveries in the Tasco district during the 1530's.

LAGO DE CHAPALA

-— |
ee <a ~~ pajacl
©.

Cojumatlan
, e

|

\

\
\
\
\

aay

Tomatian
@ Tepalcatepec \ e

eee ee Probable limit of Tarascan speech
1750

Areas with 100 % Tarascan speech,
Ups 1750

Percentage of indigenous speech in tow
e 100%
99-75%
74-50%
49-25%
24-0%

Map 8.—Area of Tarascan

LAGO DE CHAPALA

Sra ae

Cojumation ¢

eon

a
ie
\

lation
Pajacuorén 8

Los ReyesO

Peribong

© Toncitaro

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a

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=
ee
oe © Conguripo

50 a

75%
©

Tlazazolco
8

Tacambaro,

Peer

a ie

meee Probable limit of Tarascan speech,

1750

age 5 with 100% Tarascon speech,

Percentage of indigenous speech in towns

©
i=]
°
°

100 %

99-75%
74-50%
49-25%
24-0%

Lo Huacano
e

Churumuco

Map 8.—Area of Tarascan speech, ca. 1750. Isopleths indicate percentage of Tarascan

Penjamillo © Purvondiro

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@ Torimoro

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CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 13

nonmaterial elements with European; but by per-
forming religious functions in Tarascan, they
helped to preserve, rather than destroy, the
native tongue. Nor did the absentee encomen-
dero, who held villages in fee in order to collect
monthly or yearly tribute, disturb the native
speech.

The permanent European settlements (mines,
farming, and livestock enterprises) which de-
manded indigenous labor were the more important
agents in substituting Spanish for the native
language. Repartimiento labor from northern
Tarasca was sent to the large silver mines in the
east (Tlalpujahua, Sultepec, Temascaltepec, Zacu-
alpan, Taxco) and in the north (Guanajuato);
few pueblos in the Sierra furnished workers for
these mines.” Such labor worked in the mines
only for 1- or 2-week periods, and although the
workers probably picked up some Spanish in
contact with mulattoes and mestizos, they con-
tinued to use their native tongue. Free Tarascan
laborers, however, migrated from their villages
to distant northern mines (Zacatecas, Parral,
San Luis Potosi) where they permanenty settled
in native quarters and eventually lost the use
of their aboriginal language.

Spanish settlements within the Tarascan area
contributed more than any other factor to the loss
of the native tongue. Such settlement occurred
during the 16th and 17th centuries in those lands
peripheral to the Sierra, i. e., in the grassy plains
and hill country to the north and east and in the
tierras templada and caliente to the south. In both
areas the basis of permanent Spanish settlement
was stock raising. The northern section from the
Otomi country near the Sierra de Ozumatlin to
Mazamitla, south of Lake Chapala, was especially
favorable for cattle and sheep. Large expanses
of grass and scrub existed between widely scat-
tered native villages; numerous springs and
streams afforded sufficient water; while salt licks
were common near mineral springs and in small
playas. Moreover, year-round pasture occurred
along the margins of lakes and marshes throughout
the northern region. During the colonial period
thousands of sheep aad cattle were pastured in
the dry season around Lake Cuitzeo, around the
margins of the ciénaga of Zacapu, and in the

4 Aranza, Sevina, and Tzintzuntzan were the Sierra and Lake pueblos
that supplied most of the repartimiento mine labor from the central part of
the Tarascan area during the 16th century. During the 18th and 19th cen-
turies most of the men of Zacin worked voluntarily in the Guanajuato mines.
{Zavala and Castello, 1939-46, vol. 4, pp. 426-427; vol. 6, p. 468; AGN Historia,
vol. 73, f. 356).

Lerma delta plain at the eastern end of Lake
Chapala.”

In the north, land was granted and cattle
estancias were established soon after the voluntary
submission of the Tarascan chiefs in 1522. By
1540 most of the best pastures between Lake
Cuitzeo and Lake Chapala were in the hands
of Spanish ranchers (Paso y Troncoso, 1905, vol. 1,
pp. 76, 77, 117, ete.), and by 1600 most of northern
Tarasca was taken up by cattle and sheep ranches,
forming the southern part of the great colonial
ranching area of north-central Mexico. In
well-watered spots Spaniards also established
irrigated wheat farms, worked by repartimiento
labor from Tarascan villages nearby, e. g. around
Chilchota and Indaparapeo (Mus. Nac., leg. 102,
Rel. de Chilchota, 1581; Paso y Troncoso, 1905,
vol. 1, pp. 78, 133).

These Spanish settlements, located between
Indian pueblos, were centers of acculturation for
natives who came to work permanently as herds-
men or farmers. Associating with mulatto and
Negro cattle hands (who became numerous in
Michoacan during the 17th and 18th centuries),
Indians gradually lost their Tarascan speech and
intermarried with the invading element, begetting
mixed offspring. Spanish and mulatto families
also established households in many reorganized

Indian pueblos (e. g. Cuitzeo, Indaparapeo,
Chilchota, ete.), the Indian population being

relegated to barrios, or native quarters in the
town. There, too, acculturation took place.
Furthermore, at least two Spanish towns were
founded in the northern area—Valladolid (More-
lia) and Zamora—in both of which were estab-
lished barrios for Indians who came to live as
laborers and traders.

In spite ef active Spanish and mulatto settle-
ment in the North, the loss of native speech was
slow. By the mid-18th century Tarascan-speak-
ing folk comprised between 50 and 75 percent of
the total population in the northern plateau of
Michoacan, and many pueblos were still entirely
native in speech * (map 8). These percentages

2 The pastures of the lower Lerma were famed throughout New Spain for
their abundant winter forage. During the 16th and 17th centuries thousands
of sheep were annually driven there from Querétaro, Toluca, the Valley
of Mexico, and other distant places. (Mus. Nac. (Col. Gémez Orozco),
Rel. de Querétaro; Ponce Relacion, 1872, vol. 2, p, 14; Arregui, 1946, p. 60.)

28 The language maps (8 and 9) were compiled chiefly from church padro»
or lists of confessors of each inhabited place in the diocese of Mir*

Such lists are extant in the Archivo del Arzobispado de Michoac*
Morelia. Padrones for 1742, 1746, and 1759, plus population
information from Villasefor y Sanchez: Theatro Americ”
employed to construct the map for 1750. For that of

padrones for 1798, 1800, 1801, 1805, 1808, and 1810. ”
map was much less complete than for the form

14 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

were probably even larger prior to 1737, the year
of a disastrous smallpox epidemic. Certain areas,
however, particularly the pastures of the ever-
green marshes (the lower Lerma, the Zacapu
district, the Zamora Valley), were mainly Spanish
in speech. By 1600 the northern boundary of
Tarascan had moved north into the Bajio of
Guanajuato, where Spanish wheat farms and
stock ranches had attracted large numbers of
native workers from the southern pueblos (Zavala
and Castello, 1939-46, vol. 5, p.30). In the north-
western sector a reemergent Mexican (Teco) speech
had replaced Tarascan (AGN Historia, vol. 73, ff.
192-210; 212-226), while in the northeast and east
Mazahua and Matlaltzinca were encroaching
farther into Tarascan territory. The islands of
Matlaltzinca east and southwest of Valladolid still
held, but that of Huetamo had probably disap-
peared (AGN Historia, vol. 73, f. 139).

By 1800 (map 9) the percentage of Tarascan-
speaking folk in the northern area had decreased
notably, especially along the frontiers. The
Matlaltzinca-Tarascan area of Charo-Zinapécuaro
was still largely indigenous, and a zone from Cerro
el Zirate northward to Lake Cuitzeo contained a
large proportion of native speech. Fifty years
later (map 10)** the Tarascan-speaking people
had been reduced to small isolated islands, partly
a result of frequent military and political upheay-
als following the struggle for independence. In
1940 (map 11), after nearly 100 years of inter-
mittent political turmoil, Tarascan speech had
disappeared from the northern grasslands, except
for a few resistant pueblos on the northern edge
of the Sierra. After a slow weakening in the
colonial period, the native language in the North
gradually collapsed during the last 150 years.

The western area.—Immediately west of the
Sierra lies a southward prong of the northern
plateau landscape, which, like the North, was
early settled by whites and mulattoes. At the
beginning of the 17th century the large graben
valley of Cotija was occupied by cattle estancias,
and the settlement of Cotija was composed en-
tirely of Spanish blood. As late as 1800 this
valley, except its eastern end, was an island of

‘aniards and some mulattoes and mestizos sur-

tion statistics were not available to construct an isopleth map
roximate boundaries of Tarascan speech were compiled from
-entury reports: ‘‘Noticia general de los terrenos de com-

9] Estado’’, in Memoria de la Legislatura de Miehoacin

~ leg. 707, Memorias estadisticas . . . 1841, Listas

. 1845; Orozco y Berra, 1864, pp. 271-273;

rounded by Tarascans. A few Spanish ranchers
and traders settled also in Tingiindin, a large
Indian village at the western edge of the Sierra; but
the extreme western Tarascan zone from Maza-
mitla to Los Reyes did not completely lose its
native speech until the beginning of the present
century.

The tierra caliente and tierra templada.—The
story of the recession of Tarascan speech in the
tierra caliente roughly parallels that in the northern
plateau. In the former area disease probably
decimated the native population more completely
than in the north, and its Europeanization was
consequently more rapid. After the period of
gold panning in the southern tributaries of the
Tepalcatepec and Balsas Rivers, the Spaniards
turned to cattle ranching in the tropical bush
around Cutzamala, Pungarabato, and Huetamo
in the Balsas Basin and near Apatzingén and
Tomatlan in the Tepalcatepec lowland. Although
the tropical grasses and shrubs were less nourish-
ing than those in the northern plateau, the tierra
caliente was favored by abundant springs and
streams. As in the north, the natives rapidly
became vaqueros and mixed with the mulattoes and
Negroes on the ranches. Moreover, during the
last decades of the 16th century Spaniards began
to establish sugar plantations and mills in the
upper limits of the tierra caliente.> The mill
settlements (trapiches, ingenios), like the cattle
ranches, were centers of acculturation and misce-
genation. Large groups of Negro and mulatto
slaves, male and female, were imported to operate
the trapiches (according to colonial law, Indians
were exempt from mill labor), while Tarascan
forced and free workers planted and harvested
cane in fields nearby. Race mixing and gradual
loss of native speech was inevitable. Again, ex-
ploitation of the copper mines of the trerra caliente
and the establishment of smelting centers in
Tzatzio and Santa Clara was another activity
which helped acculturation and hastened the loss
of the aboriginal language. In 1750 the limits of
Tarascan speech still coincided with the 16th
century pre-Spanish boundaries, but in some
areas, such as the Tepalcatepec Basin, the per-
centage of inhabitants speaking Tarascan was
only 25 percent of the total. In the tierra tem-
plada sugar-growing districts south of Zit&écuaro,
in the Peribién Valley, and the upper escarpment
zone around Ario and Tacdmbaro, the ratio of

25 In 1540 a sugar mill had been established in Taximaroa, on the plateau
above Tuxpan (Paso y Troncoso, 1905, vol. 1, p. 253).

LAGO DE CHAPALA

Pajacuar(
e

lo

\ Mozomitla

i

\ Tomatién
eTepaicatepec \

ees Probable limit of Tarascan speech,
1800

Areas with 100 % Tarascan speech,
Ups 1800

Percentage of indigenous speech in towns
100%
S99 75%
74-50%
49-25%
24-0%

Map 9.—Area of Tarascan

Sty

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LAGO DE CHAPALA

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Huoniqueo co)
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en CRapendare ZgsedeuarsN . . * 2a 50%

Torecuato to)

LSE: = 75% 2 N

5 Potamban » Vo \ Me
by e © Teremendo “le \
©. =
Tinguindin oldiimoroa

‘OGocupao

Tzintzuntzan

a
@Eticuara

S Tancitoro

Tacambaro
= °

e e Tomatién
\ fo}

@ Tepolcotepec \

Lo Huacono
°

eee Probable limit of Tarascon speech,
1800

Cutziog /
/
Va Areos with 100 % Torascan speech, Huetama O
pf 1800 sa eo
‘ ~

Percentage of indigenous speech in towns
100%

99-75%

74-50%

49-25%

24-00%

oooe @

en locality
748988 O - 48 (Face p. 14)

: < F iv!
‘ to total number of inhabitants at any 8!
Mar 9.—Area of Tarascan speech, ca. 1800. Isopleths indicate percentage of Tarascan-speaking i Me

i ae eee :
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15

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—-WEST

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SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

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2201 Of 201 ‘|

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 17

Tarascan to Spanish was also low. Only one
isolated area of solid native speech existed north-
east of Apatzingdn (the fruit-growing villages of
Acahuato and Pardcuaro). The 18th-century pop-
ulation figures for the sparsely inhabited, highly
dissected hot country south of Morelia are not
extant, but it was probably entirely Tarascan in
language. In 50 years percentages of native
speech had decreased, but the outer limits of the
language remained practically unchanged. In
1850, however, only scattered islands of indig-
enous speech remained: along the Balsas at the
southeastern extremity of the old Tarascan are:
(Tanganhuato, Pungarabato); a disjunct are
extending from the Balsas northeast to near
Zitacuaro (San Nicolds, Purechucho, Cutzeo,
Pungeo, Tiquicheo, Tuzantla, and Susupuate); the
Acahuato-Pardcuaro district; and the pueblo of
San Juan de los Plitanos, west of Apatzingdn
(map 10). By 1940 Tarascan speech in the
tierra caliente had entirely disappeared; only the
small fruit town, San Angel Zurumucapio, repre-
sented the last remnant of Tarascan speech in the
tierra templada. Again, as in the northern
plateau, the sudden collapse of native speech in
the south came in the first half of the 19th century.
There, the Tarascans have lost most heavily
territorially, for the hot country, although a
colonial area and probably lightly held in terms of
population, comprised more than half of the old
empire.

The present distribution of Tarascan speech is
confined mainly to the tierra fria—Lake Patzcuaro
and the Sierra. These regions, together with La
Canada, appear to be a resistant core in which the
Tarascans are making a last stand against com-
plete loss of their native tongue. In the maps of
1750, 1800, and 1850 these regions stand out as
the only large purely indigenous part of Tarasca.
The failure of Spaniards and their mulatto
laborers to settle in the Sierra and in some sections
of the Lake district cannot be attributed to in-
accessibility, for those areas are open country
with few impediments to horse travel.2* The
Sierra was simply unattractive to Spanish ex-

ploitation. Neither it nor the Lake area con-
tained mineral wealth. The pine-oak forests,

with little palatable grass and numerous predatory
animals, offered few attractions for the stockman.
2% Vhe camino real from México to Nueva Galicia, via Patzeuaro, traversed

the center of the Sierra, passing through Pichdétaro, Sevina, Nahuatzen,
Cheran, and Chilchota.

Nor was the region’s winter climate an induce-
ment.” The religious had penetrated all Indian
settlements in the Sierra and Lake areas; every
pueblo was under an absentee encomendero to
whom tributes in money, grain, or handicrafts
were paid periodically. But the Indians had
little contact with the Spanish tongue. By 1750,
however, some Spanish families, probably traders,
had settled in a few Sierra market towns (Pat-
amban, Paracho, Nahuatzen, Corupo), and in
1800 the towns of Charapan and Parangaricutiro
also contained one or two Spanish families... A
large part of the inhabitants of those pueblos today
speak only Castilian (map 12). After independ-
ence in 1822, a few Spaniards or mestizos estab-
hshed agricultural settlements on the Sierra, e. 2.
the rancho of Arato, now a pueblo 10 km. west
of Paracho.

Although the Tarascan area first to harbor
Spaniards was the Lake region (P&tzcuaro, Tzint-
zuntzan), some of its pueblos have succeeded in
preserving the native tongue. Such towns are
located on the islands and in isolated positions on
the shore (northwestern edge of the lake, and the
Taaiu-k‘éri Peninsula). By 1750 numerous Span-
ish haciendas and mestizo ranchos existed along
the southern, southwestern, and northeastern
borders of the lake. Cocupao (modern Quiroga),
Tzintzuntzan, and Erongaricuaro at that time
were approximately 50 percent Spanish-speaking,
and the city of PAtzcuaro, the colonial adminis-
trative and economic center of the Lake area, was
less than 25 percent Tarascan in speech. Today
the language of the former colonial hacienda dis-
tricts around the lake is completely nonindigenous.
These include the entire southern shore, the north-
eastern section, and many points along the western
border.

The history of the southern shore represents a
typical example of the influence of haciendas on
the hispanicization of native populations. By the
mid-18th century large Spanish holdings had
enveloped most of the native pueblos, contrary to
laws which insured Indians a block of land (for

27 The Sierra’s unattractiveness to Spanish settlement is aptly described
by the Franciscan friar, Diego Munoz, writing in 1603 on the cultivated land
near Capacuaro: ‘. . . y no son tierras para mas que yndios criados alli que las
tienen cursados y experimentados; que espanoles las apeticen poco por ser tenple
rriguroso el mas frio de mechoacan acresentandolo el ayre caso ordinario desabrido
rrecio y delgado y la yerua es aspera, ynutil para ganado.”’ (AGN Congregac-
iones, f. 14).

2 AAM, siglo XVIII, leg. 235 (1746); leg. 277 (1759). In 1798, 19 gente de

razon lived in Charapan, 6 in Parangaricutiro, 40 in Corupo (AAM siglo
XIX, leg. 175).

18 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

buildings) measuring 600 yards (varas) in each
cardinal direction from the village church. De-
prived of land, most of the men of the pueblos
sought work in the sugar plantations in the tierra
templada around Ario and Tacdmbaro, returning
only occasionally to their homes. Others became
peons in the adjacent haciendas, working with
mulatto and mestizo labor (AGN Historia, vol. 73,
ff. 292-306). Consequently, the decreased use
and subsequent loss of the native language was
inevitable. Only the fishers inhabiting the small
Urandén Islands immediately offshore, who were
unaffected by the haciendas, were able to preserve
their native tongue.

MODERN LINGUISTIC DISTRIBUTIONS

The modern Tarascan area is in no sense a
solid block of indigenous speech (table 1). The
inhabitants of only 32 of the 66 Tarascan towns
and 31 of the 50 indigenous ranchos all speak the
native tongue (map 12). Nearly 25 percent of
the population within the present area is com-
posed of mestizos who know only Spanish. Such
people are mainly merchants and arrieros living
in most of the Indian pueblos and farmers inhabit-
ing nonindigenous ranchos scattered throughout
the Sierra and the Lake district. Fifty years
ago native market centers, the towns of Nahuatzen
and Tingambato now contain but a handful of
people who have retained the indigenous language.
According to 1940 census figures, only 35 percent
of the inhabitants of Patamban are Tarascan in
speech, 38 percent of those of Parangaricutiro,
30 percent of those of Paracho, 20 percent of those
of Sirosto, and 10 percent of those of Corupo.”
Moreover, in 1940, 18 mestizo ranchos were scat-
tered between Tarascan pueblos in the Sierra.
In addition to mestizo merchants and farmers,
many Spanish-speaking lumbermen inhabit the
ephemeral sawmills prevalent in the Sierra forests.
Hence, infiltrating mestizo settlement has shat-
tered the once-continuous indigenous area in the
Sierra and Lake district into small islets of purely
Tarascan speech. The more notable of these
islets are: (1) seven towns in La Cafiada, (2)
the pueblos and ranchos grouped around the
flanks of Cerro de Patamban, (3) the Tarecuato
district, (4) a string of villages east of Cerro de

20 The percentage for Corupo is open to question. Although no actual
Statistical sampling was done, an impression of a much greater percentage

of Tarascan-speaking inhabitants was obtained by the writer when he visited
that town in 1946.

Quipceo, and (5) the islands and adjacent shore
settlements of Lake P&tzcuaro (map 11). (See
table 1.)

TaBLEe 1.—Distribution of Tarascan-speaking folk by
localities, 19401

{Data from official census, 1940]

THE SIERRA
Total Tarascan-speaking
popula- folk
Locality '8 tion
(num-
ber) Number | Percent
Municipio of Charapan:
‘Charapan!(p)-222-- se ot tee 1, 715 1,311 76.4
San Weline:(p) 2-222 eae ee 887 795 89.5
MuUanchoG) 2 sen as onan ee 20 20 100.0
Rancho Nuevo (r)-_ 24 19 63.0
a Palmai(r) 2.22: 2. 225-.4-5--s--cencs. 161 0 -0
Municipio of Cher4n:
Cher&n (p) 3, 388 2, 969 87.6
Cosumo (r) 195 81 41.0
Tzipiatiro (r) 24 20 83.7
Municipio of Chilchota:
Hluécator (1)... -s22s:22t525.22c-aSacesce= 127 0 0
osiNogales:(r)22 =. ---. 22822-2225 -<2see 396 0 0
RanchoiSeco'(r)22 31252 =sees2 22 esa 60 0 0
BliPedregal)(t) 52-222) asa e eta ae 118 0 0
Municipio of Erongarfcuaro:
Cauca it) eb 3 sce se be ee 26 0 0
Portmibo;(h) 255. s22e- sens) oe ee eee 49 0 0
La:Zarzamora (1) 2-2-2220 42<2cosesc one as 92 0 0
Zinciro. (1) 22222 sore oo ees NES BS 413 0 0
Municipio of Los Reyes:
ATSDANA(D) ceo es Meee se nee ee ee 1,001 357 35. 6
Jess Diaz:(Sirio)) (pe 122-2 22- 22ss 2222 ef 696 696 100.0
Pamat&cnaro (p)==-=-.-_--=.--=-.-*==-- 1, 382 1, 372 99. 2
Sienichoi(p)o == 20-2 os sao eee oee es 819 709 86.5
Zachnl (p) {3.2 aseset odio sete 6 eek 876 439 50.1
Gherato'(r) 5 <== 22222. -3-e:5--2e-s255-- 271 261 96.3
IbauProvidencis ((r) i225 -2ss<cessoconceaae 95 95 100.0
BSansBenito:(n)csssee ease eee een eee a ee 255 255 100.0
San Luis: Sorena(r) 222228 -scee sane 64 64 100.0
La Tinaja:(r)=<--.=- x 154 154 100.0
El Tropezon (r) ewe 84 84 100.0
Uringuitiro (Jusinitiro) (r)_.-....-------- 287 287 100.0
ZarzamMora|(T) == 5-2 se saa s-seae sea enee 130 130 100.0
Queréndaro'!(®) 20-22 tae ss2e-e bee 60 60 100.0
Wha: Mesa ((r)4. 22 22222sa252-22 eee 3120 120 100.0
San Marcos Arachticuta (r)?____-.------ 350 50 100.0
Wa olla (rss 24 22.2 ee ee (?) (2) (2)
Tapani (n)§:22 5- ose ance eo oeee ee eons 350 50 100.0
Tiorras:Blancasi{r)2.2222-=5—-s-=a5----— 385 85 100.0
"Viemad0))(0)9: 3s Ree eis eS oe seas (2) (2) (2)
Municipio of Nahuatzen:
Nahnatzeni(p) 22-2. <=. -2---22-225222cece 3, 046 25 By
“Arantepacia:(p)t2=-=-.-22-sse2-2-e eee 660 660 100.0
@umachuén \(p) = = s222-522--2-25--5--—=— 1, 056 1,039 98.3
Sevina: (p)-----=----- 881 876 99. 4
Turicuaro (p) 749 749 100.0
a Miojoners (p) -===--==---s-cseees=-—n— 831 0 0
Bl Padre.(r)-22225-2ss-25552----se25s5-5 94 0 0
E] Pino (r) Selle 152 0 0
SanvIsidro (1) 2-2-4. 2-- -fe--sssceee- se 845 9 ail

1 This table does not necessarily include statistics for all settlements within
a given municipio. The boundaries of many municipios listed, such as Los
Reyes and P&tzcuaro, extend beyond the present limits of Tarascan speech;
in such cases many purely mestizo towns and ranches have been omitted.
However, all settlements containing Tarascan-speaking inhabitants are
listed.

18 In this column (c)=ciudad; (v)=villa; (p)=pueblo; (r)=rancho; (rr) =
railroad station; (h)=hacienda.

——

Radii o}

Percent

All mes!

vow

ou

“

102°30'

Zamora Tol" 30°

e O

a =~ C3
Oo O ©
ye

Purépero
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(e)

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ra
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e “By [@)

@ Son José 10)
= Patamban J © Tarejero oe Coeneo
O é Ocumicho 4

© Zipiajo
° oO = yess
@ Sirio e oe
® ¢
4 Tirindaro
C.DE PATAMBAN @ ° c | ae oO

TingUindin e eer é a
° ©

°

C.EL ZIRATE
5 E
e
e e GheranGtzicurin
Pomotécuaro r ° © @rructe t ) Cheran eS
/
fa qq ucaists & Santa Fe
; :
" eg Nurio Qo onan Nohuatzen eelroun fe)
© apan ov" @ 6) O%er
O e AratoO Poracho (ep Isidro 4
San Felipe .
e Pp & @Pomacuaran sevinn@® Om O
Tzintzuntzan
Los Reyes Ocorupo Auingss ¥

e @ Arontepacus ia el
Zacan *
© e

Turicusro® gue7~
Oo e— @ Picrstoro

Zirosto ep corccuars eS =
@) Porangaricutiro ee

5 daa @ Son Lorenzo \

@ Poricutin j

Patzcuaro

Huiramangaro
Tingombato © re)

San Juan Tumbio ew"
OAiuno Sta
e ) San Angel Cee
e ys
Uruapan @
Apo CG CG. DE TANCITARO « _ Viena
4 © O Zirocuaretiro cw
° Santo Clara —_
e)
C) Toncitaro O Tarelan
100 + 1000 + 3000 | 5000 10,000 15,000 20,000 INHABITANTS
500 2000 4000 Tacambaro
Radii of circles calculated from square roots of population figures (r- vF. |
: Ario de Rosales
Percentage of Tarascan-speaking inhabitants in each locality indicated by black portion of circle. é

All mestizo localities not Indicated s
102° 30°

748988 O - 48 (Face p. 18)
ascan ranchos are not indicated.

; c »w small Tar
Map 12.—Distribution of Tarascan speech by settlements, 1940. Based on official 1940 census data. A few sm

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152
bafolustos eslova to jipoAl

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qabeos O = $2 Foon we ts),
‘; 7 OLGI xivRo dotbecaib« | \ Mem atcoaritleyar Wassge: neMHET to notinditad—t aa

Nox ca) a sswoli noitplugeg to vigor ‘prnvpé mor

sizyfo. to: adivica Aguld yo dsloribai yitosel dope al etnntidodnt pra

fe insane : = it nn

cmd
aaisliconl oxi minal

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—-WEST

TABLE 1.—Distribution of Tarascan-speaking folk by
localities, 1940—Continued

THE SIERRA—Continued

19

TABLE 1.—Distribution of Tarascan-speaking folk by

localities, 1940—Continued
THE SIERRA—Continued

Total Tarascan-speaking Total ‘Tarascan-speaking
popula- folk popula- folk
Locality tion Locality tion
(num- (num-
ber) Number | Percent ber) Number | Percent
Municipio of Paracho: Municipio of Tangancicuaro—Continued
Paracho lv) wet eee es 3, 304 1,005 30.4 Ubas anes (t)e- 5 Ss eas ne ee 51 | 20 39. 2
IMHIran(p) eeeeseee eae oe ee ee 593 593 100.0 Gusrachanillo: (1) =.= = -=---- 2-2. 52-cencc- | 22 9 40.9
Aranza (p) 792 126 17.1 Rancho Nuevo (r) 38 3 | 8.0
Arato (p) 233 0 0 [as Trojes\(r) --- 2125222 sete ces | 14 0 0
Cocucho (p) ------___- - 584 584 100.0 HOT Men uecCho(t) <a son ocean ensassseeeas 471 450 95.5
Cheranftzicurin (p)_--_.____..__---_-.- 751 751 100.0 Municipio of Tingambato:
Wario) = oe oe oe ee 810 784 96.7 Pichataro:(p)oo=saseaae anos = no eeu | 1,877 1, 740 92.7
omacuaran\(p)-_- 22-2 = eee 628 288 45.8 Municipio of Tingiiindi:
Quinceo (p)----___- 482 482 100.0 Wingiind it (vy oe Se eee cae ones 2, 897 15 5
Manseo\(p)= 22 ocak ene ce ede 948 629 66.3 Tacatzcuaro (p) _- 1,495 7 .4
Urapicho (p) - 541 422 78.0 Las Trojes (r) 45 0 0
PacApitiro (r)___ 107 23 21.5 Municipio of Uruapan:
E] Tejocote (r) 81 74 91.3 San‘Worenzo:(p) 222s. =. 2222 222-- 2+ a 575 100.0
Municipio of Parangaricutiro: Capacuaro (p) | 785 778 99.1
Parangaricutiro (p)-..-..=---..--------- 1,895 725 38.2 Cherangueran (r) : 138 0 0
Angahuan\(p)_=2.—.=-..------.------=-- 1, 098 1,098 100.0 Los Conejos (San Juan Nuevo) (p)*_.-.} — (?) (2) (?)
Worn pon(p) eeees nes eere oe aenen See eee 813 85 10.4
Parfcutin (p) - 733 620 84.6
Zirosto (p)...- 1,314 269 20.5 THE LAKE AREA
La Alberca (r) 81 4(?) (?)
ia Atuscada(r)_..—.¢_-.2_.---.--<.--- 74 4(?) (?) Municipio of Erongarfeuaro:
Barranca’Seca)(t)-2.-..2-1-2-2.=-------- 89 4 4.5 Erongarfcuaro (p)____...--------------- 1, 209 14 | Li
Canoa Alta (r)_--__-___- 21 0 0 Arécutin (p)__- 211 211 100. 0
Was'Oanoas) (1) a2 20 sie sse toe sees oat 113 0 0 Jaraeuaro (p)__ 875 875 100. 0
Nai Canteral(r)2--0 4 oe see 59 40 67.8 Napizaro (p) 239 214 789.5
Las Cocinas (r)___ 50 0 0 Puacuaro (p) 498 498 100.0
os'Desmontes'(r)<...--2-.22 2222-2 23 0 0 Uricho (p) 461 461 100.0
E] Estudiante (r)___ 26, 8 30.7 Nocutzepo (p)- pe 409 0 0
Haanondio: (r) 2s. = 2 2 2 22st ee 50 0 0 TOcuarol(p) 2-22-22 =o =£=-2-=22 2s 188 0 0
Moss0b08) (nse 22s =e tee-- oe 29 0 0 L&zaro Cardenas (r)__------------------ 214 0 0
Sipichias(n) lee Po. eee oae Ee tec 20 0 0 Oponguio\(t) aass- 2 ceases eae 178 15 8.5
li Mejamanili(r)-=2—-- 2-22. -=-=-22s =e 84 0 0 Revolucién (r)_-=--o.--------2----2--- 10 10 100.0
E] Tepemal (r) --- 51 44 90.0 Municipio of Pétzeuaro:
E] Tepetate (r) ?__ 350 22 45.0 Patzcuaro (c) 9, 557 8 (2) (2)
Municipio of PAtzcuaro: Janitzio (p)____ al 71 748 97.0
Cuanajo'(p)e--2- > 2-222 2.c- esa nee 1, 735 1, 682 97.0 Ibarra (Patzcuaro Sta.)_.....__--------- 809 12 1.5
Huiramangaro (p) 540 17 3.1 emecorio: (p) Lao eee soos seen =enoee 499 0 0
San Juan Tumbio (p).- 887 0 0 Tzentzenguaro (p) 258 0 0
Ajuno (p) 540 0 0 Lazaro Cardenas (p) 412 0 0
Ajuno Sta. (rr) 719 0 0 Primo Tapia (p) 369 0 0
Municipio of Tancitaro: San Pedro Pareo (p)_-..-...------------- 384 0 0
Tancitaro (v) 1, 858 6 3 Carifin (r)__------- 37 37 100.0
"AON (D) Has=4==-5 876 0 0 Tecuena (r)___.___- 7. 73 100.0
Municipio of Tangamandapio: Urandén Morales (r) _ 2 39 39 100.0
Tangamandapio (p)-_--_.---..---------- 2, 573 12 25 Urandén Morelos (r) -_----------------- 164 164 100. 0
‘Tarecuato (p) 2, 146 2, 146 100.0 San) Pedrito (r)2-= sees enansconsee 14 14 100.0
La Cantera (r) 962 962 100.0 RV rni6mn (r) =: oe ee ee eee ses 116 116 100.0
Las Encinillas (r) 78 78 100.0 Watretzio (1h) = sos see ces ee eee 170 14 8.2
Los Laureles (r) ____ 8 8 100.0 Municipio of Quiroga:
Ucuarés (r) 308 0 0 Quiroga: (y) sees eee wee see sane 3, 009 4 1
Municipio of Tangancicuaro: San Andrés (p)_- 1,179 1, 165 98.8
Ocumicho (p) 1,040 1,018 97.8 San Jeronimo (p)_- 1, 527 1, 513 99. 1
Patamban (p) 2, 333 809 34.6 Santa Fé de la Laguna (p) 2, 036 2, 036 100.0
San José de Gracia (p)-- 170 147 86.4 A tzimbor(r) see on en ee neeeeeaceas 179 0 0
Agua Escondida (r)___ By 32 100.0 Chuptouseour)c-3 see = on. 22s ---e 31 0 0
Aranza (r) 54 21 39. 0 Touscato(h)es- 22222 - ose — oases 249 0 0
Gam écmaro;(f)eeeee P= _ = Sees 8 a2at-3 37 2 5.4 La Tirfmicua (r)___----_------- 88 0 0
Tzirandagatzio (r)--- 24 0 0

2 Locality not listed in 1940 census. Names obtained from local inhabi-
tants.

3 Estimated population.

4 Entirely mestizo according to census, but 100 percent Tarascan accord-
ing to officials in San Juan Nuevo (Los Conejos) in 1946.

5 Uninhabited in 1940, but estimated population in 1946 around 35, all
Tarascan.

6 Inhabited 1944. Official census figures not available.
7In 1946, according to local inhabitants, Napizaro was only 50 percent

‘Tarascan.

8 Owing to loss of original census data, the number of Tarascans in PAtz-
cuaro could not be calculated. The percentage would probably be extremely

low.

20

TABLE 1.—Distribution of Tarascan-speaking folk by
localities, 1940—Continued

THE LAKE AREA—Continued

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

TaBLE 1.—Distribution of Tarascan-speaking folk by
localities, 1940—Continued

LA CANADA—Continned

Total ‘Tarascan-speaking Total ‘Tarascan-speaking
: popula- folk A popula- folk
Locality tonic __ Locality tion
(num- (num-
ber) Number | Percent ber) Number | Percent
a - ~ |
Municipio of Tzintzuntzan: Municipio of Chilchota—Continued
zintzuntzeni(¢C)= 22s... 22.2----2--22-2- 1,077 | 35 (9 156) |3. 2(9 12. 7) IheiCofradia(r)i i. .s2 69 0 0
Cucuchucho (p)____--_-_-----_-________- 295 279 94.5 ADzintzichs ((t)t = esnon eas See eee oe 117 48 41.0
Thuatzio (p) 1, 206 1, 206 100.0 Municipio of Tangancfcuaro:
La Pacanda (p).---......2-..----.-.---- 247 240 97.1 Tangancicuaro (v)_- 10 2
Woenembo! (rings ao2 2s t= tc 451 0 1) IPH CuarOn (pies. sass a cee ee seed 9 1.0
Whos @orralesi(r)c 82.2 oe = 177 0 0
as Cuevas (r)<. 2 = -222- 2.5 =a... e- 69 0 0 > =
Las Granadas (r)_______.__-_-___ 92 92 100.0
CHUIDION(G) see Seen se eee 162 162 100.0 = aces: a ae aa
eerie (W) - ----------- 2222 2----- ee ue ee) Municipio of Ziricuaritiro:
i made a Restwirr Log > ocak yi hs o a San Angel Zurumueapio (p) - 970 822 84.7
- 30 ES) Aes n08 100.0 Municipio of Tingambato:
eee n0/(a} a 0 o Tingambato (p)...----.-------------- 2, 768 204 7.3
as Pilas (r)-.-------------------------- 87 0 9 Municipio of Uruapan:
Santa: @ruz:.(r) 2-2 2225-22 ences 178 0 0 Upiapanl(c) ae eee ee 20, 583 1 AE
Tarerio (r) 201 194 96,5 mcutacatol(pe. lee 509 5 1.0
El Teeolote (t)..----------------------- 12 0 0 La Rosa de Castilla (r)_.-_-_.....-...-- 60 2 3:3
Hl Tigre (1) ----. -----~-=---2-2--0----= we W) M Toreo Alto (r)_.._...------------------- 240 3 1.2
Wensansstacue:(r)..°-.22--2-22 2 222.- 110 110 100. 0 Galtzontein (p)i tee cho ’ (2) ro) (2)
La ae (1) ----------2---2--------- tk | 0 W Municipio of Ario de Rosales:
La Vinata (r)-.-------..------..-------- a a 1020 Villa Silva (p)1_.... 2.22... 2. see l@) Orde XO
i THE NORTHERN PLATEAU REGION = 10 Inhabited 1943. Official census figures not available.
Munieipio of Coeneo: ° . ° b
See ee the rt an F A Distribution of monolingual Tarascans.—In
AcaiOi(p)sameene es ae Ae 1,097 | 1,088 9.2 spite of continued areal recession of native speech
Comanja (p) 806 91 11.3 : sey =e = Bare econ 2
WMG a hens og ond infiltration of mestizos, monolingualism still
Bellas Fuentes (h) 876 1 1 exists in many parts of Tarasca. According to
HUATOC Ot) een ates Soe keane tee eee 345 | 1 3 paris 2 = (OY. a , Fe
Nee te er ; ‘ calculations from 1940 census data, approxi
auLeuibirol(t) os eeee fe seeds aaah ee 749 2 2 mately 38 percent of the Tarascan population is
Municipio of Zacapu: : é 3 o are
ie Se ois a 4 monolingual. Personal field experience, however,
Cantabria (p)_---_-----.-----.--------- 1, 132 0 0 would indicate that a smaller proportion (prob-
INBYanjai(D) coe oon soo hese ee ses ee 1, 082 763 70.5 2 9 ae by
Mareiets (ah se aa a ably 20 percent) speak only Tarascan. The mono
Guirindero}(p)smere eee ee 1, 252 686 48 linguals are composed principally of conservative
Buenavista (h) ...--.-...------- 224 7 3.1 F ae 5 . ivine in
Caches G isi : 13 women and girls and the older men living in the
San Antonio (rn)... 909 0 0 more isolated pueblos and ranchos. Pronounced
Se nee ce taie ‘ o7 monolingual centers are scattered through the
Teremendo (p)...---------------------- 1,331 379 28.4 Tarasean area and correspond to the islets of
TIRES VES) ieee caer 178 : oe purely indigenous speech mentioned above (map
= 13). One center includes the ranchos around the
LA CANADA eae
=e = we Cerro de Patamban and also the majority of
Municipio of Chilchota: women in the pueblos of Pamatdcuaro, Sicuicho,
CE TOE NG) Zale y ‘4 and Sirfo, nearby. (According to data from the
Acachuén (p) 717 712 99.3 9 5 ee
Garapanl(p)= =e ee ee ee 1,259} 1,240 98. 5 1940 census, approximately 67 percent of the
Pee aa COS eine te Tarascan population of this area is monolingual.
eban:(p)cesss-5--2s. 22222 776 776 i ‘ 5 a
Santo Tomés (p) 295 292 99.0 Following percentages in this paragraph are
MACUCO (Dp) se 22. = ce oe 445 445 100.0 ealeulated from the 1940 census.) Another center
Tanaquillo (p)_ 410 184 44.9 ri : ah f
ORE E Coe ee ee ea Saree 350 135 36 Includes Tarecuato and the adjacent rancho o
Zocopo (Pp) ---------2--2----- eee 539 539 100.0 Still

®’ Number and percentage of Tarascans in Tzintzuntzan, 1945, according

to ethnographical census.
1,231 inhabitants in Tzintzuntzan.

The percentage was calculated on the basis of

La Cantera (66 percent monolingual).
another area is situated southwest of Nahuatzen,
and consists of the pueblos of Quinceo, Turicuaro,

21

WEST

EOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA

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22

Inhabitants

200,000 9 299 o90

\ (Mendizabal)

\
\
\
\
\
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\
\

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

100,000 \ | |
|
| \ 22,000 (Mendizabal) | |
~~ | i;
80,000 ar F SS SS
i |
~
in | Offical census
~ dota
ec,ece LE if T AN,
| 55,000" 4,795
(Villasefior & church records)
40,000
20,000
(e)
Year 1500 1550 1600 1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950

Ficure 1.—Decline of Tarascan population, 1500-1940. The figures for 1500 and 1550 include all aboriginal inhabitants

in the diocese of Michoacan.

Besides the Tarascans, several thousand Otom{ and some Huastec inhabited the eastern

and northeastern sections of the diocese (Guanajuato and San Luis Potosi), and many people of Nahuatl speech
lived in the western portion (Colima, southwest Michoacan).

and Cumachuén (62 percent monolingual). More-
over, the pueblos of La Cafiada, adjacent to mod-
ern transportation facilities, are surprisingly mono-
lingual (59 percent). Other scattered, ultracon-
servative towns, such as Angahuan, Cocucho, and
Cherandtzicurin in the Sierra, contain a large
number of monolinguals.

Effects of Paricutin Voleano.—The eruption of
Paricutin Volcano early in 1943 caused the redis-
tribution of some of the Tarascan population.

The inhabitants of the completely destroyed towns
of Paricutin and Parangaricutiro were transferred
to new lands near Uruapan. Those of Paricutin
were moved to the new settlement of Caltzontzin,
5 km. east of Uruapan, in February 1943. This
pueblo now forms a new island of Tarascan speech
in the tierra templada. With Government aid the
people of Parangaricutiro established a new
pueblo near the rancho of Los Conejos, 6 km. west
of Uruapan, in March 1944. Another new town,

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—-WEST De

Inhabitants

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

Year 1750 1800

1g50 1900 1950

Figure 2.—Growth of population in the Sierra, 1750-1940. The population of the following towns and ranchos was
used to calculate totals for the years indicated: Ahuiran, Angahuan, Arantepacua, Aranza, Atapan, La Cantera,
Cherdn, Cherandsticurin, Cherato, Cocucho, Corupo, Cumachuén, Charapan, Capacuaro, Huiramangaro, Nahuatzen,
Nurfo, Ocumicho, Pamatdcuaro, Paracho, Parangaricutiro, Paricutin, Patamban, Pichdtaro, Pomacuardn, Quinseo,
San Felipe, San José, San Lorenzo, Sevina, Sicuicho, Sirfo, Tanaco, Tarecuato, Tenguecho, Turfcuaro, Urapicho,

Zacan, Zirosto, San Benito, San Luis, La Tinaja, El Tropezén, Uringuitiro, Zarzamora.

Data for 1750 were taken

from Villasenor and church records (AAM); for 1800, from church records (AAM); for 1845, from AAM, leg. 707,
Memorias estadisticas; for 1900, 1921, 1930, 1940, from official census.

called Colonia Dr. Miguel Silva (Villa Silva), was
founded by volcano refugees in August 1943, 5
km. southwest of Ario de Rosales, on the upper
margins of the tierra caliente. The settlement
sheltered families mainly from Zirosto and some
from Paricutin, Parangaricutiro, and Zacan.*
The highland Tarascans have encountered several
difficulties in the subtropical habitat: increased
susceptibility to disease, unfamiliarity with sub-
tropical clay soils, slow adaptation to new crop
types. Consequently, within the last year (1945-
46) the population of Villa Silva has decreased
from approximately 600 to 300, owing to high
death rate and movement of families back to the
highlands; the new settlement may be abandoned
within a short time. Besides resettlement in
newly formed pueblos, many of the families from
the stricken area have moved permanently to less
damaged towns, such as Pamatdécuaro, Charapan,
Paracho, Uruapan, and Zamora.

80 The continued activity of the voleano may force the complete abandon-
ment of the partially ruined towns of Zacan and Zirosto. In the spring of
1946 the authorities of Zirosto were seriously considering the removal of the
remnants of their townspeople to the rancho of Barranca Seca, 4 km. to the
northwest. =

Possible future trends in Tarascan popula-
tion.— Judging from the long-range trend in both
areal recession and actual numerical decrease in
Tarascan-speaking folk, it would appear that the
Tarascan language is headed toward extinction.
Figure 1 indicates the terrific human toll taken by
the European epidemics during the first 50 years
of Spanish occupation, and the leveling off of the
downward curve * until after 1920, when increases
are reported by the 1930 and 1940 censuses. In
the period 1930-40 the rate of increase in Tarascan
population equaled that of the mestizo element.
This period of increase is too short to conclude

31 At the end of the 18th century, decrease in Tarascan population was
still outstanding enough to be reported officially to the central government
in Mexico City. Commenting on the population increase in the diocese of
Michoac&n from 1700 to 1783, an official reports: ‘‘Hay el considerable aumento
de 38,449 vecinos . . . pero debe advertirse que este segun las noticias comunicadas
por los subdelegados, é informes recevidos en el asunto, es de espanoles, mulatos,
y demas castas, pues en la de los Indios se experimenta mucha decadencia o
diminucién originada en unos pueblos de la mescla de estos con distintas cali-
dades; en otros de las graves y continuas enfermedades, que han padecido; en otras
de las pensiones, que cargan insorportables a su felicidad, quando es corto el
numero de los obligados a ellos; y en otros finalmente a la exrcasez de tierras para
su precisa subsistencia, sobre lo qual para no confundir el estado antecedente se
acomparia uno, que manifiesta los Pueblos, a quienes faltan aun de 600 varas,
que por cada viento les asigna la ley .. .”. (AGN Historia, vol. 72, exped. 1
(1793)).

24 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—-PUBLICATION NO. 7

that a new upward trend has been established.
On the other hand, there has been a considerable
increase in the population of the Sierra and Lake
towns since 1750, which probably accounts for
the level curve during the 19th century, in spite
of drastic areal recession in speech during that
period (fig. 2). Today areal recession is still in
progress, but actual numbers of Tarascans appear
to be increasing. The question is: Can the growth
in number of Tarascan-speaking children continue
to exceed or equal that of the children (of Tarascan
speaking parents) who fail to learn the language or
cease to use it in later life? Assuming equal rates
of infant mortality and similar health facilities for
both groups, it would appear that, owing to cul-
tural changes now in progress within the Tarascan
area, the indigenous speech will eventually dis-

appear. Such cultural changes—improved trans-
portation, more frequent contact with modern
life, increased educational facilities both within
the pueblos and in the large towns outside, the
Government alphabetization program—all aid
to increase the use of Spanish and to decrease
the use of Tarascan. Such factors influence espe-
cially the younger generation. Today the young
people (5 to 20 years old) of many pueblos have
not learned Tarascan, and often those who know
the language speak Spanish by preference. More-
over, as indicated above, mestizo merchants are
still moving into the Tarascan market towns and in
such centers intermarriage of Indian and mestizo
continues; the offspring of such unions rarely
learn the indigenous tongue.

TARASCAN SETTLEMENTS

The early Spanish adventurers and friars found
Tarascans living (like many sedentary Indians of
the New World) in agglomerated settlements, the
larger of which the Spaniards called pueblos, the
smaller, rancherias or estancias. The pueblo and
the rancheria (rancho) have remained the basic
units of settlement in the Tarascan area, as im
most parts of Mexico. In size present Tarascan
pueblos range from 200 to 3,400 inhabitants; the
ranchos, from 9 to 900. Invariably the modern
indigenous ranchos are offspring settlements from
a pueblo nearby. For instance, the 11 ranchos
on the southern and eastern slopes of Cerro de
Patamban were formed by families, which for
political or economic (land) reasons, left the
mother pueblo, Pamatdcuaro. Sirfo, a former
rancho of Pamatdécuaro, was made a pueblo and
tenencia ca. 1926, its name being changed to
Jestis Diaz. By such a process agglomerated
settlements begin and develop. Moreover, the
ranchos on the Tarf-uk‘éri Peninsula, Lake P&tz-
cuaro, were founded 50 or 60 years ago by fisher-

32 Although in general these two types of settlement are differentiated by
size, the terms ‘‘pueblo” and ‘‘rancho”’ have acquired political connotations,
From the point of view of State and Federal Governments the basic political
unit in Mexico is the municipio, which may contain many pueblos and
ranchos. Usually the largest pueblo within this political unit is named the
cabecera, or chief administrative town. The affairs of the cabecera and those
of the municipio as a whole are administered by a presidente or mayor. The
remaining pueblos in the municipio are regarded as tenencias, each headed
by a jefe. The ranchos are dependencies of certain pueblos, local authority
being vested in the diputado de orden. Upon obtaining sufficient size, prestige,
or political influence, a pueblo may be elevated to the rank of villa or even
ciudad Because of historical prestige small (1,077 mestizo inhabitants)

Tzintzuntzan holds the title of ciudad. Such rank, however, in no way
changes the political function of the town.

men from adjacent islands of Janitzio and Lo
Pacanda. On the other hand, the mestizo
ranchos now found in the Sierra are the product
of migration of farmers and political refugees from
the outside. One of these, Arato, was established
soon after the struggle for independence in 1810,
and in the 1930’s was given the title of pueblo
with tenencia status.

Other types of settlement in modern Tarasca
include the lumber camp (aserradero), an ephem-
eral agglomeration of workmen’s huts around the
sawmill. Such settlements disappear after sur-
rounding exploitable timber has been depleted.
In 1946 there were but three lumber camps in the
entire Sierra. In addition, a minor form of
dispersed settlement is sometimes found in the
Sierra; occasionally a woodcutter and his family
live permanently in an isolated house on a forested
mountain slope and visit the nearest pueblo only
to market products, buy supplies, and attend
fiestas.

Settlement sites——The few available early
descriptions of the Tarascan area indicate the
existence of many more Indian settlements during
the 16th century than at present.*? This was
particularly true in the Sierra, where small
agelomerations (estancias or rancherias) were
numerous. Such settlements were scattered on

33 The early sources which mention former settlements in the Tarascan
area include the available Relaciones Geograficas, 1579-81 (Mus. Nac., leg.
102); various late 16th-century documents concerning labor and associated
problems in Zavala and Castello (1939-46); many documents concerning the
congregations of 1595-1605 found in AGN Congregaciones and Tierras.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST

wooded mountain slopes (where maize could be
easily cultivated with the digging stick) and on
elevations difficult of access (chiefly for protection
from Chichimec raids). Many of these estancias
were likely wiped out by the early epidemics;
others the Spaniards probably congregated with
larger towns during the last half of the 16th and
first years of the 17th centuries (Simpson, 1934;
Spain—Law, Statutes, etc., 1681, ley VI, tit. 3),
in order to better instruct natives in Christianity
and to facilitate the collection of tribute and
forced labor. Probably few present Tarascan
pueblos possess their pre-Spanish sites.

Modern Tarascan settlements occupy a variety
of sites, most of which have level, or nearly level,
surfaces. Those along Lake P&tzcuaro are on
eminences or shelves above the water’s edge;
all avoid frequently flooded delta plains. In the
Sierra many towns are located on slopes or benches
immediately bordering the large basin plains;
others occupy level spots in local swales. <A few,
such as Urapicho, Cocucho, Quinceo, and Ocu-

2

“=

5

micho, occupy benches on hill slopes. With the
exception of Paracho, Sierra settlements avoid
the centers of basin flats. Likely, many villages
were moved from pre-Conquest mountain sites
to present locations near abundant plow land.
The inhabitants of Urapicho, for example, tell a
legend concerning the former location of their
pueblo on the high slopes of the Cerro de Urapicho
nearby. Formerly many of the La Canada
pueblos occupied protective slope and hill sites
in the surrounding mountains, but after the end
of the 16th century they were concentrated in
their present locations in the alluvial floor of the
valley (map 14).

Settlement and water supply.—One of the most
significant factors in the location of Tarascan
settlements has been water supply. Aside from
the Lake pueblos, almost every town in Tarasca
is located near a spring. While the northern
plateau and southern escarpment areas abound
in springs, the Sierra has ever been a problem
area in terms of water supply. In pre-Conquest

102°10'

s

Tangoncicuaro
r) g

---
lee

— <<) tN

~ _(Cusinducuaro)
° ’

(J
ie)
\_Le'

(Choraquiro)°

L

=
_— 7000 ~S

= 8009—

9000,
UASASAJUATA
/ Wa

=
° tie
°°
a

KUAIPICARAS

aN
gos A
S Ss

~

Ape?)
TAAEJUATA
(er, vy,

i

102°10'

Map 14.—Distribution of La Canada settlements, 1580 and 1946.

de Chilchota, 1579.

BAN
(Acachuen) oot

a

aa Ue

@ Purepero ae

s
ra

‘f

C. UARANIKA

‘
f
'
t

=

—~s000—— i t

Sl u
1 a Ne
Fut (Tacuro 00

-

(ichan)

\

Panes
aaNAN
a Ol anzftacuaro)
n \
@ Modern Site
oO Probable Site in 1579 (Re/. Geogr)

@© Coincidence of modern & 1579 site

CN
—— Modern Highway

--—Probable route of Camino Real, \579
5 MI

The 1580 data are from Mus. Nac., leg. 102, Relacién

The towns of Tacuro and Ichdn still retain their old lands east of Charapan.

26 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

times many towns supplemented the scanty flow
from the local spring by constructing aqueducts
(éekikua, canoas) of hollowed half-logs to bring
in water from large springs some distance away.
Furthermore, wooden reservoirs caulked with pine
pitch were constructed at springs to conserve
water during the dry season (Mus. Nac., leg. 102,
Rel. de Chilchota, f. 10v.; Ponce Relacién, vol. 2,
p. 6). Wooden aqueducts are still employed in
many Sierra pueblos to conduct water from springs
to the village outskirts (pl. 2).

The progressive exhaustion of springs consti-
tutes one of the most urgent welfare problems in
the Sierra today. Scarcity of water in that area,
however, is no modern difficulty, for during the
18th century many pueblos were sorely pressed in
the dry season (AGN Historia, vol. 73, ff. 212-226).
The present scarcity has been aggravated by con-
tinuous destruction of the forest. Some towns have
partially solved the local water problem by digging
wells in the adjacent basin flats. Nurio and
Urapicho, whose springs have long been dry,
obtain water from a common group of wells in a
large basin nearby. Located within a_ basin,
Paracho has always obtained water from wells.
Moreover, the peculiar geological structure of
Charapan’s bench site has permitted the develop-
ment of water-bearing strata beneath the town.
These strata are now tapped by private wells dug
in the house lots and public wells in various parts
of town (pl. 2). Even the water level in wells is
continually diminishing. During the dry season
water must be carefully rationed to the inhabit-
ants and their livestock. Other pueblos, which
are located far from water-bearing strata in the
basins and have springs that cease to flow in the
dry season, suffer even more. The women of
Azajo travel with burros 8 km. to San Jerénimo on
Lake P&tzcuaro to fill their cdéntaros, and those of
Ocumicho walk 3 km. and many from Patamban
go 8 km. to the large spring at San José for water.
Few towns have received Federal or State aid for
the improvement of the local water supply; on
their own initiative the people of some pueblos
(e. g. San Felipe) have constructed concrete
reservoirs to store spring water and have in-
stalled pipe to carry water to various points in the
village. The majority of the towns, however,
lack sufficient resources to improve their plight
and continue to suffer through the dry season.

Plans of settlements.—The planning of pueblos

and rancherias was unknown in pre-Columbian
times. Settlements were amorphous, the dwell-
ings irregularly spaced and connected by winding
footpaths. Beginning around 1550, the Spaniards
slowly forced the natives in most parts of central
Mexico to rebuild their towns on a grid street
pattern, which is now predominant in most
pueblos (Indian and mestizo) in Mexico.** The
advantages of the grid, with numbered blocks and
houses, are obvious in terms of tax and tribute
records. ‘Towns were also divided into barrios or
wards, usually four or more; some barrios represent
the congregation of outlying rancherias into the
town. Within the Tarascan area the realinement
of the street pattern was apparently continued
until the close of the colonial period, for a late
18th-century description mentions the tortuous,
unplanned paths and irregularly spaced houses of
some Sierra pueblos, which today have the grid
pattern (AGN Historia, vol. 73, ff. 285-405). At
the present time only the Tarascan ranchos
(formed after the colonial period without direction
from a centralized government) are characterized
by winding streets and scattered dwellings, and
probably illustrate the pattern of a pre-Conquest
village (map 15).

One of the outstanding features of the grid
pattern imposed by the Spaniards is the plaza, or
square, located in the center of the settlement.
Every Tarascan village has its plaza, which
functions as the commercial, social, and adminis-
trative center of the town (map 16; pl. 2). A
semblance of a garden and often a bandstand
occupy the center of the plaza. Administrative
buildings (the palacio municipal or jefetura and
the jail), often the school, stores, and the dwellings
of the more prominent citizens face the streets
bordering the plaza. Moreover, the square is the
site of religious and civil festivals and the market.
The church, however, rarely faces the plaza, but
is often placed one-half to one block distant.

Away from the plaza, which in the larger towns
is surrounded by a contiguous group of buildings,
most Tarascan pueblos in the Sierra are char-
acterized by widely spaced dwellings separated by
house lots. Compact towns with contiguous
building throughout occur in the Lake region and
in the Zacapu Basin. (Maps 16, 17; pl. 2.)

4 For a discussion of the introduction of the grid street pattern into New
Spain, see Stanislawski, 1947 b.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST PATE

-----—Field or lot

1000 ft.

300 m.

Map 15.—Plan of Uringuitiro (Juafyitiru), 1946. Like most indigenous ranchos of the Sierra, the street pattern is irregular
and dwellings are widely spaced.

HOUSE TYPES **

The most striking material cultural element
of the modern Tarascans is the wooden house
(troje), constructed of logs or large planks placed
horizontally and interlocked at the corners by
notching or cogging in a fashion similar to the log
house of Scandinavia.*® Ordinarily the Tarascan
structure is square or rectangular in plan, carries
a 4-shed roof of shakes, and has a porch or veranda

4a Since Beals, Carrasco, and McCorkle (1944) have discussed Tarascan
house types in some detail, only a summary of the subject will be given here.

38 South of Lake PAtzcuaro the wooden troje often lacks the usual netched
corners, but the ends of the planks are housed in an L-shaped cornerpiece
(pl. 3).

attached to the front, which usually faces away
from the street and toward the interior of the
house lot (pl. 3). The wooden troje is found
mainly in the Sierra, where constructional materi-
als are abundant, and extends south to the limit
of the pine forest; its eastern limit has not been
determined. In the Lake, La Canada, and
northern areas houses with adobe or stone walls,
rectangular plan, and two-shed roofs of tile
predominate. The above distributions, however,
are not rigid; occasionally a few old wooden frojes
are encountered in the towns around the lake
and in the northern plateau (pl. 4), and adobe and
stone construction is increasing in the Sierra.

28 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

200

Map 16.—Plan of Ahuiran, 1946.

The plan is typical of small Sierra towns.

000 ft

)
————
0

300m

Cemetery
Church
Plaza

(Li

Jefetura
Dwelling
Lot boundary

Note the scattered dwellings and lot

(ekudau) boundaries.

Functional aspects.—Among the Tarascans the
agglomeration of buildings in an individual lot
include the principal house, the kitchen, burro
stable, hogpen, and frequently certain storage
structures. The head of a household may build
two or more sets of houses and kitchens in his lot
for his married sons. The main house (the wooden
troje in the Sierra or the adobe structure in the
surrounding areas) serves principally as a store-
house. The maize harvest is stored in the loft
(tapanco), which is floored with heavy planks and
entered through a trap door by means of a ladder
or notched log. In the lower room (floored with
planks in the wooded troje, often dirt-floored in
the adobe house) are stored small grains, clothes,
personal valuables; it is also used to house images
of various saints, to entertain guests, and as
sleeping quarters for them; some members of the
family (usually marriageable girls) often sleep in

the main house. The veranda, too, is used for
storing boxes, lumber, etc., and is sometimes
employed as a workplace and for sitting and
gossiping.

The kitchen (kosina) is a separate building,
usually less well constructed than the main house.
In the Sierra it is often made of thin planks placed
vertically and carries a two-shed roof. Kosinas
ot horizontal interlocked planks and four-shed
roofs are sometimes seen. The chimney is un-
known; smoke escapes through cracks or especially
constructed vents in the roof. The kitchens in
the areas outside the Sierra are usually of adobe
with two-shed roofs of tile or shakes; some are
flimsily constructed of upright planks or of brush,
and carry a one-shed roof.*° Obviously, the
kitchen is where food is prepared and eaten;

36 In some towns where the Spanish L- or U-shaped house is present, the
kitchen forms one of the rooms in the main structure.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 29

México — Guadalajara

Map 17.—Plan of Tirfndaro, 1946.

Church
Plaza
Jefetura

Owellings

Highway

Representative of compact Tarascan towns, most of which occur in areas bordering

the Sierra.

being the hearth place and the warmest of the
buildings, it is also the main sleeping quarters
of the family.*”

The minor structures include the stable, chicken
roosts, and the hogpen, all constructed of logs or
rough planks; the gate roof (puerta de golpe) in
the loft of which maize fodder is often stored;
and, in some Sierra towns, special storage build-
ings, which consist of small wooden sheds on
stilts or simply small plank trojes resting on a
crude stone foundation.*® The house lot is fenced

47 For a description of the hearth types and kitchen implements, see Beals,
Carrasco, and McCorkle, 1944, pp. 16, 22-24,

38 The special storage places are called Gmutakata in Angahuan and Chara-
pan, uakdli in Capacuaro. Literally the term ‘‘imutakata’’ means ‘‘addi-
tion,’”’ and is also used for the storage space in the gate roof. The puerta
de golpe occurs not only in Michoacan, where it is most common, but is seen
in mestizo towns in the Valley of Mexico. The main purpose of the roof
is to keep rain from the wooden gate.

with adobe, stone, or logs; the portion facing the
street may be enclosed by a high wall of planks,
stone, or adobe, which joins the house at one end.
Such structures are called ¢an¢akata in the
Sierra (pl. 3). Various types of gates are used
at the entrance to the house lot; the more common
are the double-door affair, and those with logs
placed horizontally in slots carved in opposite
upright posts.

Historical aspects.—The provenience of the
wooden troje presents one of the most puzzling
features in Tarascan culture history. The struc-
ture of interlocked logs or planks is a relatively
uncommon house type in Mexico, where it has a
disjunct distribution. It is found in (1) Oaxaca
among the Mixe, Mixtec, and Trique groups;

30 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

(2) Veracruz on the northern slopes of the Cofre

de Perote; (3) the Sierra Madre Oriental between
Apulco and Huayacocotla near the Hidalgo-
Veracruz border and near the Pan American high-
way northeast of Jacala, Hidalgo; (4) the Sierra
Madre Occidental (Durango and Chihuahua);
(5) isolated spots in the Sierra Madre del Sur
(Guerrero) west of Chilpancingo; and (6) the
Tarascan Sierra of Michoacin. The log cabin in
Durango and Chihuahua possibly may have been
introduced by United States Confederate refugees,
a few of whom settled in the Sierra Madre in the
late 1860’s and 1870’s. Located near one of the
main Veracruz-México roads, the Perote people
also may have obtained the idea of interlocked
logs from United States or European travelers or
settlers. The plank structures of Michoacan are
technically superior to the North American log
cabin (introduced into the North American colo-
nies from Scandinavia in the 17th century), and
are known to have existed since the last quarter
of the 18th century. Log cabins were apparently
unknown in Spain during the colonial period.
The idea of their construction may have been
introduced into Mexico from northern Europe.
There is nothing in the Relacién de Michoacin
or in the available Relaciones Geogriéficas (Muc.
Nac., leg. 102) that indicates the presence of log
structures among 16th-century Tarascans.** The
native houses were constructed of adobe or stone
with four-shed straw-thatched roofs. The first
definite evidence of the modern troje that the writer
has encountered appears in the Calderon report of
1789 (AGN Historia, vol. 73), which mentions
“. . jacales de . . . vigas horizontales cubiertas
de tajamanil . . .” in Turicuaro (f. 336v), “. . .
cuatro trojes de Maderas de Pino, bien constru-
idas y conservadas ...” in Nocutzepo (Lake
P&tzcuaro) (f. 301), and ‘‘. . . chozas (or casas)
de madera . . .’?in many other towns in the Sierra
(map 18). In most pueblos, however, wooden
houses were mingled with those of stone or adobe.
Moreover, houses constructed of small logs or
poles placed vertically (‘‘estacas plantadas’’) were

8 Log fortifications were constructed by the Tarascans at Taximaroa
(Ciudad Hidalgo) in pre-Spanish times (Stanislawski, 1947 a, p. 49). There
is no evidence, however, that the notching technique was known. For a
description of pre-Conquest Tarascan houses, see Beals, Carrasco, and
McCorkle, 1944, pp. 33-36.

widespread both in the Sierra and in surrounding
areas. The modern troje, then, appears to have
been introduced into Michoacén sometime be-
tween 1580 and 1780.

Some native constructional and functional
elements were applied to the log or plank struct-
ure. For instance, the square floor plan and the
four-shed roof were common features of the aborig-
inal house. Again, the use of the troje as a store-
house and the retention of the separate kitchen as
living quarters would seem to indicate application
of native uses to an introduced element. The
storage of grain in the loft, however, may be an
introduced European trait. As in most parts of
indigenous Mexico, separate granaries (trojes) were
possibly employed by pre-Conquest Tarascans.”

The wooden troje is disappearing in the Taras-
can area. As mentioned above, a few old
structures exist in some of the towns outside the
Sierra. According to the local inhabitants, such
trojes were formerly more numerous; however,
there is no evidence that the entire town was
once composed of wooden houses. Owing to de-
crease in large pines and firs, the cheaper adobe
and stone structures are gradually replacing the~
troje in the Sierra towns. Only a few small
Sierra villages and ranchos consist entirely of
wooden structures.

In additioa to the interlocked plank house,
various roofing materials have been imtroduced
into the Tarascan area (as well as into all parts of
Mexico). Aboriginally, houses were roofed with
grass or palm thatch, which is still employed in the
tierra caliente of Michoacén. During the last
half of the 16th century Basque miners probably
introduced the shake (tejamanil) to roof their
houses and ore refineries at the mining centers in
central Mexico. From the mines the use of
shakes gradually spread to Indian villages situated

«0 One of the ‘temporary structures” depicted in the Relacién de Michoacin
is similar to the modern vasiform granaries (cuwezcomatl) of parts of Morelos,
Puebla, and Tlaxcala. Moreover, the original ms. of the Relacién de Tiripi-
tfo, 1580 (in the Garcia Library, University of Texas, Austin), illustrates a
vasiform troje similar to that shown in the Relacién de Michoacén. The
Tiripitio troje was of two stories, the lower floor being used to store maize, the
upper, reached by a notched log, for storing clothes, personal valuables, etc.

4 Fair adobe brick can be made in the Sierra by mixing the local soil (of low
clay content) with pine needles.

42 The Relaciones Geograficas of 1579-81 (Mus. Nac., leg. 102) invariably
mention shaked roofs in mining centers of New Spain. In the modern
Basque country, however, shakes are used to roof only shepherds’ huts
(Beals, Carrasco, and McCorkle, 1944, p. 34).

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN

102°30'

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TARASCAN AREA—WEST

31

101°30'

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d Teremendo
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°

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of

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>
NS> Tirosto

Brarangaricutiro, 2
s

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fon Apotzingdn

102°30'

Map 18.—Distribution of house types in the Tarascan area, 1789 and 1946.

748988—48——3

Se

pchiTehets eon =eane

o

o?

Te
iJ
7 v,
. J wt we
. J a a
ve

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Tr Copocuaro

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:

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i

jo
ys
‘
@ Wooden plank walls predominant
© Adobe & stone walls predominant
© Wooden plank & adobe or stone walls
equally predominant
# Wattle-daub walls predominant
— Shake roof, 4-, 3-, or 2-shed
| Tile roof, usually 2-shed
--Approximate limit of wooden plank house

Tarejero Coeneo

roy

io

Comonjo TT

Zipiojo

VALLADOLID

LO; Kec

& cps ncunse

‘Or zintzuntzon
(eis

poe ;
7

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BF Cuonojo

Lo}

Zirohuen
oy

Opopeo
Sonto CloroO O

Tocombaro

@ Wooden plank walls
© Adobe and stone walls

© Wooden plank & adobe walls equally pre-
dominant

1] Walls of vertical planks or sticks
4 Stone walls predominant
— Shake roof
Tile roof
thatch roof

The 1789 data are from AGN Historia,

vol. 73, Calderén report.

32 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

within or near pine forests. By 1789 most of the
buildings in Tarascan towns in the Lake and
Sierra regions were roofed with shakes (map 18).
Today in the towns bordering the Sierra the red
Castilian tile has completely replaced tejamanil
and is slowly penetrating into the Sierra towns.*

THE LAND SYSTEM AND THE PUEBLO

Tarascan settlements are fundamentally agri-
cultural villages. They include not only dwellings
arranged along streets and in house lots, but also
the surrounding farm land. The land is the body
of the pueblo, whose political and economic life
revolves around land ownership and boundaries,
crop planting and harvesting.

Few records exist on the ancient Tarascan land
system; most lands, however, were probably held
in common. Each community owned surround-
ing lands, the limits of which were determined by
metes and bounds; the record and adjudication of
pueblo boundaries were in the hands of the
village chief, who apportioned agricultural plots
to his subjects.44. As in many modern Indian
areas of Mexico, the aboriginal concept of village
lands and their established boundaries is indurated
in the present political and economic structure of
the Tarascan pueblos.® Such holdings in the
Sierra include various types of land: monte, or
woodland pasture on steep mountain slopes and on
lava flows; cropland in basin floors (planes, t'pakua),
on lower mountain slopes (/aderas, uandten), and
in craters of cinder cones (joyas, t pakua-supiéu).
In La Canada often the following lands are
held by a given pueblo: irrigable alluvium on
the valley floor, temporal lands and monte on the
adjacent slopes, and hwmedad lands in the Sierra.
In the Lake area types of land vary from pueblo to
pueblo. Often small strips of irrigable vegetable
plots are held along the lake shore; most towns
hold temporal land on the lower slopes; those on

43 Although used in most Spanish towns (except mining centers) in New
Spain since the late 16th century, tiles began to appear in the Lake Patzcuaro
district only in the late 18th century. In 1789 Patzcuaro was the only town in
the vicinity with tile roofs (approximately 50 percent of the houses were
roofed with tile, the remainder, with shakes). In the same year one house in
Naranja boasted of a tile roof. (AGN Historia, vol. 73, ff. 285, 318.)

44 A copy of an aboriginal land title (1519) of CheranStzicurin is extant in
AQN Tierras, vol. 867, exped. 8.

45 In many respects the native land system in central Mexico paralleled that
of 16th century Spain. Farticularly was this true in regard to the concept of
village holdings,

the community.

the western and southern shore often have fields
in the Sierra.

Two systems of land ownership—communal
and private—prevail in most of modern Tarasca.
Since the land reforms of 1915, the ejido, a third
type of holding, has displaced most of the hacien-
das around the margins of the Sierra.

Since Spanish contact most of the Tarascan
agricultural land has become private property of
family heads. Even in the few remaining pueblos
which claim complete communal ownership of
their lands, a strong individualization of property
has developed. The historical process of the
shift from communal to private ownership is not
clear. Late 18th-century documents on land
disputes among the Tarascan pueblos indicate
that at that time the communal system prevailed
at least in the Sierra. The issuance of individual
land titles may not have occurred until after the
reforms of 1857. In the Sierra private land-
holders (propietarios) often possess one or more
plots in the plan, and still others on the less
fertile laderas. Size of individual holdings varies
greatly, since land is purchasable. Normal hold-
ings average 2 to 3 hectares per family. Traces
of the communal concept exist in the minds of the
modern proprietors. Although legally possible,
there is little desire to sell land to nonmembers of
If such a transaction should
arise, it usually must be approved by the town
council. Consequently, pueblo lands are kept
intact. Moreover, individual holdings, especially
those in the plan, are rarely enclosed, for after
harvest the fields are used as communal pasture.”
Accordingly, the final date for removal of crops
and the first date for planting in unenclosed lands
of each pueblo is communally regulated.

Vestiges of the ancient land system are retained
in the special communal holdings found in most
modern Tarascan villages. Five pueblos in La
Cafiada—Tanaquillo, Acachuén, Ichdén, Tacuro,
and Carapan—retain communal ownership of all
lands, at least in name. Family heads are allotted
one plot of temporal near the pueblo and another
of humedad in the Sierra to the south and east.
The individual allotments vary from 2 to 4

46 The Tarascan town council is normally composed of the representante del
pueblo and his committee of six. The representante deals with most internal
affairs of the pueblo.

47 Fences and ditches are used most frequently to divide cultivated lands
from pasture and to separate individual holdings on the /aderas, or slope land.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—-WEST 33

hectares in size,*8 and may be used indefinitely by
the recipient, provided they are not left untilled
for more than two successive years. They may
be inherited by sons, daughters, or in-laws, and
may be divided among them. <A family head
may sell the use rights of his land to another
member of the community, but not to outsiders.
The official title to lands is held by the pueblo.

Another remnant of communal holdings, com-
mon in all parts of Tarasca, is found in the
woodland, which is considered common land.*°

48 In most parts of Tarasca land is measured in terms of the quantity of
grain used in planting. Thus, in La Cafada a plot of maize land may vary
from 1 to 8 liters of maize in size. Approximately 2 liters of maize is necessary
to plant 1 hectare. (The term ‘‘hectare,” however, is unknown to most
Tarascans.) Five liters of maize equal 1 medida; 100 liters of maize are equiv-
alent to 1 fanega (one hundredweight), or one yunta, meaning the amount
of land in which a team (ywnta) of oxen can plant one fanega of maize in one
season. In terms of wheat, 44 liters equal 1 carga, or from 1 to 144 yuntas.
The above equivalents are those used in Chilchota and Carapan. Similar
land measurements are employed in the Sierra.

49 This aboriginal custom parallels the ancient Spanish practice of reserving
woodland as communal property.

Before the promulgation of the Federal forest laws
(1930’s), all members of the pueblo reserved the
tight to cut wood and lumber in the monte with
permission of the representante. Today a Federal
tax must be paid (but is often evaded) by each
pueblo for lumber rights. Small plots of Jand
(desmontes) may be cleared and planted in any
part of the forest, but the farmer must first gain
permission of the representante and his committee.
In addition to the monte many pueblos possess
certain croplands, called tierras de la comunidad,
which are not assigned permanently to individuals,
but are worked communally, usually by landless
farmers, who receive a portion of the harvest as
remuneration. The remainder of the crop is often
stored in the pueblo as communal property to be
sold by the representante for the town treasury or
to be used as food in time of shortage.

TARASCAN ECONOMY

Tarascan economy is today, and was in pre-
Conquest times, as diversified as that of any
large Indian group in North America. Agricul-
ture has always been the preeminent occupation
of most of the Tarascan population. Formerly, a
significant part of the people were fishers (or
farmers and fishers), living around the shores of
Lakes Patzcuaro and Zirahuén and the numerous
lakes and marshes of the northern plateau; the
modern fishers are limited chiefly to the islands
within Lake Patzcuaro. Moreover, hunting and
gathering, although now of small importance, is
still practiced throughout the area. Apart from
the food quest, two other occupations have charac-
terized Tarascan economy since prehistoric days:
handicrafts and trade. Many of the Tarascan
villages specialize in particular home industries,
for which they are famed over a large area. Again,
in prehistoric and modern times the Tarascan
has been one of the more notable Indian traders,
serving as commercial middleman between the
tierra fria and tierra caliente to the south and west.

AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS AND ASSOCI-
ATED CROP TYPES

Tarascan agriculture involves a mixture of New
and Old World plants and cultivation practices.
The native trilory—maize, beans, and squash—

still forms the leading crop complex, but the
-European grains—wheat, barley, the broadbean
and lentil—have become intimately associated
with Tarascan agriculture. European fruits are
grown with native types; Old World vegetables,
mainly cabbage, have become an integral part of
native food habits. But the modern Tarascan
considers such crops, most of which were intro-
duced over 400 years ago, as part of his aboriginal
culture. Furthermore, although Tarascans still
practice pre-Columbian shifting agriculture on
steep slopes, the Old World plow has transformed
indigenous cultivation on level and gently sloping
lands.

Agricultural acculturation continues constantly.
Tarascan braceros returning from the United
States have brought in apple cuttings from the
Yakima Valley, grapevines from California, corn
from Iowa. Within the last three decades a South
American Ozalis (papa de Castilla) has been intro-
duced in the Sierra south and west of Lake
P&tzcuaro. Again, alfalfa cultivation is slowly
penetrating into many parts of the Sierra. Recent-
ly the Federal Government introduced a few steel
plows in some Tarascan villages, and here and
there one sees engine-powered threshing machines
slowly replacing the ancient European threshing
floor and flail.

34 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

The Tarascans, like many aboriginal groups
strongly influenced by European culture, engage
in two types of agriculture: field agriculture and
horticulture. The former comprises extensive
cultivation of grains in comparatively large fields
with the plow and in small hillside plots with the
hoe. Tarascan horticulture includes mainly the
intensive cultivation of grains, vegetables, medic-
inal plants, and fruits in the house-lot gardens
(ekudau, sing., ekudmeéa, pl., hispanicized to
ecuaro); it also includes specialized truck garden-
ing, such as that practiced on the shores of Lake
Patzcuaro.

FIELD AGRICULTURE AND ASSOCIATED CROPS

There are three basic native food crops of
Mexico: maize (starch and oil), beans (protein),
and squash (vegetable vitamin), all of which are
now associated with field agriculture. In most
Indian and many mestizo communities this com-
plex forms the principal elements in the common
diet; the three crops are planted together in the
same field, cultivated together in the same man-
ner, and harvested about the same time.

Maize culture.—The earliest record of maize in
the Tarascan area is found in the charred ears
encountered in a lava flow 18 km. northwest of
Morelia. The date of the flow is unknown, but
maize was probably known to the Tarascans when
they settled in the Sierra and the northern
plateau.

The provenience of maize cultivated by the
early Tarascans is but a small part of the complex
and obscure movements of corn from a secondary
center of origin in southern Mexico or northern
Central America.” Anderson (1946 a) has de-
scribed three distinct races of Zea mays in central
Mexico: (1) the Mexican Pyramidal, centering in
the eastern highlands; (2) Mexican Narrow Ear,
found in western Mexico, particularly in both cold
and hot lands of Jalisco and Nayarit; and (3)
Mountain Yellow, a high altitude maize (usually
above 7,000 ft.) encountered in purest form in the
highlands of western Mexico. Located between

% See Mangelsdorf and Cameron (1942) on the hybridization of South
American primitive maize and Tripsicum in Middle America.

5! Following is a brief description of the above races as given by Anderson
(1946 a, p. 171): (1) Mexican Pyramidal. Ears short, tapering regularly butt
to tip; row number high to very high (16-24). Kernels dented and pointed.
Color prevailingly white and pale yellow. Plants short, pronounced inter-
veinal red or purple coloring. Shallow root system, leaves broad and pubes-

cent. Tassels with few or no branches. (2) Mexican Narrow Ear. Ears
narrow, long, irregularly long-tapered, compressed at butt. Low row num-

the two centers of medium altitude maize (Mexi-
can Pyramidal and Mexican Narrow Ear), the
Tarascan area has received a mixture of both.
Mountain Yellow, often diluted with strains of
Pyramidal, is found in the higher mountain slopes
in the Sierra. Other varieties, cultivated for
special purposes (green corn, sweet corn) are also
found in modern Tarascan agriculture. Popcorn,
however, one of the oldest maizes in Mexico, is
significantly absent.

The field corns.—Economically the most im-
portant maize modernly grown by Tarascans is
the field varieties, cultivated usually in the level
lands and on lower slopes. Morphologically, this
maize is similar to Mexican Pyramidal, but with
pronounced denting of the seeds, little or no point-
ing, and medium row number (14-18). In all
probability this type represents a mixture of
western and eastern corns, with characteristics of
the latter being dominant. In the Sierra field
corn is predominantly white and is grown ‘de
humedad,” i. e. it is planted in the moist t’uptri
soils in the dry season (March or April). For this
reason it is called blanco marceno. In the lower
areas surrounding the Sierra (e.g. the Lake dis-
trict and La Canada) field corn is morphologically
similar to that of the Sierra, but is predominantly
yellow and grown “de temporal,” i. e. planted in
the clayey ¢ardénda soils immediately after the
first summer rains (late May or early June).
The planting of a few grains of red maize (éé6éu)
with the field corns (both humedad and temporal) is
a common practice in many Tarascan pueblos.”
Many consider the red as “father” of all maize,
and as a protector of field corn from disease,
storms, and drought.

Traces of western low-row number in field
maize are found scattered throughout the Sierra,
where such corn is known as matz de ocho, although
the row count varies between 8 and 10. In many
pueblos it was stated that maiz de ocho was grown
more extensively in past years, especially by the
ber (8-14). Kernels wide, unpointed, slight to no dent. Color prevailingly
white. Plants tall, slender; slight to high interveinal coloring. Tassel with
many branches, long and wiry. (3) Mountain Yellow. Ears and kernels
small, somewhat compressed. Ears enlarged at base with irregular rowing
there. Color bright yellow.

82 This practice was encountered in the following Sierra towns: Cocucho,
Nurio, Urapicho, Pomacuarén, Cherén, Cherandtzicurin, Pichftaro. In
La Cafiada: Tanaquillo, Carapan. The practice was denied in the Lake
P&tzcuaro pueblos. In Nurfo 1 grain of red is planted with 1,000 grains of
white. Many former Tarascan towns (now mestizo) follow the customs:

Tancftaro, Apo, ete. The practice may extend far beyond the present
bounds of Tarascan speech

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—-WEST 35

old people, but since the old ones have died, no
one had continued its cultivation. This suggests
that the western corn was formerly predominant
in the area, which later was invaded by the eastern
race.

Maize types are continually migrating from
one pueblo to another within the Tarascan area
and are also being introduced from the outside.
For instance, matz de Sicuicho has been grown
in Arantepacua since 1889; maiz de Chocandirdn
(Nahuatl name for Tingiindin) is raised in
Atapan; maiz de Uriscato in Tarecuato, etc. All
such corns are morphologically alike, being dif-
ferentiated chiefly by color. Again, in some
Sierra pueblos farmers grow a corn called ‘‘toluca”’
or ‘“tulukenio,’’? presumably an introduction from
the Valley of Toluca. Around 1900 a maize
called “chalco” from the Lake Chalco district
in the Valley of Mexico was brought into the
newly drained Zacapu Basin, where it now com-
prises the main corn of the surrounding Tarascan
villages. Chalco is a modernly developed maize
adapted to wet soils. In the Zacapu Basin it is
grown ‘‘de humedad,” and in recent years has been
introduced into the Nahuatzen area.

The mountain corns.—On the steep slopes of
the Sierra volcanoes the small Mountain Yellow
maize is cultivated in little temporary clearings
(desmonte, ¢apan, éapakata). This corn is obvi-
ously mixed with eastern field varieties, as in
many cases the basal enlargement of the ear is
not apparent and grain form varies from point
to dent. Low row number (8-14), however, is
invariably present. Color varies from yellow
to white, often with pink present in the pericarp.
Tolerant of light frosts and infertile soils and
adapted to the ancient indigenous cultivation
sites and practices, this maize may be one of the
oldest in the area.

The special corns: ekudsu maize (Anderson
1946 a, 1946 b).—One of the most interesting of
the modern Tarascan corns is that cultivated in
the house-lot gardens (solar, ekudau). It is
grown mainly for roasting ears (elotes). It is
morphologically distinct from the field corns,

53 According to Beals (1946, p. 23), the tulukenio found at Chern is a
mountain type having definite characteristics of Mountain Yellow and grown
in the slopes and mountain clearings. In other pueblos (e. g. Arantepacua)
tulukenio is a field maize with Mexican Pyramidal characteristics.

‘In the Sierra and the Lake region the term ‘‘eku4iu” is used to mean
house lot, In the mestizo towns and some Tarascan pueblos of the northern
area, particularly La Cafada and west thereof, eku4su means small hillside
cornfields, while the Spanish solar is used to designate house lot.

748988—48—_4

having many characteristics of the Mexican
Narrow: low to medium row number (10-16),
usually long ears, slightly tapering from butt to
tip, and slightly or nondented grains. In color
it is the most striking maize of the Tarascans:
blue, blue black, dull red, wine, and often white
(from field corn) mixed with the above colors
(pinto). In most villages of the Sierra the colored
elote corns are rarely planted outside the house lot.
When questioned as to the reason for this, in-
formants invariably answered that such maize
would not mature well in the fields, that it re-
quired soil of much greater “fuerza.” ® Possibly
this corn has been grown so long in house lots,
where refuse is thrown and animals stalled, that
it has acquired a necessity for highly nitrogenous
soils. The ekudiu maize is not limited to the
Tarascan area, but is planted in a small way in
many parts of western Mexico (Colima and Ja-
lisco). Among the Huichol of Nayarit it has
acquired ceremonial significance. Possibly de-
veloped from the Mexican Narrow Ear in the
escarpment area of Jalisco and Nayarit, this maize
spread westward into Michoacan; it is rarely found
in the eastern part of the Mexican plateau (valleys
of Toluca, Mexico, and Puebla). In the Lake dis-
trict red is the dominant color of ekudéiu maize;
only few ears of blue or black are seen.

Sweet corn.—This is rarely found among the
Tarascans. In 1946 it was encountered in two
towns, Teremendo and Chichota (mestizo).
Because of its gummy consistency, sweet corn is
never eaten green, but dried, mature grains are
toasted to make esquite. The mature ears are
called uaédkata, for they resemble preserved
green corn.

Popcorns.—The complete absence of popcorn in
modern Tarascan agriculture poses a perplexing
question concerning the antiquity of maize among
these people. Popcorn is usually considered one
of the most ancient of Mexican maizes (Anderson,
1946 a). The Tarascans were located between
two popcorn centers—the western area (Jalisco,
Nayarit) with its big-grained popcorns (maiz
reventador) (Anderson, 1944) and the Toluca area
with its small-grained hwilotlacaule (“lo que
comen las palomitas’’).

Maize cultivation methods.—Beals’ (1946) de-
scription of maize cultivation in Chern is typical

%8In Urapicho the farmers believe that ekuAzu maize is “afraid” of the
fields and consequently will not grow there-

36 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

for most of the Sierra. Here, therefore, only the
major processes and regional differences will
be highlighted.

Ground preparation and planting—On the
level basin floors and lower hill slopes, land is
prepared for maize planting with the plow (arado).
The ancient Egyptian two-piece affair drawn by
a pair of oxen is the most common type of plow
used by the Tarascans and by most of the present-
day farmers of Mexico. (See Beals, 1946, p. 22,
for illustration of this primitive plow.) Introduced
into the Tarascan area in the 1520’s or 1530’s,
this instrument was readily taken over by the
native farmers. Adaptation to the plow was
possibly slow in the Sierra, where most of the
aboriginal agriculture was on steep slopes; but
at least by 1624 the farmers of Cherdn were
cultivating the lower slopes near the town with
the arado (AGN Tierras, vol. 83, exped. 13).

Prior to the introduction of the plow the
flattish basin plains of the Sierra apparently were
infrequently cultivated. Early accounts of Taras-
can farming emphasize the importance of
desmonte agriculture on the steep slopes. A report
of 1599 describing the pueblo of Corundapan (now
nonexistent) in the Sierra near Tingambato,
states that the natives had no lands in adjacent
basin plains, but, as was customary among
Tarascan peoples, planted on the slopes in order to
obviate frost hazard. The probable occurrence
of a grass sod in the basin plains may also have
discouraged their cultivation. A description
(1603) of the lands of Capacuaro mentions the
large number of desmontes, but points out the
possibility of cultivating an unused plain nearby,
which was relatively free of shrubs and trees.”
Such areas, though difficult to till with the
aboriginal digging stick, were readily adapted to
plow culture.

The plow now used in Tarasca probably has not
changed in form since the early 16th century.
For most plowing the straight iron plow tip (8 to
10 in. long, 3 in. wide), called the reja, is fastened

4° AGN Tierras, vol. 64, exped. 3. “. . . no tienen tierras en los Llanos y ast
sienbran en el monte como lo acostumbra toda la nacién tarasca en lo que es tierra
Sria por abrigar sus sementeras de los yelos . . . .”” This statement is from one
of the field reports which accompanied recommendations for the village con-
gregations at the end of the 16th century. Obviously, owing to air drainage,
frost hazards are less on lower slopes than on the basin flats, a fact keenly
recognized by modern Tarascan tarmers.

57 AGN Congregaciones, ff. 14v-15. Fray Diego Mufiéz describes the plain
as‘'. . . llanada . . . la mayor parte rasa y descombrada, fertil y facil de labrar
[with the plow, of course]... capaz de mucha semilla y cosecha.. . "

to the lower point of the frame. This instrument
stirs, rather than turns, the soil to a depth of less
than 6 inches. Within the last 50 years many
Tarascans have used a small adaptation of the
North European moldboard plowshare for break-
ing new land and for first and second plowings.
For planting and cultivating maize the moldboard
(which is slipped over the end of the plow frame)
is replaced by the reja. As mentioned above, in
recent years the Mexican government has supplied
a number of American steel plows to various
Tarascan municipios.

Oxen are used almost exclusively to pull the
plow, to which they are hitched by the horn yoke.
Mules and horses sometimes supplement oxen
during maize cultivation, when the work must be
done quickly. Before being planted, maize fields
are plowed, this operation being called barbecho.
In the Sierra the huwmedad maize lands in the
plains are plowed twice, once in late summer and
again in late winter. Temporal maize fields
located outside the Sierra undergo only one
plowing—in late May or early June, immediately
before the rains. For planting, rows are formed
with the plow equipped with the straight reja.
Usually rows follow the contour on slopes. Two
to three seeds are dropped at 1-foot intervals into
the furrow by a boy following the plow and driver.
Often the boy covers the seed with earth to a
depth of 3 or 4 inches with a sweep of his foot.
If animals are available, the first plow is followed
by a second, which covers the grain by throwing
earth from the interfurrow ridge (pl. 5). This
plow is often equipped with a horizontal beam
(orejera), placed back of the reja, which rakes
earth into the furrow. Maize is normally cul-
tivated (earth thrown toward the plant and weeds
eradicated) twice with the plow, once when the
plant is about 1% feet high (escarda) and again
when the plant begins to tassel (segunda). There-
after, fields are weeded by hand or with the hoe.
Zacatén (a form of Johnson grass) is cut with the
juds, a machetelike sickle, similar to the garabato
of the tierra caliente.®

Several forms of the pre-Columbian planting
stick are still used in the maize fields of the Sierra
(fig. 3). These instruments, called meidnta-

‘8 The Sierra Tarascans use many terms to describe maize in its various
stages of growth. When the plant is about 4 inches high (2 weeks after
planting), it is called pirén; at 114 feet (ready for the escarda), kAni or tazéta;
when in tassel, pf{¢ita; when ears are in hair, tus4ni or tuaagiti.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 37

Iicure 3.—Tarascan planting tools. a-d, Meidntatdrakueéa, or instruments for replanting maize. a and b are probably
the ancient forms of the planting stick. cand d may have been derived from the triangular coa; the round form is
also used in the Tarascan paddle, Lake Pitzcuaro. d is also called tuafuakua, or instrument for making charcoal;
it is often used to break open the kiln after the wood has been reduced to carbon. e-h, T'eka¢akueéa or tardkueéa,
sometimes used to plant maize. e, Pasasitérakua, instrument for flattening or patting, is more frequently employed
to pat down mud and clay on the exterior of the charcoal kiln than to plant maize. h, Ordinary form of Tarascan
metal hoe, or t‘ek4¢akua. a-c, about %5 natural size; d-h, approximately %5.

38 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

tédrakua,” are employed chiefly to replant maize
which failed to germinate or was killed by frost.
The most common form is a pointed, fire-hardened
stick of oak or otate.™ Occasionally the stick
is tipped with a chisel-shaped iron piece. A less
common type of planting stick, which carries a
round wooden blade, 6 to 8 inches in diameter,
is reminiscent of the ancient coa, from which it is
probably derived. The blade and handle are
ordinarily of oak and of one piece. In Capa-
cuaro a meidntatérakua with a round metal blade
attached to a wooden handle was seen.” Another
wooden instrument, called pala or te‘ké¢akua
(sometimes simply tardékua), is used in the Sierra
to plant maize in the house-lot gardens. The
blade, carved of oak, is flat with an outline of the
modern spade. In the wet lands of the Zacapu
Basin Tarascans use this implement to plant maize
in the fields. There, blades purely of wood, of
wood edged with metal, and wholly of metal were
observed.

On the steep slopes and in small patches of soil
within lava flows, where the plow is useless, the
Tarascans have retained their ancient ways of soil
preparation and planting. The hillside fields in
the Sierra (desmontes) are cleared by cutting
underbrush and small saplings with the juds, the
larger trees with the ax (hacha), customarily during
December and January. Girdling was not ob-
served. In March the dried brush is burned, the
wood ash serving as a much needed fertilizer for
the leached yellow-brown soils (pl. 5). Such plots
are usually productive for three to five consecutive
plantings; thereafter they are abandoned for
several years. A type of shifting agriculture is
thus practiced on the steeply sloping lands. The
small fertile plots within the lava flows, however,
are permanent fields. Small permanent maize
fields (cachitos, ua¢iai) also occur on lower slopes
near the shore of Lake Patzcuaro. Soil retaining
walls at the lower edges of such fields give them

‘9 Literally, instrument for replanting maize. The word ‘‘tarakua,’’ mean-
ing implement, or apparatus, forms the root of many Tarascan terms for
various instruments used in the native economy.

6 Otate is a bamboo with tough, woody stalks.

6 According to a native of Capacuaro, the present distribution of the
round-bladed planting stick includes the towns of Capacuaro, San Lorenzo,
Paracho, Quinceo, Arantepacua, Turfcuaro, Cumachuén, and (before the
volcano) San Juan Parangaricutiro, all located in the southeastern portion
of the Sierra near the approaches to the tierra caliente. (Information sup-
plied by Sr. Pablo VelAsquez G.)

62 The planter, following the plow, sinks the spade into the bottom of the
furrow approximately 8 inches, shoves the instrument forward, prying up
a section of earth, under which he casts the seed; he then extracts the spade,
permitting the earth to fall back on the seed.

the appearance of terraces.“ Remnants of
pre-Columbian terrace agriculture occur in the
vicinity of Chilchota in La Cafiada.*

In the small plots described above, the large
metal hoe (azada, azadén, with blade perpendicular
to handle) is the principal instrument used to
prepare the soil. Although called by the native
name (t‘eka¢akua or tardikua) by some Tarascans,
the azadén is European, having been introduced
into Tarascan culture early in the 16th century.
The aboriginal t‘eka¢akua (with blade parallel to
handle) is no longer used to prepare soil for
planting, but, as mentioned above, is still some-
times employed to replant. In pre-Conquest
times this instrument (at least in the tierra
caliente) carried a copper alloy blade (Mus. Nac.,
leg. 102, Rel. de Cinguacingo, 1581); the tarékua
with a triangular iron blade is at present employed
by the mountain people in the Balsas drainage of
Guerrero (Hendrichs, 1945-46, vol. 1, pp. 31-32).

Planting in the desmontes and other small maize
plots is performed by opening a small hole with
the azadén, dropping in the seeds, and covering
them with earth by a sweep of the foot. The
seed holes are spaced 2 to 3 feet apart, but no
attempt is made to form straight rows. Maize is
cultivated twice (escarda and segunda) with the
azadon.

Maize harvest and storage-——Three maize prod-
ucts are obtained from the field: roasting ears

(elotes), fodder (rastrojo), and mature ears (mazo-
reas, Sanini). Roasting ears come mainly from
the special colored corns of the house-lot garden,
but many are taken from the fields. In the
humedad lands of the Sierra elote is ready by August
in the temporal lands, in July. At high eleva-
tions (e. g. around the rancho of Cherato) the
development of e/ote from corn planted in March

63 These apparent terraces are best developed along the north and west
shores of Tasiu-k‘éri Peninsula.

& The following account of the terrace agriculture near Chilchota is given

in the Relacién GeogrAfica for that town (1579):
“|... por ser muy pedregosos y de malpaiz las piedras estan puestas a mano
como gradas derando entre grada y grada con wna vara de medir de ancho limpio
donde plantaban el maiz, y es esto tanto y hecho por tal orden que parese cosa
que pone espanto”” (Mus. Nac., leg. 102, f. 56v).

65 In some Tarascan towns a minor celebration occurs when roasting ears
begin to mature. The first ears picked in the village are taken through the
streets by girls, who invite people to kiss the elotes. The ears are then taken
to the village church and placed on the altar. Later, when all the fields and
house lots are in elote, girls make special tamales (uéépu) of green corn for
friends and the family. The elote fiesta is apparently a vestige of a significant
aboriginal harvest rite. Other minor festivals occur on the first day of the
fall-corn or spring-wheat harvests, but they are usually family days and
consist mainly of a ‘‘combate,” or drinking spree. Often special foods—ta-

males, cu {pu (meat stew)—are prepared. There are no religious rites
involved in the latter fiestas,

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 39

is often retarded until the following December
or January.

Fodder, consisting of that part of the maize
plant above the ears, is cut in September, when
the plant is still green and the ears well formed.
In the Sierra, fodder is often stored on platforms
constructed in trees. Normally it is taken to the
village and placed in sheds or on log platforms in
the house lot (pl. 5).

Since the late fall maize harvest of Cherdn,
described by Beals (1946, pp. 24-25), is typical of
most of modern Tarasca, no attempt will be made
to repeat the data here. In only one area—the
Zacapu Basin—are four-wheeled wagons (gua-
lines made of the frame and wheels of abandoned
autos) used to haul maize from the fields to the
village. In all other areas burros haul the ears
in sacks (costales) or nets. Ears of maize are
stored in the lofts of the main house; shelled corn
is never stored. The ekuam corn that is kept for
seed and food is hung by the husks in bunches
(pina, sAnd&ngata) or in rows over poles inside
the house or on the veranda.

Crop rotation and fallowing.—Except in ex-
ceptionally fertile lands, field maize is rarely
grown for two consecutive years on the same
ground. In the basin plains of the Sierra, corn is
often planted without fallow in spots refreshed by
annual deposits of alluvium, as at the base of
alluvial fans and in sink areas in the center of
basins. The soils of the recently drained lacus-
trine plain of Zacapu are so rich that they support
annual maize crops without rotation or application
of fertilizer. Generally in the Sierra, maize fields
in the basin plains and lower slopes are fallowed
for 10 or 12 months every other year. In such
fields only maize is planted. Usually during a
given year, half of the plains land belonging to a
village and a portion of the slopes are fallowed,
the rest being planted; when the village possesses
more than one basin plain, cultivation and fallow
are alternated from one to the other. Ordinarily
in the desmontes and jollas wheat or barley are
rotated with maize (one year wheat, one year
maize, one year fallow). In the temporal lands
surrounding the Sierra customarily two crops per
year, one of maize, the other of wheat or barley,
are obtained from a given piece of ground. The
land is then fallowed 8 to 12 months. (Wheat
planted in November, harvested following April
or May; maize planted in June, harvested in

November; land fallowed until following Novem-
ber.) Often fallow and planted fields are alter-
nated between the slopes and the plains in the
temporal lands.

Fertilization in field agriculture —Tarascans
make little or no attempt to apply fertilizer to
maize fields. Occasionally animal manure (es-
tiércol) from the stables in the house lots is spread
over small parts of fields nearest the village.®
Sheep and cattle, however, are turned into the
fields after harvest, and shepherds are often paid
to bed flocks in the fields. No commercial
fertilizer is used, owing to its high cost. As
mentioned above, new desmontes are fertilized by
wood ash trom freshly burned brush.

Uses of Maize—Food.—aAs in all indigenous
areas of Mexico, maize is the principal foodstuff
of the Tarascans. Six types of maize foods are
common among modern Tarascans: (1) green
corn, or roasting ears (elote, tirfapu); (2) toasted
kernels ground to powder and mixed with sweet-
ening (pinole, japtimata); (3) maize dough wrapped
in maize leaves and boiled (tamal, k‘urinda); (4)
maize gruel, or dough dissolved in water (atole,
kaméta); (5) boiled maize kernels with shell
removed (pozole, mAskuta), similar to North
American hominy; (6) thin cooked griddle cakes
of maize dough (tortilla, iéiskuta), at present the
most important single food item.

Elote foods.—-Green corn is prepared by parching
and by boiling. Without removing the inner
husk, ears are often parched in the direct flames or
under burning coals. Corn so prepared is called
uirikan in the Sierra. Ears roasted with husks re-
moved are termed “uirikata.”” Boiling with husks
removed (jéman) is also common. Green ears are
preserved by boiling and drying in the sun for
many weeks. In the dried form they are called
uaéakata, and the consistency of fresh corn is
revived by soaking and reboiling. Other types of
maize foods are made from elote: a tamal (uéépu)
from early green maize; various atoles (atole de
grano, atole de t‘okéri, de uaéékata, etc.); maize
which is between the green and mature states
(t‘okéri) is often ground, shaped into small cakes,
and boiled. The maize most frequently used for

66 In only one instance did the writer observe systematic application of
manure. This was near the new Tarascan town of Caltzontzin, 5 km. east of
Uruapan. In planting maize, the planter was followed by an individual who
dropped a handful of manure over the seed. A plow followed, covering the
seed and manure.

40 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

the above-named foods is the highly colored flour
types grown in the house-lot gardens.

Pinole has the widest distribution and is pos-
sibly the most ancient of the maize foods in the
New World. Among the Tarascans usually
yellow maize from the desmontes is employed for
pinole. The grain is toasted on the comal, then
dry-ground on the metate, piloncillo being mixed
in during the grinding process. Pinole is used
almost exclusively for food on long trips. Esquite
is prepared also by toasting whole grains of dried
sweet or black elote corn on the comal, but it is
not ground.

The preparation of tamales, pozole, atole, and
tortillas among the Sierra Tarascans is discussed
by Beals (1946, pp. 49-52). In preparing all
four types, hard-shelled maize is first soaked and
cooked in lime water to soften or remove the hard
outer shell that covers each grain. (Beals men-
tions the use of oak ashes in soaking corn for
pozole.) For tamales, atoles, and tortillas the
soaked grains are wet-ground on the metate or
in power-operated grinding mills (molinos de nix-
tamal). The fact that they form an essential
part of fiesta and ritual foods of most Mexican
Indians suggests that tamales and atoles may be
more ancient than tortillas. The latter are com-
monplace in each of the two or three daily meals
and carry no ritual significance. Moreover, the
varieties of both tamales and atoles are numerous.
Beals describes 10 atoles habitually made in
Cheran; 11 kinds were noted in Sicuicho, only 5 of
which were similar to those in Cherén. The
varieties of atole are ordinarily distinguished by
the addition of some flavoring, such as ground
blackberries or herbs.

Animal feed—Maize grain is commonly fed to
livestock, notably for fattening hogs. Yellow
corn, mainly Mountain Yellow, is considered the
best for feed, as it has the highest oil content of all
Tarascan corns; moreover, apparently the yellow
color gene is associated with proper vitamin
content for animal growth and fattening.”

Sale of maize——The Tarascan Sierra is pri-
marily a subsistence area in terms of maize, but
when crops are good surplus grain is sold to
buyers from Zamora, Tangancicuaro, Uruapan,
and Zacapu. The surplus maize districts are

© According to Edgar Anderson (personal communication), in Jalisco the

Yellow Mountsin maize brought down from the highlands sells at a premium
in the hog-raising districts south of Guadalajara.

located around the Sierra in areas favored by
irrigation or rich soils, such as the upper escarp-
ment in the South or the Zacapu Basin in the
North. White field maize and yellow field maize
comprise the bulk of the export crop. Ekuazu
maize is entirely for home consumption and most
of the mountain crop is used locally. Accurate
statistics on crop production and export are not
available for the Tarascan area; export data
probably do not exist, since public records of
sales are not kept in the villages.

Bean culture.—As an aboriginal cultigen the bean
(frijol, t‘a¢An) is second only to maize in Tarascan
agriculture and food habits. Twenty varieties of
the kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) are cultivated
in modern Tarasca. Although most of these are
found in many parts of central Mexico,® a few
may be peculiar to the Sierra of Michoacan.
Among the latter are small cream- or brown-
colored beans called petrona or uasari in some
Sierra villages; another is called karanazi. The
Indians regard such beans as ‘‘criollos,”’ or natives
to the local countryside, while other varieties,
which carry non-Tarascan names, are acknowl-—
edged to have been introduced from the outside.
Many wild beans are reported to exist in the
Sierra, though only one, called uipinju (probably
P. vulgaris) was described in Pamatacuaro, where
it is tolerated along edges of maize fields. It is
gathered and eaten, but is little liked.”

Besides the kidney bean, the Tarascans culti-
vate the large-seeded Phaseolus coccineus L. (P.
multifloris Willd.), which they call koké¢ (the
ayocote or ayocotl of the Nahuatl-speaking
people). This bean is rarely grown or used by
mestizos and even among the Indians its cultiva-
tion is dying out.”! It is now grown only by the
more conservative people, especially in the house-
lot gardens where it is planted and tended by
women. Koké¢, therefore, must be an old culti-
gen in the area. Having a sweet flavor, it is not
as well liked as the newer kidney beans from the
outside. In some of the Lake pueblos koké¢ has

¢s The common central Mexican varieties are: Bayo Grande, Bayo Chico,
Mexicano, Colorado, Color de Rosa (Rosa de Castilla), Encerrado, Prieto,
Blanco, Huiguerilla, ete.

Unfortunately, a seed specimen of this bean was unobtainable. Another
doubtful wild Phaseolus is reported from Corupo; called frijol cimarrén, it
produces a white seed and an enlarged root stalk (“raiz como camote’’).

7 The Spanish terms “‘pafole’”’ and “‘frijola” are also used in some localities
In Pamat&cuaro P. coccineus is known as Sepe.

71 In many pueblos (Sierra and Lake regions) it was stated that koko¢ was

cultivated many years ago, but since the introduction of better flavored beans
from mestizo towns, it was no longer grown.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 4]

special uses: e. g. because of its sweet flavor, it is
eaten only with silacayote (Cucurbita ficifolia) ; in
Thuatzio it is ground with black maize to make
pinole.

Lima beans (P. lunatus) may have been common
formerly in Tarascan agriculture in the tierra
caliente. In Acahuato, a former Tarascan pueblo
(5 km. north of Apatzingdn), a climbing brown-
seeded lima called comba is still grown in the
house-lot gardens. According to local informants,
it was formerly an important bean in the Tepal-
catepec Basin.”? Moreover, the writer found a
wild climbing lima in the hedge rows in the tierra
templada, near Los Reyes.

Cultivation methods ——Except in some highly
developed irrigation districts, most Mexican
peasant farmers still use the ancient Indian
method of planting beans with maize. In plow-
land Tarascans customarily alternate plantings of
beans and corn along a given row (planted
inter calado), whereas in hoe land beans and maize
seeds are dropped in the same hole.” In either
case the bean vine uses the maize stock as a
climbing support, and imparts nitrogen to the
soil. Beans are gathered in late fall or in early
winter a few days before the maize harvest. When
men are busy at other tasks, women and children
gather the bean crop. Women sometimes plant
beans with elote maize in the ekudsu; or often they
plant beans alone, using poles for vine supports.

In many Tarascan pueblos bean production is
declining; in some, farmers have ceased its culti-
vation. They claim that it is cheaper to buy
frijol rather than to plant it, since the time and
labor involved can be used more profitably at
other tasks (e. g. lumbering). Others say that
the soil lacks sufficient fertility to mature a bean
crop. Again, in some sections of the Sierra beans
are cultivated (with maize) only in newly cleared
desmontes, where the ash from burned brush
strengthens the soil sufficiently to raise one crop.

Use of frijol—Beans are used exclusively for
human food. They are boiled in ollas and served
with salt. Tamales filled with beans are not
uncommon. The special uses of kokdéd¢ have
been mentioned above.

72 Hendrichs (1945-46, vol. 1, pp. 40, 238) reports a bean called “‘comba’”’
from the Balsas Basin, but identifies it as P. coccineus. The ‘“‘comba” from
Acahuato was identified as P. lunatus by Dr. R. W. Allard, College of Agri-
culture, University of California, Davis, Calif.

7% In both cases the planter carried two bags (morrales), one containing
maize seed, the other, beans.

Squash culture.—The cucurbits complete the
ancient Mexican crop complex. Three species
of the genus Cucurbita are today cultivated in
the Tarascan area: C. pepo (calabaza comin
puri), C. moschata (calabaza de Castilla, purty),
and C. ficifolia (silacayote or chilacayote, t‘ik‘a¢a
or tiké¢).* C. pepo appears to be the ancient
squash of the area, for it is referred to as calabaza
comun or calabaza corriente, and in mestizo vil-
lages nearby as calabaza tarasca. Surprisingly
few varieties occur, the most common being oblong
(20 em. long), ribbed (10), green and yellow
mottled, with the ordinary five-sided peduncle.
Smooth types are also cultivated. A small pepo,
called. éekimita, is grown in a few villages of
the Sierra and La Cafada. In some pueblos the
common name of C. moschata is calabaza de la
Castilla, whieh may indicate that this squash
was introduced into the area after the Spanish
Conquest; it is found mainly around the edges of
the Sierra. Some varieties are flat and round,
similar to the pumpkins of the northeastern part
of the United States. Others are small, crooked-
neck types.

In contrast to its minor place in the agriculture
of many indigenous groups of Mexico, C. ficifolia is
an important cultigen among the Tarascans. Two
varieties are grown, both having the appearance
of a watermelon: one with black seeds (chilacayote
comtun, tiké¢), and the other with white seeds
(chilacayote-calabaza, puritiki¢a). Of the two, the
latter is said to have the better flavor.

Like frijol, squash is ordinarily planted with
maize in both plow and hoe lands. Squash seeds
are rarely planted in the same hill with maize and
beans; rather the plantings are widely spaced
(5 to 6 meters) along the rows or edges of the
field in order to allow for spreading. Chilacayote
(and often common squash) is usually planted in
the fertile house lots or in the desmontes, where
the soil has been fertilized by wood ash. Within the
plowlands it is sometimes planted in a quemazon,
a spot where a log is burned and ashes well mixed
with underlying soil. Squashes are gathered in
October or November before the maize harvest.
Chilacayotes are sun-cured on roofs or on adobe
fences for 3 or 4 weeks, and are then stored in the
house loft or in a corner of the dwelling.

%4 Botanical identification of the squash seed collected in the Tarascan

area was kindly made by Dr. T. W. Whitaker, of the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture.

42 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

Squash foods.—Both common squash and chila-
cayote are cut into pieces and boiled with the rind.
Squash is often candied with piloncillo in mestizo
towns nearby, but rarely in Indian communities.
Squash blossoms (kuktimu, pust-¢a¢aki) are boiled
and eaten with salt and chile, and immature fruits
are often stewed. Chilacayote, which has a
watery, stringy flesh, is especially liked throughout
the Tarascan area, and in the Sierra during the
spring (when other vegetables are unavailable) it
is eaten with an atole flavored with the nuriteni
herb. In many pueblos the flesh is soaked in
water and permitted to ferment, forming a re-
freshing drink called tepache.”® Finally, an até-
pakua, or stew of chilacayote, is often made by the
Sierra Tarascans; the flesh is boiled with onion,
silantro, and chile.

Other native crops.—Apart from the maize-
bean-squash complex, a few other indigenous
cultigens are found in modern Tarascan field agri-
culture. From the point of view of culture
history, one of the most significant of these is
amaranth (Amaranthus cruentus), which in most
parts of Mexico is called alegria or bledo and
in Tarascan, pau. The tiny (1 mm. diameter),
round seeds, which occur in spikes at the head of
the plant (1}-2% meters tall), are rich in starch
and oil. Sauer (1936) has suggested amaranth as
one of the pre-maize cultigens of southern North
America. Today it is cultivated in small amounts
in many parts of central Mexico, usually in isolated
Indian pueblos.

Among the modern Tarascans, especially those
of the Sierra, three varieties of amaranth are
grown: white, red, and black. Cultivation is
usually limited to t'wpiri soils of the highlands
and to the house-lot gardens. It is planted both
in plowland and in desmontes, but only in small
patches within or at the edge of maize fields.”
In the plowland the small grain is planted in
quemazones. The log (usually oak) is burned in
January and the seed planted in late May, im-
mediately before the rains. The seed is also sown
in freshly burned desmontes, but inthe house lots
ash fertilizer is rarely used. All three varieties

78 Tepache is a general name for a number of drinks common to western
Mexico, e. g. tepache de pina, de silacayote, etc. To make tepache de silacayote,
the flesh of the squash is placed in an olla; water, piloncillo, and often soda
water (carbonato) are added. Fermentation sets in immediately, and after
3 days the beverage is ready for consumption. After the first olla of tepache
is consumed, more water, etc. is added to the flesh and the process repeated.
The meat of one chilacayote is said to last 1 year of repeated fermentation.

1% Fields of alegria, similar to those around Tulyehualco at the southern
edge of the Valley of Mexico, are never seen in the present Tarascan area.

are planted together, the seeds being separated
according to color after the harvest. The plant is
cut with a sickle in November or December, the
grain threshed in an open space in the fields and
stored in small ollas in the troje.

The cultivation of amaranth is disappearing
among the Tarascans; it would probably die out
rapidly if women did not constantly remind men
to plant it every year. In some Sierra pueblos it
is no longer grown, but grain is brought in from
other towns, particularly from Pamatdcuaro and
its surrounding ranches and from Capacuaro.”
Little is grown in the Lake towns or in La Cafiada,
the grain being imported from the Sierra. In a
few pueblos it was claimed that alegria was neither
cultivated nor eaten: Paracho, HuAdnsito, San
Jerénimo, Pudcuaro, Napizaro.”

In terms of quantity consumed, amaranth has
little importance in present Tarascan diet. Its
significance lies in its relict position in Indian
culture. Today the most widespread amaranth
food among the Tarascans is a tamal called
“eandta,’’ made from a mixture of ground maize
and alegria. Blue or black ekudéau maize is dry-
ground on the metate; red or black alegria is then
ground into the maize flour; a sweetening (pilon-
cillo) and water are stirred into the mixed flour,
and the resultant dough is wrapped in maize
husks and boiled in an olla. In some pueblos of
La Cafiada ground alegria is mixed with wheat
flour and piloncillo, of which tamales called
éapdtas de trigo are made. Moreover, bolitas,
confections made of white amaranth, are made,
but are more common in adjacent mestizo towns.
The grain is toasted on the comal, then mixed
with honey or a paste of piloncillo to make small
cakes. These are commonly sold at fairs or on
fiesta days.” Few ceremonial or religious uses
of amaranth were found in the Tarascan pueblos.®

7 Curiously, the Sierra pueblos which no longer cultivate alegria, but
import grain for home use, are some of the more isolated, such as Urapicho,
Cocucho, Nurfo, and Pomacuarén. In these towns no reason was given for
not growing alegria. Possibly the inhabitants found it less bothersome to
buy the grain than go to the trouble of raising it.

78 Modern amaranth cultivation extends beyond the present limits of
Tarascan speech in Michoacin. It is still grown and used in the former
indigenous towns of Apo, Tancftaro, Sirahuén, Opopeo, and in some mestizo
ranchos north of Uruapan.

7 In PamatAcuaro an atole is made of amaranth and black maize. Such
atole is widespread in the highlands of northern Guerrero (Hendrichs 1945-46,
vol. 1, p. 35), and is probably encountered in other indigenous areas of Mexico.
In Atapan a pakésa (ground grain boiled in water to a solid mass) is made
of red alegria.

80 In PamatdAcuaro atole of black alegria and black maize is taken especially
at the maize planting celebrations. In Sicuicho é’apatas are eaten at both
the maize planting and harvesting fiestas. In other pueblos special uses of
amaranth were denied.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 43

Tarascans plant few other minor native culti-
gens in the field. Camote or the sweetpotato
(Ipomoea batatas) and jicama (Pachyrrhizus erosus)
are planted in small amounts in La Canada,
but commercial production is found in the warm
lands around Zamora, Lake Chapala, and the
southern escarpment, outside the Tarascan area.
Native vegetables such as chile and tomatoes are
discussed under horticulture.

Introduced New World crops.—In Tarascan
field agriculture these consist of two tubers: the
South American potato (Solanum tuberosum) and,
as mentioned earlier, an Oxalis (papa de Castilla).®!
Neither has much place in Tarascan food habits.
The potato is now grown in some lowlands bor-
dering the Sierra, e. g. in Comanja, where it is
planted with maize. Its cultivation is slowly
penetrating the Sierra, though most of the high-
land pueblos still reject it. Beals (1946, p. 26)
states that Chern residents began to grow pota-
toes around 1938.

Old World crops in Tarascan field agriculture.—
Among the crops which the Spaniards introduced
into Tarascan culture the small grains, wheat and
barley, were the more significant in terms of both
food value and degree of adaptation. Wheat
was probably first sown in the Lake area by Span-
ish missionaries during the 1530’s; the Spanish
ranchers and encomenderos, however, for whom
white bread was the main item of diet, were the
principal carriers of wheat culture among the
natives. By the mid-16th century Spanish wheat
fields had been established in many parts of the
northern plateau, and Tarascans of various
pueblos in that area were cultivating the grain in
speciu fields in order to meet tribute demands of
the Crown and encomenderos.* Arabic irrigation
techniques appear to have been introduced jointly
with wheat culture, for both early Spanish and
Indian wheat fields in the northern Tarascan area
were artificially watered. The Relaciones Geo-

8 Thename “papa de Castilla” might indicate that the Ozalis species has been
cultivated in Mexico for some time. According to local informants, how-
ever, it has been known in the area south and west of Lake Patzcuaro for
only 30 or 40 years. The tuber is often seen in the Patzcuaro market. In
Pichataro it is boiled and eaten with piloncillo.

82 The Suma de Visitas, ca. 1540 (Paso y Troncoso, 1905, vol. 1) mentions
that wheat was cultivated in the following indigenous pueblos of Michoacan:
Acambaro, Chocandiro, Chiquimito, Chilchota, Guanaxo (Santa Marfa Ario),
Taymeo, Indaparapeo, Zacapu. Indians, however, were slow to adopt
wheat foods. During the last quarter of the 16th century the Indians of La
Canada ate wheat only in times of maize famine (Mus. Nac. leg. 102, Rel. de
Chilchota, 1579).

83 Spaniards had introduced a Mediterranean grain adapted to winter
rains and dry summers into a land of dry winters and wet summers. Con-

gréficas of 1579-81 (Mus. Nac., leg. 102) indicate
that by the end of the 16th century wheat cultiva-
tion was well established in the Tarascan area
around the margins of the Sierra, i. e., in those
areas first settled by Spanish ranchers. Wheat
penetrated slowly into the conservative Sierra.
The Relacién of Tingiiindin (1581) states that in
the Sierra villages the Indians had not taken to
wheat cultivation. Even by 1789 some of the
Sierra pueblos did not grow wheat, but by 1820
the grain was at last being cultivated in all the
towns, Urapicho, Cocucho, Pamatécuaro, and
Cheranatzicurin being among the last to adopt it
(AAM, siglo XTX, leg. 707, Memoria estadistica,
1841)

Today in most Sierra pueblos wheat is con-
sidered second only to maize in terms of acreage.
Some towns raise the grain chiefly as a cash crop;
others consume a large portion of the harvest.
The Lake area and La Cafiada, however, are the
principal Tarascan wheat districts. In both,
wheat acreage exceeds that of maize.** Although
wheat foods are eaten in all Tarascan towns, in
none do they replace maize as the chief item of
diet. Throughout the present indigenous area
wheat foods play a significant part in religious
festivals, apparently an adoption of European
customs through Church influence.

A soft wheat called ‘colorado,’ probably a
descendant of the Spanish grain introduced 400
years ago, is the principal type sown by Tarascan
farmers. Both bearded and beardless varieties
occur. This wheat is the ‘“trigo de temporal’ or
“trigo aventurado,’”’ planted in October and har-
vested from April to June, depending on eleva-

sequently, to insure good yields, they resorted at once to irrigation. Later,
experiments probably showed that a poor to fair yield could be obtained
without irrigation in central Mexico, where occasional light winter rains
occur.

§& The wheat-growing areas mentioned: all of the northern plateau region,
including La Canada; Tarecuato (trigo de temporal); Tingiiindin; and
Peribén. The Ponce Relacion (observations made in 1586) mentions wheat
at various Lake towns: Tzintzuntzan, San Jerénimo, Erongaricuaro, and
Tacupato (Cocupao or present Quiroga).

86 The Calderon report of 1789 (AGN Historia, vol. 73) mentions wheat
only ina few Tarascan pueblos. It specifies, however, that only two pueblos
(Ocumicho and Pamatacuaro) of the Sierra grew maize exclusively. The
report may have neglected to indicate many pueblos in which small amounts
of wheat might have been cultivated.

86 According to data from Secretaria de Agricultura records (1944), wheat
acreage equaled that of maize in the municipio of Patzcuaro; in those of
Erongaricuaro and Quiroga the acreage of wheat was more than twice that
of maize; in Tzintzuntzan, however, maize acreage exceeded that of wheat
by eight times. In the municipio of Chilchota (which includes La Canada)
approximately 500 hectares were planted to maize, while 313 were in wheat.
Considering the valley of La Cafiada alone, wheat acreage probably would
exceed that of maize.

44 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

tion.’ Owing to dry conditions and usually poor
soils, yields are low. The infrequent light winter
rains (cabanuelas) often determine the success or
failure of the temporal crop. Another wheat
type, a white soft variety, is called ‘trigo de
aguas”; sown in June or July and reaped in
November or December, it is seen in all parts
of Tarasca. Most of the wheat crop of La Canada
is irrigated, being sown on the valley flats in
December and harvested in May.** In the Sierra
wheat is relegated to the less fertile slope land and
desmontes, where it is rotated with maize. In the
lake area and the northern plateau towns, where
the grain is likewise a rotation crop, it is cultivated
on both plains and slopes. It is occasionally sown
in the house-lot gardens in all parts of Tarasca.

Primitive European methods are used in wheat
cultivation (pl. 6). Land is prepared by plowing
with oxen, and seed is sown broadcast and covered
with a brush harrow. Grain is cut with the
sickle (hoz), bundled and tied by hand, and
threshed in the era (an open arena floored with
stone or packed earth) located in the town or in
the field. Threshing is accomplished by driving
mules or burros over the bundles of wheat, but
where sufficient animals are lacking, it is done by
flailing. The grain is separated from straw and
chaff with the tarakua, or wooden spade. Atl
straw is carefully saved for animal feed. (Engine-
powered separators are just beginning to appear
in the area.)

One of the most interesting aspects of wheat
culture among the Tarascans is the varieties of
food prepared from both metate-ground and
milled flour. Those made from grain wet-ground
on the metate include tortillas de trigo, a common
food in La Canada, but eaten on fiesta days (e. g.
Corpus) in the Sierra towns.*’ In Charapan the
tortillas are thin, round cakes often 1 to 1% feet in
diameter, which are cooked on the comal. Thicker
tortillas, or gordas, are similarly made, but
browned on the coals. For the Corpus fiestas
gordas (piiféis) *% to 1 inch thick and shaped like

8? For example, most temporal wheat in the Lake region is harvested in
early April, while in the Sierra ripening is retarded until May. In Cuma-
chuén, the highest pucblo in the Sierra, harvest occurs in the first weeks
of June.

88 The ¢rigales, or wheatfields, are watered three times annually, at the
end of January, first of March, and at the end of March. Pan irrigation
technique is used.

89 In the Lake towns of [huatzio and Janitzio metate-ground wheat dough
is mixed with nixtamal (maize dough) to make a tortilla called iétakata.

% Beals (1946, p. 52) mentions that in Cherfn gordas de trigo are fried in deep
pork fat. This procedure was not encountered in other Tarascan towns.

animals (birds, rabbits, pigs) are made in some
Sierra towns. In La Cafiada, however, such
figures are prepared from leavened flour dough and
baked in the oven.*! Another wheat food, which
is eaten particularly during and immediately after
the wheat harvest, is called pakésa. Wheat
grains are roasted on the comal, then dry-ground
on the metate. The coarse flour is cooked in
boiling water flavored with salt or pilonciilo. The
resultant dough is eaten hot or cold. Moreover,
a wheat pozole (whole grains stewed with meat,
chile, tomate, etc.) is prepared in the Lake and La
Canada areas, but rarely in the Sierra. Again, a
wheat atole (trigukamata) is found in all parts of
Tarasca. Various types of bread, called cemitas
or audkatas are also prepared from metate-
eround wheat, usually by professional women
bakers. The dough is often sweetened and the
breads variously shaped (round or diamond).
The dough is baked in the dome-shaped Spanish
oven, several of which are found in every Tarascan
village. Unsweetened ceremonial breads (kan-
akua), 1% feet in diameter and 2 or more inches
thick, are made on the Saint’s day in some Sierra
pueblos.

Wheat foods are also prepared from flour,
milled in the larger mestizo towns nearby. A
bread called kusinda is baked in the Spanish oven
in most pueblos. In La Cafiada and the Lake
towns tamales (prepared like those of maize)
and tortillas are made from wheat flour.” Bufue-
los, a special dish prepared from wheat flour, are
eaten ceremonially or as an occasional treat in
all parts of Tarasca. The dough, mixed with
tequisquite (a lime compound), salt, and boiled
green tomatoes, is thinned into flat cakes by plac-
ing on the knee, patting and pulling at the edges.
The sheets of dough are cooked in boiling lard in
a casuela. In the Sierra both men and women
prepare and cook bufuelos, which are eaten only
on certain holidays. Often on ordinary occasions
this food is soaked in a sirup of piloncillo and
eaten with white atole in the Lake area.

Barley cultivation Small amounts of barley
are cultivated in most parts of Tarasca, but pri-
marily in the Sierra, for animal feed. The grain
is sown in June and harvested in November and

% Formerly in Charapan large piiitis, shaped like human figures 234 feet
high, were given at weddings to the bride as a token of fertility.
82 Tamales de trigo are also seen in the large markets (Uruapan, Paracho),

where they are customarily taken with atole. In Paracho they are called
Sayi-k.usinda or Sazipit-ukari.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 45

December. Being more tolerant of poor soils
and frost than either maize or wheat, it is custo-
marily grown on the upper slopes. As it is believed
that barley improves the soil, it is frequently
rotated with maize. Much barley is sown on
the high slopes around Cumachuén and Pichataro,
where yellow-brown soils and a_ short-growing
season prevail. Oats are rarely cultivated; small
fields were reported only in Pichdtaro and
Cumachuén.

Other European field crops.—Broadbeans, len-
tils, and chickpeas are cultivated chiefly around
Lake P&tzcuaro and in the northern plateau
pueblos, where they are often grown with maize.
Although small quantities are raised in the Sierra,
these crops have little place in the native diet.

HORTICULTURE

The house-lot gardens (ekudsueca).—These
have been frequently mentioned above (pl. 7). In
contrast to field agriculture, cultivation in the
ekudau is intensive; a large variety of plants
(maize, beans, squash, vegetables, and fruits) are
raised in each small lot; the soil is replenished by
application of refuse from the dwelling and
manure from the stable. The ekudazu is cultivated
mainly by the women and children of the house-
hold; the fields, in contrast, are worked by the
men. In the gardens the women, always con-
servative, have retained the plants that are
old in indigenous culture. Moreover, although
some of the larger lots are plowed with oxen, most
are cultivated with two of the present forms
of the tarakua: the wooden pala and the metal-
bladed asada.

The principal garden crop is the elote maize,
discussed above in connection with corn types.
The cultivation of the old beans, such as koké¢,
small patches of amaranth, and various squashes in
the ekudazu, has also been mentioned. The women
- plant in the garden other indigenous vegetables,
such as chayote (aptipu; Sechium edule) ;* tomate
(t6ma; Physalis angulata), which bears the
small green husk-enclosed tomatoes; and, if
water is available for irrigation, chiles of various
types. The most significant vegetable grown in
the Tarascan house gardens, however, is the

% The chayote bears annually small squashlike fruits, which are boiled and
served with chile. In its third year the plant develops a large tuberous
root, which is dug up and boiled (uaz4sa) and is often ground on the metate

to a flour, which is served as a gruel (sag). The plant is reproduced by
seed, or rather by planting the entire chayote fruit.

European cabbage (col, repollo), which the Indians
have thoroughly taken into their diet. Both
the leaf and head varieties are cultivated. Almost
every ekudau in all Tarascan villages contains
a small patch of cabbages, which are used for
the famous ¢uaipu, or meat and vegetable stew ™
(pl. 5). A more common stew (repollo-Sakua) is
made of cabbage alone, flavored with red chile,
onion, and silantro. The leaf cabbage is the
usual variety found in the Sierra. It is rarely
planted by seed, but by replanting sprouts that
occur at the base of the stalk. The plant is
persistent, surviving the frosty Sierra winter;
leaves are stripped off until the stock often
reaches a meter in height. Other vegetables such
as lettuce, radishes, carrots, peas, and turnips,
although known in many parts of Tarasca since
early colonial times, are today little cultivated or
used in native cookery.

In addition to the food annuals, the ekudsu
contains various medicinal and ornamental plants,
mainly those of the Solanaceae, Fabaceae, and
Compositae. In a great number of the house
Jots women plant a stalk or two of tobacco (Nico-
tiana rustica, andimukua), used not for smoking,
but as medicine.” The trompeta or floripondio
(Datura arborea); colorin or ptoaén¢a (Erythrina
americana) ; two euphorbias, chupiri (E. calyculata)
and flor de pascua (EF. pulcherrima); and the Old
World higuerilla or castor bean (Ricinus com-
munis) are not uncommon in the house gardens
of the low country marginal to the Sierra. Euro-
pean Compositae, geraniums etc., make up most
of the ornamental plants cultivated around the
house.

Fruit culture in the ekudsu.—Practically every
house lot in most Tarascan villages contains a
few fruit trees, both Old World and native. A
definite climatic distribution of fruit types exists.
In the Sierra are found only the cold-tolerant

‘deciduous fruits such as the European peach,

apple, pear, quince, and the native crab apple
(tejocote or kaa4s) and cherry (capulin or Séngua).
In the lowlands around the Sierra, however, both
subtropical and cold-tolerant fruits are cultivated.
The former include the Old World citrus (limes,
oranges, lemons), figs, pomegranate (granada de

ou Cuxfpu is eaten principally during the maize harvest period and on
religious holidays.

% For example, in Pichataro tobacco is taken for fever and is chewed to
cure toothache,

46 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

Castilla), and the granada de China, and a great
variety of native subtropical fruits such as the
aguacate, chirimoya, guayaba, and zapote blanco.
In the warmer sections of the tierra templada are
found tropical fruits, the native mamey and
zapote prieto, the Asiatic mango, Old World
varieties of the banana, and the possibly native
plantain.

The European fruits were brought into the
Tarascan area early in the 16th century mainly by
missionaries. Every mission, church, or convent
had its small garden where the priest and Indian
neophytes cared for fruit trees and vegetables.
Consequently the new fruits spread rapidly among
the Tarascan villages, and were soon fully accepted
into the native economy. Both the Relaciones
geograficas (Mus. Nac., leg. 102) and the Ponce
Relacién indicate the widespread cultivation of
European fruits in the Tarascan area during the
latter part of the 16th century. With fruit
cultivation the missionaries probably introduced
the technique of grafting, e. g., the insertion of
apple and pear cuttings into native tejocote to
insure a hardy root system adapted to local soils
and climate. Grafting is still practiced in most
Tarascan villages.

Arboriculture among modern Tarascans con-
sists of little more than a few fruit trees planted in
the ekudau or along hedgerows. Most trees are
only semicultivated. Except for initial grafting
of apples and pears and the planting of shoots of
other fruits, little care is taken of trees. System-
atic pruning is not practiced, nor is any attempt
made to control disease or insect pests.

Although in most pueblos fruit is grown chiefly
for local consumption, the people of some towns
specialize in raising certain fruits for export.
The Sierra communities of Cumachuén and Piché-
taro are the apple producers; ** Cherdn, Paran-
garicutiro (prior to the volcano), Tancitaro, and
the rancho of Tenguecho specialize in pears.” In
these towns the entire ekudiu of some households
may be devoted to fruit trees, forming a small

%° Many varieties of apples are marketed in these towns. The most popu-
lar is termed camuesa, a reddish fruit picked in August and September.
Others, chata, mezicana, chata de Serina (a small crab apple), are harvested
in October. In addition, the small red moreliana is grown in Pichétaro.
Apples from Cumachuén and Pich&taro are carried by arrieros into the tierra
caliente as far as PetatlAn on the Pacifie coast of Guerrero. They are also
taken to the large markets of the plateau: Zamora, PAétzcuaro, Zacapu.

87 In 1789 pears formed one of the main industries of Capacuaro, but are
now relatively unimportant (AGN Historia, vol. 73, f. 328). See Beals,
1946, pp. 27-28, for description of pear picking.

orchard. In such cases trees are closely spaced
and present an unkept appearance.

Many Tarascan pueblos in the lower and warmer
areas bordering the Sierra specialize in subtropical
fruits, and possibly served prehistorically as fruit
supply centers for the Sierra towns. Since the
development of modern transportation their prod-
uce is taken to many parts of Mexico. San
Angel Zurumucapio is the avocado center of the
Tarascan tierra templada,® Tingambato the chiri-
moya town, and the former Tarascan pueblos,
Ziricuritiro and Acahuato, produce bananas, man-
goes, mamey, citrus, etc. Tarascan Atapan and
mestizo Tingiindin supply the western part of
the Sierra with citrus, guayaba, and mangoes.
As early as 1581 Atapan had become a citrus-
growing center, and probably before the Conquest
had produced avocados and chirimoyas for Sierra
trade. The La Cafiada towns have ever been
the northern Tarascan fruit center. Today
avocados form the main fruit speciality of Aca-
chuén, Ichfin-Tacuro, and Carapan; oranges are
the chief export of Tanaquillo. With the pos-
sible exception of Ihuatzio, which produces large
quantities of avocado, there is no specialized
fruit town in the Lake area, although the aggregate
subtropical fruit production there is of importance
in Sierra trade.

Fruits from the tierra caliente have long had a
special significance among the Sierra Tarascans.
Today at least two tropical fruits are eaten es-
pecially at religious fiestas, and special effort is
made to obtain them for such occasions. Coco-
nuts (k6ko) in some Sierra pueblos are rarely eaten
except during the Ramos and Easter holidays.
Formerly in Charapan 2 weeks before Easter a
group composed of 15 men and boys from each
barrio traveled down to the Tepalecatepec Basin
to fetch coconuts for eating and coconut blossoms
for church decorations. The band was ceremo-
niously seen off with the firmg of rockets.’ Like-
wise, the large plantain (pldtano macho) is eaten

%8 The large avocado trees in the house lots of Zurumucapio completely
hide the town. Two types of the fruit are grown, the black and white-skin
varieties. Both are irrigated, and the fruit is harvested in April and May.
Frequently coffee plants are grown under the shade of the avocado.

% Other fruits produced in La Canada: Limes, guayaba, chirimoyas, figs,
apricots, juaquiniquiles (Surén), plums, mangoes, pomegranates, peaches,
apples, zapote blanco, capulin, a few bananas.

100 This custom has practically disappeared in the Sierra. Most coconuts
and other tropical fruit are now obtained at the Ramos (Palm Sunday)
fairs at Periban, Zamora, Uruapan, and Pftzcuaro. In the Lake area during
Laster festivities churches are often decorated with melons (sandias) from
the Balsas.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—-WEST 47

raw (when aged or pasado) or, more recently,
cooked on Easter, and sometimes on the village
saint’s day are distributed to all inhabitants at
the end of the fiesta. Moreover, cacao beans
were formerly an important trade article imported
into the upland pueblos. In most households in
the Sierra the beans were roasted on the comal and
then wet-ground on the metate. Mixed with
piloncillo and cinnamon, the chocolate “dough”
was made into small disks (2 in. diameter), called
k‘ékua. A chocolate drink is made by dissolving
the k‘ékua in hot water. A few storekeepers still
make disks from ground chocolate purchased
from mestizo wholesalers. Today chocolate is
taken principally on fiesta days, and is often served
to visiting strangers. Other tropical fruits, such
as the common banana, mango, pineapple, mamey,
chicozapote, zapote prieto, etc., are brought into
the Sierra in season. They are eaten at all times
and appear to have no ceremonial significance.
Pineapple is used for a fermented beverage,
tepache.

Specialized truck gardening.—This is a more
recent type of horticulture among the Tarascans.
They have adopted intensive commercial produc-
tion of vegetables in only a few well-watered
spots near large mestizo markets. The most
notable truck gardening district has developed on
the narrow stretches of lacustrine soil along the
shores of Lake Patzcuaro, where irrigation is
practiced. Although water is carried in buckets
to some of the smaller gardens (e. g., in Pudcuaro),
most of the vegetable plots are irrigated with the
t‘aparatardkua, or pala, possibly a pre-Columbian
invention.” This instrument consists of a wooden
spoonlike container fastened to a long pine pole,
which, resting on a crosspiece, is used like a lever
to scoop water from ditches or wells (fig. 4; pl. 7).
Along the wide western shore of Patzcuaro shallow
ditch wells are dug down to the water level (5 to
6 ft. from the surface), from which water is scooped
and distributed to vegetable plots by a system
of small canals. Along the narrow shores of the
Taafu-k‘éri Peninsula (where the water table is low)
small canals have been constructed to permit lake
water to flow into a ditch well, from which the
water is lifted with the pala to high levels. In

101 The latter custom was reported from Charapan and Patamban.

102 The provenience of the ¢‘apdratarakua is not clear. Its mention has not
been encountered in colonial documents; the Relacién de Michoacan (p. 25),
however, speaks of irrigated maize, presumably around Lake PAtzcuaro.
Today the ¢‘dpdratardkua is used also at Tarajero, in the basin of Zacapu.

addition to the gardens of Lake Pa&tzcuaro,
commercial truck farming is also carried on in
La Cafiada and in Atapan, but on a smaller
scale. There, fields are irrigated by diverting
water from streams, a technique probably learned
from Europeans.

The native chile, jitomate (tom-kuaraki), tomate,
and green beans (ejotes) and the Old World onion,
garlic, cabbage, and lettuce are the principal
products of the commercial gardens. Chile is the
most significant of these, in terms of both acreage
and market value. The fruit of this plant, a
vitamin-rich gastrin, has always been important
in the aboriginal diet. Two species of Capsicum
are cultivated: C. annwum, the common her-
baceous annual, and C. fructescens, the perennial
shrub (chile de drbol). The latter is cultivated
mainly in the house gardens. Both species re-
quire a long growing season and abundant water;
consequently chile cultivation is absent from the
Sierra, but is found in the surrounding well-
watered areas. Chile, therefore, has ever been a
trade article between the Sierra and its border-
lands. Tarascan Pudcuaro, Uricho, Aricutin,
and mestizo Técuaro and Erongaricuaro are the
main chile producers of the Lake. Most of the
La Canada pueblos raise some chile for export
into the Sierra, but Etticuaro, outside the valley,
is the largest producer of that general district.
All these areas raise chile verde, rather than the chile
seco of the tierra caliente and Lake Cuitzeo district.!°
In both the Lake P&tzcuaro and La Canada
areas chile and tomatoes are first planted in the
almdciga, or hotbed, in December.'® Replanting
in the gardens is done in March, and the vege-
tables are harvested from June through September.

STOCK RAISING AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS

Modern Tarascans raise most of the European
animal domesticates. Most households own a
team of oxen for plowing and one or two burros
for hauling wood and carrying produce to market.

103 In several formerly Tarascan towns in the northern plateau area veg-
etables are cultivated on a commercial scale. The truck farming around
Ziricicuaro, southeast of Lake Cuitzeo, was significant during the latter part
of the 18th century. Tarascan horticulturists of this pueblo carried vegetable
produce as far as the Toluca market (AGN Historia, vol. 73, f. 265).

1% The Tarascan name for Chilchota is ¢irapu, which means green chile.
The Sierra people have always thought of La Canada as a producer of chile,
as well as other vegetables and fruits.

108 The chief varieties of C. annuum in the Lake district are lumbrillo (verde),
amarillo, and relleno (bell chile). Chile seco from the tierra caliente reaches the
Sierra through the markets at Uruapan, PAétzcuaro, and Los Reyes.

10% The almdciga is likely a European introduction, although it was pre-
Columbian in the chinampa district in the Valley of Mexico.

7
‘

PUBLICATION NO.

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY:

48

“‘Suoy 4093 ZT Aloyeuxoidds st payov}}e st uoods uspoom oy} yor 0} efod ey,

‘OOTAP UOBIIIN BNyVIyeieds } oy L— Ff quad

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 49

In spite of unfavorable environment for stock
raising, many families possess small herds (10-
25 head) of cattle, which roam the Sierra forests.!”
During the latter part of the dry season some cattle
die of starvation, and the springs and wells barely
afford sufficient water for existing herds. The
fatter animals are occasionally sold to the local
butcher or home-killed for meat. Only the more
wealthy have riding horses, and few except arrieros
possess mules. When in use oxen and burros are
often stabled in the house lot. All livestock is
turned into the fields after harvest to graze on
stubble and to fertilize the land. The small
animals, such as sheep and pigs (ganado menor)
are common throughout present Tarasca.’ In
almost every village a few families own sheep,
flocks ranging in size from 50 to 1,000 head. The
greatest number of flocks are found around the
higher mountains of the Sierra, such as Tancitaro,!”
Patamban, and Quinceo, where summer pastures
(buncherass) are abundant near the summits. In
winter, flocks are grazed in harvested cornfields,
for this is a recognized method of soil fertilization.
Most of the inhabitants of the ranchos around Cerro
de Patumban are shepherd-farmers, at least half
of their time being devoted to sheep raising.
During the summer months boys and girls are

107 Few data exist concerning the introduction of cattle into the Sierra,
The original land title of PamatAcuaro, dated June 1532, mentions the pos-
session of European domestic animals by the Indians of that village. ‘“Tienen
los naturales como pobladores las preheminencias nesesarias de pueblo, Inglecia,
campanas sonoras, sementherio: chrias de todas claces de ganados, Bacas de
vientre, Bueyes, asnos, overas y bestias mulares y caballares . . .’’ Again, from
the same document: ‘‘. . . los animales y ganados son sanos y de competente
tamano ...’’ These data were taken from a certified copy (1937) of the
original document; the latter is reported to be in the jefetura of Pamatdcuaro.
If the document is correct, European animals were taken into the native
culture at an extremely early date. The Ponce Relaci6n (1872, vol. 2, p. 133)
mentions herds belonging to natives pasturing on the slopes of Cerro de
Tancitaro and watering at the lake on its summit in 1584. Around 1700 the
people of Cheranétzicurin possessed a sitio de ganado mayor (pasture for large
animals such as horses and cattle) near the village (AGN Tierras, vol. 867,
exped. 8). In the northern plateau and tierra caliente regions, where colonial
cattle estancias were numerous, many Indians quickly became vaqueros, but
probably few acquired their own herds.

108 Tarascans quickly adopted the sheep. By 1580 many Indians around
the shores of Lake Cuitzeo possessed flocks numbering from 300 to 400 head.
“|. . crian sus carneros con tan buen orden y consierto como en Espana... .’’
(Mus. Nac., leg. 102, Rel. de Cuitzeo). A great number of Indians living near
the northern plateau pastures were forced to tend flocks of Spanish encomen-
deros. The Lake and Sierra Tarascans also likely acquired sheep at an
early date. In many parts of Mexico the Indians rapidly took to sheep rais-
ing soon after the Spaniards introduced the animal early in the 16th century.
During the colonial period Indians were the chief sheep raisers in New Spain,
either as hired shepherds or 1s owners of flocks. Possibly the annual or semi-
annual wool clip and the fact that the smaller animals are more easily herded
than cattle, prompted the natives to adapt themselves readily to sheep
raising.

109 Most of the flocks on Tancftaro and other areas adjacent to Paricutin
were destroyed by heavy ash fall during the spring and summer of 1943,
Formerly, some Tarascans in that area owned flocks as large as 5,000 or 6,000
head. One man in Nurfo is reported to have had 20,000.

the full-time shepherds, driving herds up the
mountain slope each morning and down to the
folds near the house at evening. The elders
perform the semiannual shearing and often tend
the flocks in the cornfields during the winter.
Professional shepherds are sometimes hired by
sheep owners to care for their flocks.

The sheep’of the Tarascans are small, scrawny
animals, descendants of the 16th-century Spanish
breeds. In a given flock about half the animals
are black, the rest white (pl. 7). Often a few
goats graze with the flock. The Indians are
usually financially unable to improve the breed
with new blood; in only one case did the writer
observe a merino ram. The Tarascans raise sheep
mainly for wool. The rancheros around Cerro de
Patamban shear their animals with hand clippers
every 6 months. Some wool is obtained also by
the girl shepherds, who pluck from the backs
of sheep while the animals are grazing; as she
plucks, the girl spins the wool on a whorl spindle,
completing a ball of yarn as large as the fist at
the end of day. In many villages local wool is
used for weaving, many weavers possessing their
own flocks. Otherwise the wool clip is sold to
people from other villages or to mestizo wholesale
buyers.

The hog was the first European animal domesti-
cate that the Spaniards brought into the Tarascan
area in quantity, and was possibly one of the
first of the new animals adopted into Indian
culture. As early as 1525 Spaniards were raising
large droves of hogs in the vicinity of Paétzcuaro in
order to supply food to placer operations in the
Balsas (Millares Carlo and Mantecén, 1945, p.
32).4° Indians were used as swineherds. Through-
out the colonial period large numbers of hogs were
fed in the marsh areas north of the Sierra and
droves were periodically driven to Toluca and
the valley of Mexico (Paso y Troncoso, 1905,
vol. 1, p. 180). Today the hog is common in
every Tarascan village. Practically every house-
hold owns two or three animals, which serve as
scavengers, running the streets by day; enough
maize and scraps are fed the animals to induce
them to return at night to the proper pen in the

10 The hog appears to have been the first Old World animal raised on a
large scale in New Spain. Moreover, hog culture was intimately connected
with gold placering in Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Michoac&n (1521-35). Droves
were driven along with the shifting placer camps, the animals feeding on fallen
tropical fruits (e. g. the ciruela), roots, and wild tubers in the tierra caliente.
“Carne de puerco’’ was the chief “energy” food given the Indian labor gangs,

50 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

house lot. Droves of pigs are never mast-fed in
the forest. Hogs are fattened on corn and sold;
as pork is well liked, they are often killed for food
and for lard, now indispensable in European-
modified Indian cookery.

Other animal domesticates include fowls and
bees. The turkey (kuaika),"! the only native
domesticated fowl in the area, is mote common in
mestizo towns than in Tarascan villages. The
European chicken (¢ikata,)"? however, is ubiqui-
tous; practically every Indian household has a
flock of five or six. A single breed, probably
descendent from the Spanish fowls introduced
early in the 16th century, predominates.!% Im-
proved breeds have penetrated only into large
mestizo towns on the edge of the indigenous area.
Several families in every Tarascan pueblo keep a
few hives of European bees in the house lot.
Hives consist of rows of small wooden rectangular
boxes placed on benches (pl. 7). In some Sierra
villages (e. g. Capacuaro) native bees hive in
sections of logs hung on the outside wall of the
house. Both honey (for sweetening) and wax
(for religious candles) are extracted from the hives
in November or December.

Animal foods in Tarascan diet.—Tarascans eat
meat whenever it is available and can be afforded.
Chunks of boiled beef are one of the chief ingre-
dients of ¢uaipu. This dish is also made of the
heart, liver, intestines, and lungs. Other beef
dishes prepared in most Tarascan pueblos are:
a stew, or ataépakua, thickened with mole; uirikata,
or meat broiled over charcoal or on the comal;
various cuts fried in the casuela; menudo, or
stomach lining boiled and served with ground
chile; dried salted meat (cecina); steamed beef
heads (including tongue and brains), called virria
or babaqua.™

Neither cow nor goat milk is popular among
Tarascans. Some milk cows are kept in the larger
villages to supply the pregnant and the sick.
Little cheese is made locally, most being brought
in‘from the tierra caliente.

Although well liked by most Tarascans, mutton

11 The word kuyaku is apparently onomatopoeic; ¢ikata-ambAs or ‘good
chicken,” is also used as a name for turkey.

12 The word ‘‘¢fkata” is Tarascan for a wild grouse, and was evidently
applied to the chicken soon after its introduction.

3 Hens are small, dull brown, often speckled with yellow and black;
cocks are reddish brown with highly colored tail, wing, and neck feathers.

14 Some of the above Tarascan words are also applied to stews and roasts
of deer meat. With the possible exception of éudipu, uirfkata, and atapakua,
all meat dishes prepared by modern Tarascans are of Spanish origin.

is eaten only on Sundays or on fiesta days by those
who can afford it. On festive occasions, such as
weddings, a whole mutton is stuffed with cleaned
entrails and head and roasted in a large oven.
(The roast is called tatemado, or uirikata.) On
less prominent occasions pieces of mutton are
often cooked with vegetables to make a kind of
éuipu.

Pork is always eaten fresh; cured pork, such as
ham, bacon, and sausage—all old Spanish meats—,
has no place in modern Tarascan diet. Pieces of
fresh pork are fried on the comal, or boiled with
vegetables. A popular pork dish, especially in
the Sierra, is chicharrones (cracklings), which
consist of pieces of fresh pig skin well-cooked in a
large copper caldron."° Carnitas, pieces of meat
and fat, including spareribs, side meat, leg, ete.,
are also cooked in the caldron in many pueblos,
and are commonly served in the markets of the
large mestizo towns nearby.

FOOD-GATHERING ACTIVITIES

Tarascan women and children gather various
wild herbs, fungi, and fruit to supplement agri-
cultural products. Among these the most impor-
tant are the annual greens, or Saku4,'® collected
during the rains from June through September.
They are usually found in disturbed ground, e. g.
within and on the edges of wheat or maize fields.
The women in some Sierra pueblos recognize
more than 15 varieties of Sakua that are habitu-
ally gathered.” These are boiled with chile and
salt to make atapakua. Although eaten in all
modern Tarascan villages, such greens are of
greater importance in the Sierra, where the garden
vegetables common in the Lake and La Cafiada
areas are infrequently cultivated.

Mushrooms (terékueéa) are collected in all Taras-
can towns, and, like the annual greens, appear
only in the rainy season. They are found in the
fields, in the forest growing under decaying logs,

115 In the spring of 1946 a chicharrén cooking was observed in PamatAcuaro.
After killing a hog the local butchers or others set up a caldron in the plaza to
cook the skin. By the time the cracklings were well done, a large group of
villagers had gathered to buy them at a few centavos each. The lard so
rendered was sold to one of the local stores. The cooking of chicharrones is
also common in many mestizo towns in central and northern Mexico.

16 Saku is the Tarascan equivalent of the Nahuatl ‘‘quelitl,’’ which has
been hispanicized to quelite, the general term now used in Mexico for any
kind of wild annual used for greens.

117 Unfortunately, the Sierra was visited during the dry season, and con-
sequently specimens of gaku4 plants could not be collected for botanical classi-
fication. Verdolaga (Portulaca oleracea) and tender amaranth shoots, how-
ever, are common sakué varieties.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—-WEST 51

and even in sheltered spots in the village streets.
Again, collecting is done by women and children,
though men may bring home a mess of mushrooms
found while cutting wood. Eight to ten edible
varieties are known in most towns. Children are
trained early to recognize the poisonous kinds,
called uaaié-terékua (ghost mushroom). Teré-
kueéa are prepared by boiling and then frying
in lard; they are also roasted with salt on the comal
or over live coals; sometimes they are boiled and
mixed with chile sauce. A tamal nikatamal-
terékua) is often filled with boiled mushrooms.
Aside from mushrooms, the fungus growth on
maize ears is likewise called terékua (the cwitla-
coche (Ustilago maydis) of the Aztecs), and is
similarly prepared and eaten.

In the Sierra acid fruits, particularly berries, are
other food items collected. The fruit of the
native blackberry bush (zarzamora, ¢‘ttin), which
grows best in disturbed ground along hedgerows
and on edges of fields, is gathered in May and
June. The berries are eaten fresh with salt and
are used to flavor atole (atole de zarzamora,
¢‘tin-kamata). Other fruits commonly gathered
include piniki, an orange-colored berry often
carried to mestizo markets; tejocote and capulin,
both gathered wild or semicultivated in hedgerows;
wild grapes; the cherry tomato (Sapindikua),
which grows along the edges of cultivated fields.

The buds (Sam&8) of a wild mezcal type of
agave is another food item commonly gathered
in the Tarascan area and in most parts of Central
Mexico. The buds and lower fleshy ends of the
leaves of the plant are roasted in a hole about 1
meter deep and 1 to 2 meters across, which is
usually dug on the forested slopes where the wild
agave is available. A fire is built in the hole,
and after it has died down somewhat rocks are
placed on top. When the stones become hot,
the agave is placed in the hole and covered with
maguey leaves andearth. After 3 days the cooked
agave is taken out and carried to various markets
where it is sliced and sold. Roasted agave is
often termed mezcal (siudta), but it must be dis-
tinguished from the distilled liquor (s‘Aku) of the
same name. The former is rich in starch and is
possibly one of the more ancient foods of Mexico.

Aside from food plants, the coarse roots of
zacatdn grass (Muhlenbergia macroura) are collected
by men throughout the Sierra. Called raiz de paja
or raiz de zacatén, the dried roots are sold in

mestizo towns nearby for the manufacture of
scrubbing brushes. This activity is not peculiar
to Tarascans, for it is carried on by both mestizos
and Indians in high altitudes of the Mesa Central
where the grass grows in abundance.

Before the eruption of Parfcutin in 1943, honey
gathering was an important collecting activity in
the Sierra. The heavy fall of volcanic ash killed or
drove away all wild bees in the area, terminating
the ancient trade of the panaleros, or honey
gatherers. Formerly there were 15 panaleros in
Urapicho, and several in Cheran and Tanaco. In
the spring of 1946 it was rumored in some pueblos
farthest from the volcano that a few swarms of bees
were returning. (See Beals, 1946, pp. 13-14, for
a description of honey collecting in the Sierra.)

HUNTING ACTIVITIES

In pre-Conquest times hunting formed a signif-
icant part of the food quest among the Tarascans.
Deer, rabbit, and grouse were hunted in the Sierra,
while migratory waterfowl, chiefly ducks, were
taken in the Lake area (Relacién de Michoacan,
p. 15). Today only duck hunting on Lake
Patzcuaro still has economic importance, and there
it is limited chiefly to fishers—the islanders and
some rancheros on the Taafu-k‘eri Peninsula.
Nine varieties of migratory ducks (principally of
the genera Nyroca, Mareca, and Nettion) are
recognized by the fishermen. Customarily bird
hunting starts on the Dia de los Muertos fiestas
(October 31 and November 1), when as many as
100 ducks are killed by a single hunter, and coa-
tinues until the departure of the flocks in late
March. The p‘atému, or spear propelled with the
throwing stick (¢apdki, or the Nahuatl atlatl), is
still employed by many duck hunters. The spear,
with a carrizo handle 3 m. long, carries 3 points,
called the fisga (k‘enééta), each 7 cm. in length
(fig. 5). Old flintlocks (carabinas de chispas) are
also used by the Urandén islanders, but many
modern hunters from Janitzio possess modern
shotguns. Ducks are eaten in the Lake pueblos
and many are sold in Pétzcuaro. Waterfowl are
hunted by Tarascans likewise in the Zacapu Basin.

In the Sierra, hunting is looked upon as a
pastime by most modern Indians. Men and
boys often hunt deer, squirrels, and rabbits with
flintlocks and some modern rifles. Game, how-
ever, is largely depleted in the Sierra. Beals

52 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

Ficure 5.—The fish spear (above) aad fisga (below).

(1946, p. 19) mentions the use of pit traps and
snares in Cheran.

FISHING

A large part of pre-Conquest Tarasca was
inhabited by fishers, most of whom were part-time
farmers.’ There were two important fishing
areas: (1) the northern plateau region, dotted with
lakes and marshes, and (2) the central lakes,
Patzcuaro and Zirahuén. Fishing was also prac-
ticed in the shallow lagoons in the Cotija graben
west of the Sierra and in the Tepalcatepec and
Balsas Rivers in the tierra caliente. In the above-
named areas fishing continued unchanged through-
out most of the colonial period, but during the last
150 years it has declined mainly in the northern
and western sections, owing to desiccation and
draining of marshes."° In Lake Patzcuaro, fish-
ing has been declining since the mid-18th century.
By 1789 all the inhabitants of the south-shore
pueblos had ceased to fish (AGN Historia, vol. 73,
ff. 292-302v), and today Lake PA&tzcuaro fishers
are limited mainly to the islands and a few small
ranchos on the Tasiu-k‘éri Peninsula. Only ves-

8 The Nahuatl] name for the Tarascan area (particularly the section
around the central lakes) was Mechuac4n, meaning the land of the fishers.

19 The desiccated areas where fishing was once significant included the
basins of Zacapu, the Tarfmbaro lowland north of Morelia, the Tanganci-
cuaro Basin, the lowlands southeast of Lake Chapala, and the chain of lakes
(Guadalupe, San Juanico, Magdalena, Tacatzcuaro) in the Cotija graben.
Some fishing is still practiced by mestizos in Lakes Yuriria and Cuitzeo,
although the waters of both are constantly receding, and the latter occasion-
ally dries up completely. The western portion of Lake Chapala, formerly
Tarascan territory, is still fished. There are some nine mestizo fishermen at

Zirahuén, and carpa are still caught in the trerra caliente streams. This fish
is dried and carried to the Sierra towns for consumption on fast days.

Approximately % natural size.
PI ars

tiges remain in some of the mainland towns, where
a few farmers fish part-time along the shore to
supply local demand (map 19).

The fish resource.—The native fishes of Lake
P&tzcuaro are common to most lakes and streams
of the western part of the Mesa Central. Most
of the commercially important species belong to
the genus Chirostoma (Atherinidae), which vary
in length from 2 to 12 inches. C. estor is the famed
pescado blanco (kuriéa uraépiti) of P&tzcuaro; C.
bartoni, the charal or é‘arari, is a tiny species that
is sun-dried and sold over a wide area; C. grando-
cule is called k‘uerépu, although this term is usually
applied to the young of other species. Other
genera include small fish, notably akimasa, or
sardina (Algansea lacustris), ¢éua (Allophorus
robustus), and t‘fru, which includes at least four
genera of the Goodeidae family (Goodea luitpoldii,
Neoophorus diazi diazi, Allotoca vivipara, Skiffia
lermae). Around 1930 a black bass (Micropterus
(Huro) salmoides), called trucha or carpa, native
to eastern North American streams, was intro-
duced into Lake Pitzcuaro presumably to in-
crease a failing fish reserve. The trucha, however,
upset an established biotic equilibrium by feeding
on the small littoral fish, almost exterminating
the t‘fru and diminishing the stock of ¢éua and
é‘ardri. In addition to fish, freshwater shrimp
(Sapitu) and frogs (kuandisa, Rana pipens) inhabit
the lake and are often caught and eaten.’

20 A large literature exists on the fish resources of Lake Patzcuaro. The
more important works are Ancona et al. (1940), Osorio Tafall (1944), and
De Buen (1943, 1944).

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 53

101°35'

San Jerénimo
Santa Fé de la Laguna
ZS ©Chupfcuaro
San Andrés
10 50 100 200 300 500 Working population
5 400 600

2

[fr
Rodii of circles calculated from square (. 3.5 )

101°40'

roots of figures for working population : Te.5mm

Percentage of full time fishers in each locality
indicated by black portion of circle

reeere ay

oe Patambiche
Ichuplo
SS
@o). de Agua
r© Tarerio

on Tzintzuntzan

©) Ucasanastacua

ie TAAIU-K‘ERI

; Nopizaro c Yunuen PENINSULA

ae ce Vinata

Pudcuaro

Tecuenog © Las Gronadas

& =
© Cucuchucho

O

Janitzio Ps iKagtzi0
Uricho & tt Tecolote
ENG Ey
(CU )vorseure
Arécutin @ fi S
PASTORA | :
Ra Is oS Pedrito Ca

Morales® OCorioh
(COPUNO 1) Morelos >

Tocuaro
©) Qa
Sa Va
Nocutzepo San Pedrow) \_
Pareo © Tzentzénguaro

San Bartolo Pareo

Santa Ana
\ PATZCUARO
oO
(Coordinates are approximate) ya
fo}
101° 40" 101235!

Map 19.—Distribution of fishers around Lake Pdtzcuaro, 1940. Data from official census, 1940,

54 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

Fishing techniques and associated tools.—
Fishing with native Tarascan nets predominates in
Lakes Patzcuaro and Zirahuén. Both the net and
the hook were employed in pre-Conquest times,!!
but at present the latter is of secondary impor-
tance. The large chinchorros (uatika) and the
smaller éerémekuas are the only nets used today.
The former is a seine, employed for catching
pescado blanco and trucha in midlake, while the
latter, a gill net with a fine mesh, is placed along
shore to trap the small é‘ara4ri and k‘uerépu 1”
(pl. 8). Prior to the introduction of the trucha
the picturesque mariposa or butterfly nets (k‘oru-
e¢a) were commonly employed for catching t*iru.
Owing to the near extinction of this fish, these nets
are no longer seen, except in Janitzio, where they
are displayed to tourists. The hand net (cuchara,
uiripu, ¢itiru) has likewise practically disappeared.
All nets used by the P&tzcuaro fisherman are
home-woven.

Other fishing tools include the spear (arpén,
atdérakua), now used to kill trucha in shallow
water, and the hook (anzuelo, jupikata-térakua) .!¥
Shore traps are occasionally used by a few fishers
of Uricho and Pudcuaro. Fish poisons are not
employed. To improve habitat conditions of
open-water fish, such as pescado blanco, portions
of the lake bottom are often cleared of aquatic
grasses (zacate, pu¢irini) with the uarématdrakua,
a pole 3 m. long with a sickle attached to the end.

An indispensible fishing tool and means of water
transport is the Tarascan canoe, a flat-bottom
dugout hewn from a pine or fir log. Owing to the

121 According to the Relacién de Michoac4n, Tarascan officials oversaw the
net fishermen and those who fished with hooks (p. 16). Moreover, “. . . de
noche pescan con red y de dia con ansuelo” (p. 149).

122 The chinchorro often measures 100 to 150 m. long and 8 m. wide. In the
center is a pocket (bolsa) of fine mesh. Four people are necessary to handle
the net in midlake, and it is usually operated from one boat. The net is
manipulated by ropes (an¢itatarakueéa), 50 to 60 m. long attached to its
twoends. Once the net is cast, it is formed in a semicircle and slowly pulled
forward and upward, while the catch setiles into the bolsa. The éerémekua
is usually 6 to 8 m. long and 40 cm, wide. This net is used somewhat like a
trap. It is fastened to poles in shallow water near the shore and left for 2 or
3 hours. When lifted, the net usually contains several small littoral fish,
their heads caught in the fine mesh. This type of éerémekua can be operated
by one person. A longer Gerémekua (often 100 m. in length) with a coarser
mesh is sometimes used to catch pescado blanco in deep water offshore. Like
the smaller variety, it is operated by one person, who attaches the top of the
net to log floats and one end to his canoe. The net and boat are permitted
to drift in midlake usually through the night, while the attendant gathers in
the trapped fish from time to time.

13 The atarakua is composed of a stalk of carrizo 4 m. long, to the end
of which is attached a long barbed-iron point (60 cm. long). The spear is
hurled either above or beneath the water. Regarding the use of the anzuelo,
the cord supporting the hook is usually attached to a piece of carrizo or otate,
1 m. long, a series of which is permitted to float on the water. A strike is

indicated by the tilting of the stick, which is hurriedly picked up by the
boatman,

drying up of lakes in the northern and western
sections of Tarasca, the distribution of the dugout
has decreased in area during the last 100 years.
At the present time the Tarascan boat is used on
Lakes Patzcuaro, Zirahuén, Cuitzeo, and Chapala;
two old dugouts on the small pond at Tarejero
represent the remnants of the once extensive canoe
traffic in the Zacapu lagoon.'* Most of the Lake
Patzcuaro boats are made in the Sierra settlements
of Cumachuén, Capacuaro, and in the highlands
to the south, mainly around the rancho of Santa
Juana. The boats are dragged to the lake shore,
where they sell for 100 to more than 600 pesos
each. They are said to last for 3 to 5 years before
becoming waterlogged. Two sizes of boats are
seen on Lake Pétzcuaro—the small ié4zuta for two
to four persons, used for shore fishing, and the
larger tep4ri, which carries from four to eight
individuals and is employed in midlake fishing
and for transport. "The smaller boat is paddled
with the pala or 8étakua, which has a round blade
of pine (25 & 28 cm.) attached to a handle of oak
or tejocote varying in length from 30 cm. (for
children) to over 2m. The larger canoes are both
paddled and rowed. Sierra folk from Cumachuén
and Capacuaro manufacture oars and paddles,
which they market in Erongaricuaro and Paétz-
cuaro.

Fishing methods.—In most parts of the lake,
fishing is done in the early morning hours between
5 and 10 o’clock. Fishing is seasonal, most
activity occurring during the dry season (Novem-
ber to May). Chinchorreros usually operate in
groups of four; often blood relations, the group
divides the catch equally. An owner of a net and
boat often hires peones to help with the chinchorro,
paying wages or dividing the catch. The wife
and children occasionally help set the éerémekua
along the shore, and often women aid with the
chinchorro. Midlake fishing is open to all inhabi-
tants of the Lake area, who pay a federal license
of 1.50 pesos annually. By custom, however, the
people of a particular settlement have exclusive
fishing rights along the shore of their lands; those
from other pueblos may not fish the shores of

14 As late as 1872 heavy canoe traffic is described between TareJero and
Zacapu (Pérez Herndéndez, 1872, p. 119). Late in the 16th century small
reed balsas were used on Lake Chapala (Ponce Relacion, vol. 2, pp. 18-20).

125 Measurements of the dugouts: The itézuta has a length of 2.5 m. to
6.5 m., width of 60 cm., and depth of 40cm.; the tepari ranges from 6.5 to 11m
long, 1 m. wide, and 50 em. deep.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—-WEST 5D

another without permission from the authorities
of the latter.

Fish preparation.—Pescado blanco, trucha, and
aktimaiza are usually taken to market fresh, al-
though the latter is sometimes fried on the comal
before being sold. The tiny k‘uerépu and @‘arari,
however, are invariably sun-dried, the catch being
spread on a petate, which is placed near the door
of the dwelling where it can be easily watched
(pl. 11). Since pre-Conquest days dried é‘arari
has been one of the main exports of the Tarascan
lakes. It was distributed into the tierra caliente,
the Sierra, and as far east as Toluca.

LUMBERING ACTIVITIES

The Tarascans, possibly more than any other
aboriginal group of Mexico, have been exploiters
of forest products since pre-Columbian times.
During the Empire period one of the important
officials of the caltzontzin at Tzintzuntzan was in
charge of ‘‘the keepers of the forests,’ who cut
beams and made planks for public, and probably
private, use.”® Not only were large beams and
logs used in the construction of temples, but also
in the building of forts against Aztec raids.
During the colonial period the pine forests on the
northern flanks of the Sierra de Ozumatlin were
heavily exploited by Tarascan woodmen for beams,
planks, and shakes for the Guanajauto and Zaca-
tecas mining districts.”

Much of the timber resource of northern
Michoacén was depleted by the end of the 18th
century. Relatively untouched by colonial exploi-
tation, the pine and fir forests of the Sierra de los
Tarascos, although constantly diminishing, have
remained the principal source of timber for the
indigenous population. There are few contem-
porary Sierra Tarascan men who cannot handle
an ax or lumber saw. When the maize fields do
not demand their attention, the family head and
his sons are usually in the forest cutting timber
or gathering resin. The Sierra Indian is conse-
quently both a farmer and a lumberjack. Some
are professional woodsmen, who live in the village
but seldom engage in agriculture. Little lumber-
jim Relacion de Michoacan: p.17: “. . . diputado sobre los que guardaban los
montes que tenian cargo de cortar vigas y hacer tablas y otra madera de los mon-
ee This exploitation began immediately after the Guanajuato mines were
opened ca. 1554, and extended into the post-colonial period. After the ex-
haustion of the local wood supply, Zacatecas began to draw on the northern

Michoacan lumber reserves during the first part of the 17th century (Basa-
lenque, 1886, vol. 1, p. 315).

ing is carried on outside the Sierra. Some beams
and planks are cut by the people of Zipiajo and
Teremendo, who have large tracts of forest on
the slopes of El Zirate, and some farmers of the
Lake area and La Cafiada cut small amounts of
lumber for home use.

Beals’ discussion (1946, pp. 15-19) of legal
cutting rights, lumber products, and lumber
tools for Cherin can be applied to most of the
present Sierra pueblos; therefore, only a summary
will be given here. As mentioned above, all
Sierra pueblos possess varying amounts of forest
land held as common property. Since the late
1930’s the Federal Government has attempted
to control exploitation by placing all large forest
areas under national domain, by encouraging the
organization of local lumbering cooperatives, and
by periodically inspecting lumbering activities.
In most pueblos the Federal tax on lumber prod-
ucts is passed on to the individual woodsmen,
who pay the town council a given amount for
cutting rights. In other towns lumber coopera-
tives have been formed to pay the tax, each
member contributing dues and having sole cutting
rights in the village forest lands.

Although much lumber is for local use (house
construction, fences, acqueducts, watering troughs,
shakes, etc.), most is cut for the outside market.
Raw logs, beams (vigas), planks (vigetas, tablas),
and railroad ties of pine and fir are cut and pre-
pared for lumber contractors, whose heavy trucks
visit the larger villages during the dry season to
haul the products to the nearest railhead. Wood-
cutters of the remote pueblos drag beams and
planks to market with the aid of burros and mules.
Los Reyes, Tingiindin, Tangamandapio, and
Zamora handle the forest products from the
western part of the Sierra, while Uruapan, Zacapu,
Ajuno Station, and Pitzcuaro serve as lumber
points for the eastern section. Formerly a signifi-
cant forest industry, shake making (performed
by skilled specialists) is slowly declining because
of the increasing use of tile roofing.’* Turpentine
is no longer distilled locally. (See Beals, 1946,
p. 18, for illustration of Tarascan still.) Rather,
the resin (resina) is gathered in 5-gallon tins and
taken to the village, where they are periodically

138 Although in some pueblos (Pamat&cuaro and ranchos, Angahuan,
Capacuaro) shakes are still made for export to Uruapan, most are used locally.
During colonial times and even in the last century large quantities of shakes

were shipped from the Sierra to the northern mines, where they were the
principal roofing material.

56 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

picked up by trucks from turpentine distilleries
in Uruapan and Morelia. Charcoal is a minor
commercial forest product made by Tarascans
living near mestizo towns. The latter comprise
the principal markets for charcoal, which has
never entered Tarascan culture.’ Other minor
forest products consist of ocote splinters, used
for primitive interior illumination; *° softwoods
(madroiio, jaboncillo, aile, etc.) for lathe work;
pine and fir for cabinet work; etc.

Within the last 50 years the commercial saw-
mill has penetrated into the Sierra. Lumber
companies purchase cutting rights of standing
timber from the pueblos and set up a steam- or
(when near a power line) electric-powered saw in
the midst of the forest.“! When the suitable
timber has been depleted (under Federal inspec-
tion), the mill closes down, and the remnant of the
forest reverts to the pueblo. Although most
companies bring in mestizo labor, many Tarascans
from villages nearby obtain seasonal work in the
sawmills, thereby supplementing their usually low
income. Because of their ephemeral character,
the number of mills in the area varies. In 1940
there were five mills in the Sierra proper; in 1946
the number had decreased to three.

During the last 100 years cutting has exceeded
natural timber growth in the Sierra. Clearing of
new plowland to sustain increased population and
commercial lumbering have been the major
factors of forest depletion. Moreover, disease has
recently destroyed acres of pine in the vicinity of
Tarecuato, and volcanic ash has laid waste the
forest within a 3-mile radius of Paricutin. Lum-
bering even by the Tarascan woodsmen is often
wasteful. Large trees are sometimes cut and left
unattended for years until rot renders the wood
useless.“ Improper tapping for resin and
testing for shakes often kill many trees. The
sawmills, operating on a much larger scale than
the native lumbermen, are even more destructive,
and in former years they depleted large sections
of Sierra forest. Approximately 50 years ago the
timberland in the eastern part of the Sierra east

129 The main charcoal-producing towns in the area are San Lorenzo
(Uruapan market), Opopeo and Cuanajo (PAtzcuaro market).

130 The rancheros around Pamatdcuaro gather much ocote, which the
women market in the large mestizo towns bordering the Sierra.

131 In 1944 the pueblo of San Felipe sold its forest to an Uruapan company
for two million pesos. The proceeds were deposited in an Uruapan bank,
where they remain communal property.

132 Such wasteful exploitation was much in evidence in the forest lands of
Pamatdécuaro on the southern slope of Cerro de Patamban,

of Nahuatzen, Sevina, and Cumachuén was
almost completely stripped by the mills. Today
in this area, barren, windswept sheep pastures,
supporting occasional remnant clumps of pine,
indicate the extent of forest destruction (pl. 8).
Throughout the Sierra there is probably not a
piece of virgin timber, so long and thorough has
been lumber exploitation.

HANDICRAFTS

Among most people lacking modern transporta-
tion facilities and mass production techniques,
cottage industries, often termed ‘native crafts,”
are characteristic of the local economy. Owing
to the presence of particular raw materials nearby
and/or to traditional skills, people of one village
often tend to specialize in one or more crafts.
Cottage industry and village specialization are
prevalent in most of indigenous and even mestizo
Mexico. It is and has been particularly so among
the Tarascans, whom the early Spanish chroniclers
described as a skilled and clever people (Beau-
mont, 1874, vol. 2, p. 165). Moreover, pro-
gressive exhaustion of originally poor soils and
population increase have forced many farmers of
the Sierra to turn to crafts for additional income.
Today five general handicrafts (ceramics, textiles,
woodwork, leathercraft, and metalwork) are
practiced and over 30 types of articles made
among 54 Tarascan towns and ranchos (map 20).
Only 10 Tarascan-speaking pueblos lack a cottage
industry. In 26 pueblos at least 25 percent of the
“working” population! practice various crafts.
Some villages specialize in only one industry.
For example, over 80 percent of the working
population of Santa Fé de la Laguna make pot-
tery; nine-tenths of that of Jardcuaro are hat
makers. Moreover, many towns which carry on
various handicrafts may concentrate on one.
Thus, Tarecuaro is famed for agave fiber products,
Pamatdcuaro and neighboring ranchos for wooden
spoons and bowls. In most pueblos more than
one craft is practiced, and in a few as many as
eight distinct products are made.

Like so many of his material culture elements,
the Tarascan’s crafts represent a mixture of

133 The ‘‘working’’ population in Tarascan towns is estimated by dividing
the total population by 3.5. The Tarascan family averages about 5 persons,
but often the wife devotes her spare time to cottage industry and is sometimes
helped by the older children. Boys over 12 years old usually work in the
fields as farmers or in the house at the father’s trade.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 57

aboriginal and European products and techniques.
lost of his modern handicrafts are based on
pre-Conquest industries (ceramics; wood prod-
ucts; leathercrafts; metal work in copper;
weaving of cotton, agave fiber, stalks of tule).
Except in a few pueblos, European techniques are
now used in making pottery. In modern wood-
work the adz and the lathe are probably European
and cabinet work is practiced entirely with Old
World techniques. Cattle hide and horse hide
have replaced deerskin in leathercrafts, but the
tanning techniques used are possibly aboriginal.
Although the ancient belt loom is used for most
cotton and agave weaving, for weaving wool the
European hand loom is employed. Sleeping mats
(petates) are woven of tule as they were 500 years
ago; hat making, on the other nand, is completely
European. In regard to metals, European tech-
niques have replaced native methods, and iron
has of course been introduced. Spanish friars
and master craftsmen of the 16th century did in-
deed teach Tarascans many new techniques, but
in most instances such were applied to long-
established native industries.

An interesting aspect of cottage industriesjis
their ephemeral character. Owing to movement
of artisan families from one pueblo to another and
changes in markets and fashions, certain crafts
disappear in some towns and reappear in others.
In the last 160 years 37 Tarascan villages and
ranchos have lost old crafts or gained new ones;
27 have retained their characteristic trades
(table 2).% The pottery industry in Santa Fé
de la Laguna dates only from the last quarter
of the 19th century, and in 1910 hat making was
brought into Jardcuaro by a few political refugees
from Pichétaro. A large number of Tarascan
towns were famed for leathercrafts (saddles and
shoes) during the 18th and 19th centuries, but
now, owing to changes in transportation and the
rise of factory production, local leather products
have almost disappeared. Again, the iron craft
of San Felipe de los Herreros has practically
vanished, for factory-made articles can be obtained
more cheaply from surrounding mestizo towns.

134 Insufficient data were at hand to determine possible changes in home
industries for 20 towns and ranches.

TaBLE 2.—WNative crafts in} Tarascan villages !

Pueblo 1946 1841 1822 1789
None. (?) (?) (?)
Weaving (cotton): Weaving (cotton): Knitting: Knitting:
Rebozos. Mantas. Men's stockings of cotton Men’s cotton stockings.
Belts. Belts. thread.
Tablecloths.
Woodwork: Knitting:
Violins. Men's stockings.
Turned work.
An vahuan=-= -2o-c== neue Weaving (cotton): Woodwork: Woodwork: Woodwork:
Rebozos. Shakes, Shakes. Boxes.
Belts.
Aprons.
Tablecloths.
Arantepacua- -=-.-=--<.-=-=-= Capotes. (?) (?) Woodwork:
Brooms. Saddle frames.
Aranza.- === 2222-2282" ---= Weaving (cotton): (?) (?) (Depopulated.)
Belts.
Tablecloths,
Arocutin==.—- sca. sesssese eats None. (2) (2) Petate weaving.
Atapansa2.22---<cessessse ot None. None. None. None.
AAI 3= = s22252--2-5> ees Weaving (cotton): (2) (?) Leatherwork:
Belts. Tanning.
Weaving (wool): Shoes.
Blankets.

See footnote at end of table.

58

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

TABLE 2.—WNative crafts in Tarascan villages '|—Continued

Pueblo

1946

1841

Caltzontzin (Paricutin) -_____-

Capacuaros2- =: =2--2--/---2-

Charapanz<2-2-22 2-225.

Oherines e252 25.4 A

Cheranftzcicutin ___._.____.

Ohilchota.22 =~ .2:-222222-.225

Coenchoses2-22 2.22

Gomanjs 2 = et a eee 22

Conejos, Los (Parangari-
cutiro).

Weaving (cotton):
Tablecloths.

Weaving (wool):
Blankets.

Woodwork:
Broom handles.
Weaving (cotton):
Belts.

None.

Weaving (cotton):
Rebozos.
Belts.
Aprons.
Tablecloths.

Weaving (wool):
Blankets,

| Hat making:

Palm leaf.

Weaving (cotton):
Belts.
Napkins.
Tablecloths,

Weaving (wool):
Blankets.

Hat making:
Palm leaf.

Embroidery work.

None.

Weaving (wool):
Blankets.
Basketry.

Pottery.

Leatherwork:
Shoes.
Belts.
Saddle leather.
Pottery.

Pottery.

Weaving (wool):
Blankets.

Woodwork:
Cabinetmaking.

Weaving (wool):
Blankets.

Woodwork:
Cabinet work:
Boxes.

See footnote at end of table.

Weaving (cotton).

Woodwork:
Boxes.

(?)

Weaving (cotton).
Woodwork:
Rosaries.
Chocolate beaters.

(?)

(?)

Pottery.
Woodwork:
Rosaries.

(2)

(?)

Weaving (wool):
Blankets.
Weaving (cotton).

Woodwork:
Boxes.
Weaving (cotton).

Woodwork:
Cabinet work.

1822 1789
(2) Weaving (cotton).
(?) Woodwork:
Boxes.
(?) (2)
Woodwork: Weaving (cotton,
Rosaries. Woodwork:
Malacates. Rosaries.
Leatherwork: Leatherwork (1742).
Tanning.
Shoes,
None. Leatherwork:
‘Tanning.
Shoes,
(?) (?)
Woodwork: Pottery.
Rosaries, Woodwork:
Rosaries.
Other turned work.
Woodwork (1742):
Saddle frames.
Pottery (1742).
Leatherwork: Leatherwork:
Tanning. Tanning.
Shoes, Shoes.
(2) Leatherwork:
Tanning.
Shoes,

Weaving (wool):
Blankets,

Woodwork:
Piloncillo molds,
Boxes.

(2)

Weaving (cotton).

Woodwork:
Boxes,

Woodwork:
Cabinet work.
Boxes,

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—-WEST

TABLE 2.—Native crafts in Tarascan villages \—Continued

Pueblo 1946 1841 1822 1789
Cuanajo—Continued-----_--- Weaving (cotton):
Belts. 2
Aprons.
Tablecloths.
Weaving (wool):
Blankets.
Cumachuén:--2---------=-.- Woodwork: Woodwork. Woodwork: Woodwork:
Bateas. Digging sticks. Digging sticks.
Weaving (wool): Oars. Oars,
Blankets. Woodwork (1742):
Saddle frames.
Erongarfcuaro_-_--___--------- Petate weaving (?) Petate weaving. (?)
Eu Snsito: -sseese Seth 2S Pottery. (?) (?) (2)
Nehante 2220 soe ane sea one Pottery. (?) (?) (?)
Mn wAtziove sees se er sso Petate weaving. (?) (2) (2)
Basketry.
Wanitzio’=2e--- = ess. = 2 Netting. (?) (?) Netting.
‘ Weaving (cotton):
Men's belts.
WAYACUAYO = ae" Sas ocsastec Hat making. Petate weaving. (?) Petate weaving.
Palm leaf.
Weaving.
Belts.
Adobe making.
Majbacandass2<2-2-2.-=c=-. 3 None. (2) (2) (2)
INahuatzen’=-2-- == + S.2-2--22 Weaving (wool): Leatherwork: Leatherwork: Leatherwork:
Blankets. Tanning. Tanning. Shoes.
Cloth. Shoes. Shoes, Saddles.
Saddles.
Weaving (cotton):
Belts.
Embroidery work.
Leatherwork:
Saddles.
Belts.
INaranjarss2-c2=2=2eemee ete None. (?) (2) Leatherwork:
Tanning.
Shoes.
Napizaro:=- s52=2=-~-===55--5" Petate weaving. (2) (2) (?)
IN OCULZeDO == = ose nee None. (?) (2?) None,
iINurlote et es eo sees. = Weaving (wool): Hat making: Hat making. Hat making:
Blankets. Felt. Felt.
‘Ocumicho:=- 22222 --- seen nes Clay toys. (?) Leatherwork: Leatherwork:
Tanning. Tanning.
Shoes. Shoes.
Weaving (cotton),
iPamatacnaro.. 2 2-22 snene ss Woodwork: Woodwork: Woodwork: Woodwork:
Spoons. Spoons. Spoons. Spoons,
Bateas. Digging sticks. Digging sticks. Digging sticks,
Hat making: Weaving (cotton). Weaving (cotton).
Wheat straw. *

Weaving (wool):
Blankets.

See footnote at end of table.

748988-—4 8——_5

59

60

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

TABLE 2.—WNative crafts in Tarascan villages \—Continued

Pueblo 1946 1841 1822 1789
ParachOsseascces seca ee Woodwork: Woodwork: Woodwork: Woodwork:
Musical instrument. Musical instrument. Musicil instrument. Musical instrument.
Turned work. Cabinet work. Cabinet work. Cabinet work.
Cabinet work. Saddle frames.
Toys.
Weaving (cotton):
Rebozos.
Weaving (wool):
Blankets.
Patamban____- ELE Ste geae le Pottery. (2) Pottery. Pottery.
Weaving (wool):
Blankets.
bichstaro==ar-. see ce nee ee Weaving (wool): Weaving (agave). (?) Woodwork:
Blankets. Woodwork: Cabinet work.
Weaving (cotton): Cabinet work.
Belts.
Rebozos.
Woodwork:
Cabinet work.
| Broom handles.
Bateas.
Hat making:
Palm leaf.
Petate weaving.
Pomacuarfn- ---.--...-.____- None. Weaving (cotton). Knitting: (?)
Knitting: Men’s stockings. Woodwork (1742):
Men’s stockings. Saddle frames,
Pottery (?).
Pufcuaro.........___ ____....| Petate weaving. (?) (?) (?)
Weaving (wool):
Blankets.
Quinceo= <== == --2-_ 2-22 <5; | Weaving (wool): Woodwork: Woodwork: Woodwork:
Blankets. Saddle frames, Saddle frames, Saddle frames.
Weaving (cotton):
Belts.
Capotes.
Quriopas..2<2-22<-soste-ceece Woodwork: (?) Woodwork: Woodwork:
Bateas. Bateas, Bateas.
Turned work. Boxes. Woodwork (1742):
Chairs. Bateas.
Boxes.
San Andrés_._...._____________] Petate weaving. Petate weaving. Petate weaving. Petate weaving.
San Angoel......__......._____] None. (?) (?) None.
Bantaulé6! 2-2 2--2)-2--._- "| Pottery. (?) Woodwork. Woodwork:
Bateas (painted),
Boxes (painted).
Petate weaving.
San Felipe-_--..___. wiemee: Se Ironwork. Ironwork. Ironwork. Ironwork (also in 1644).
Weaving (cotton):
Belts.
Weaving (wool):
Blankets.
San Jerénimo....__......-.-- Petate weaving. (?) Petate weaving. Petate weaving.

Weaving (wool):
Belts.
Blankets.

See footnote at end of table.

Woodwork:
Boxes.

Pueblo

San Jos6_____

San Lorenzo----_- Sz secseesees

wRanaquillo: 92) -=2 22.20 2252-2

MarecwAatos 2282 S202. ve se Ss

eharejerOve oa. bese oe ee |

FRETEMONGO neti s eee eno oe

Mrinidaroys2s22-.os 2.

mMocuaro-=S4s<_ 5. ee Sk

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST

TaBLE 2.—Native crafts in Tarascan villages \—Continued

61

1946 1841 1822 1789
Pottery. (?) Leather work: (?)
Tanning.
Woodwork:
Saddle frames,

Weaving (cotton): (?) (?) (?)

Belts.

Tablecloths.
Pottery. (?) (?) (?)
Woodwork: Woodwork: Woodwork: Woodwork:

Bateas. Shakes. Shakes. Saddle frames.
Weaving (cotton):

Belts.
Weaving (wool):

Blankets.
None. None. None. Weaving (cotton).
Woodwork: (Nonexistent.) (Nonexistent.) (Nonexistent.)

Spoons.

Bateas.
Pottery. (?) (2) (?)

Petate weaving.
Capote making.

Weaving (wool):
Blankets.
Weaving (agave):
Morrales.

Ayates.

Pottery.

Weaving (agave):
Morrales,
Ayates.
Costales.

Weaving (cotton):
Belts.

Embroidery work.

Rope making.

None.

Hat making:
Wheat straw.
Palm leaf.

Weaving (wool):
Blankets.

Pottery:
(Hat making ceased in 1936.)

Woodwork:
Bateas.
Spoons.
Masks.

Pottery.

See footnote at end of table

748988—48——6

Petate weaving.

None.

(?)

(?)

(?)

(?)

(?)

(2)

(7)

Petate weaving.

(?)

(?)

(?)

(?)

Leatherwork:
Shoes.

@)

()

@)

Petate weaving.

(?)
Pottery (1742).

Woodworking (1742).

Saddle frames.

(?)

Weaving (agave).

Leatherwork:
Tanning.
Shoes.

(?)

Leatherwork:
Tanning.
Shoes.

None.

62 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

TaBLe 2.—Native crafts in Tarascan villages \—Continued

Pueblo | 1946, 1841 1822 1789
TPUPCUBTO: 2 o- ane soon a one = | Stonework: Stonework: Stonework: (?)
Metates. Metates. Metates.
| Woodwork:
Bateas.
Broom handles.
| Weaving (cotton):
Belts.
Weaving (wool):
Blankets.
Capote making,
Tzintzuntzan ---_- Pottery. Pottery. Pottery. Pottery.
Urapicho..._.._..._._._.__..-| Hat making: None. None (?). (?)
Palm leaf.
Woodwork (1742):
Saddle frames.
Uricho-=-=--<- __| Petate weaving. (2) Petate weaving.
ASCO oneness ates | (2) Weaving (cotton). Weaving (cotton): (?)
Mantas, Woodwork (1644):
Bateas.
Rope making (1664).
MALOSLO= sone h cca see _...----| Woodwork: Woodwork: Woodwork: Woodwork:
Bateas (disappeared since Bateas. Bateas (painted). Bateas.
voleano). Spoons.
Piloncillo
molds,
Weaving (wool): Weaving (cotton)’ Woodwork (1644):
Blankets. Bateas.
Rope making (1664).

! Sources: 1644, Basalenque (1886); 1742, Villasenor y SAnchez (1746-48): 1789, AGN, Historia, vol. 73; 1822, Martinez de Lejarza (1824); 1841, AAM, siglo

XIX, leg. 704, Memorias Estadisticas, 1841; 1946, Field observation.

Some industries, important in pre-Conquest
times, have completely disappeared. The fine
Tarascan featherwork was nearly extinct by the
beginning of the 18th century (Escobar, 1924,
pp. 149-151). Furthermore, the use of the ground
pith of maize stalks, from which various objects
(mainly religious) were molded, apparently flared
in the 17th and 18th centuries, and then dis-
appeared (Escobar, 1924, p. 144).

On the other hand, crafts which have persisted
in some pueblos for the last 160 years may predate
the Conquest. Witness the leatherwork of
Nahuatzen, a leather-making center in 1640, where
both deer and cow hides were tanned (Zavala and
Castello, 1939-46, vol. 7, pp. 361-362); the many
towns which still specialize in cotton weaving with
the belt loom; the petate-making towns around
the shores of Lake Pitzcuaro.

CERAMICS

Clayware is indispensable in most Mexican
kitchens,’ and tile roofing is used extensively in

most parts of the country. As in pre-Conquest
days, the manufacture of clayware in Mexico
is still a cottage industry in which various towns
specialize.

Including Tzintzuntzan (largely mestizo), there
are nine pottery towns in the present Tarascan
area: Santa Fé, Comanja, Zipiajo, Hudnsito,
Santo Tomas, San José, Patamban, and Cocucho.
With the exception of Cocucho, all are located in
the Garénda, or clay-soils district north of the
Sierra, usually near deposits of suitable firing
clay (map 20). The Cocucho potters have always
hauled clay from the vicinity of Tangancicuaro
and San José, for suitable deposits rarely occur in
the Sierra. Other pottery towns, now mestizo,
are also located in the northern clay area (Tangan-
cicuaro, Capula, Villa Morelos, Penicuaro). More-
over, other Tarascan villages in La Canada
(Sopoco, Ichaén, Tacuro, Tanaquillo), in the Zacapu

136 The common clay kitchen utensils include various types of pots (ollas) for
boiling; the comal, or round, flat piece placed on the hearth for frying, broil-

ing, and toasting; small saucers (caswelas) for frying and from which food is
sometimes eaten; water jugs (cAntaros); drinking cups (vasos).

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 63

Basin (Tirindaro), and in the Lake area (San
Jerénimo and Erongaricuaro) make pottery on a
small scale, mainly for local use.

Modern Tarascans use both the hand and the
mold techniques. The latter is usually accom-
panied by application of lead oxide glaze. The
former is still used in only three pueblos—Co-
manja, Zipiajo, and Cocucho, where it is per-
formed solely by women.'* In Comanja_ the
lower part of the vessel is shaped from a single
daub of clay. A depression is made in the center
and the walls are built up with the hands by press-
ing in small daubs of clay. The outer and inner
surfaces are smoothed with a corneob. The result
is a well-balanced vessel with walls of even thick-
ness. The vessels are rough-finished, rarely pol-
ished, and litharge glaze is never employed.
Firing is accomplished by placing pottery on a pile
of dried manure. The pots are covered with dried
grass (zacatén), which, when lighted, ignites the
manure. The grass ash is permitted to cover the
pots, a hole being left in the center of the pile to
permit smoke from the smoldering manure to
escape. After 3 hours the pottery is fired to
sufficient hardness. The chief ceramic products of
Comanja are the large water ollas, called “‘coman-
jas,’”’ which are marketed in the Sierra, the Lake
area, and in some of the mestizo towns to the
north. Similar ollas are made by an identical
process in Zipiajo, but on a smaller scale.

In Cocucho the ceramic process is similar to
that of Comanja, except that the base of the
vessel is formed on the bottom of a broken olla
and part of the wall is built up of rolled pieces
of clay (pls. 9 and 10). Firing is also similar, but
pine bark and rotten wood, rather than manure, is
employed for fuel; this process probably represents
the truly aboriginal technique. The Cocucho
women make large ollas with thick walls, especially
famed as tamale cooking pots throughout the
Sierra. This olla, rarely used outside of the Sierra,
is called kukiéu, from which the village derives its
name. The tunu¢i, a small flat olla used as a
tlascal (receptacle for tortillas), is also made.

136 The native hand technique was practiced in other Tarascan towns
during the 18th century. In 1729, according to Matias de Escobar, ‘‘ Es cosa
que admirar como que los he visto en Tiripitio [southwest of Morelia] como
labran cuanto [losa] quieran, sin las ruedas y moldes de los Espanoles. Un
pequeno cuero y una mala navaja son todos los instrumentos con que obran”’
(Escobar, 1924, p. 148). Both the hand and mold methods appear to be
native in Mexico, although the latter was known to Europeans. See Foster,
1948, for a discussion of native and introduced elements in the modern mold
technique.

The manufacture of these two Tarascan pots is
slowly dying. In 1946 only 10 women were
making pottery in Cocucho, whereas in 1841 it
was made in practically every household of the
village (AAM, siglo XIX, leg. 707).

Today by far the greater amount of Tarascan
pottery is made with molds by both men and
women.” None is manufactured with the
potter’s wheel. All who use molds have taken
over the European glaze technique and the firing
oven. Tarascan mold-made pottery can be
differentiated according to finish. The ‘“Patam-
ban” type, for instance, carries a beautiful green
glaze, known and admired over most of western
Mexico." Green glaze is also used in Santo
Tomas and Santa Fé de la Laguna, having been
recently introduced into the latter pueblo. Pot-
tery hand-painted with brilliant floral designs on
a background of black glaze is a specialty of Santa
Fé de la Laguna. This unusual technique was
introduced around 1900, and was readily adopted
by the inhabitants, whose former industry was
batea painting. As mentioned previously, the
inhabitants of Santa Fé de la Laguna began to
make pots during the last quarter of the 19th
century. Since then their ware has become
known throughout Mexico, and some is imported
by United States curio shops. In 1936 the
technique spread to Tirindaro, when daughters
of a Santa Fé potter married into Tuirindaro
families. The most common modern household
pottery is the Red ware, either glazed or polished,
made in Tzintzuntzan, Hudnsito, San José, and
Patamban. Before being fired the large pieces,
such as ollas and cdntaros, are usually slipped
with a red clay solution and then burnished
with iron pyrites. A handsomely polished surface,
similar to that of the pre-Conquest wares, results
after firing. (Such ware is fired only once.)
Smaller pieces are often glazed with litharge.
Glazed pieces are fired twice, the litharge being
applied after the first firing and the glazed surface
appearing after the second. Designs are often
painted in white (tierra blanca) and black (terra
de hormigén). Red ware is carried as far as Guadal-

137 See Foster (1948) for a detailed description of the mold technique used
by the potters of Tzintzuntzan.

138 To produce the green color, pulverized copper oxide (cobre quemado) and
yellow flinty quartz (pedernal) are added to the lead oxide (litharge) solution,
which is applied to the pottery before firing. A black glaze is also made by
adding a mineral called tierra de hormiga and pedernal to the litharge.

64 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

ajara, Morelia, the tierra caliente of Guerrero, and
Mexico City.

Another type of ceramic industry is represented
by the clay toy figurines made by the women of
Ocumicho in their spare time. The hollow figures
are formed with molds in shapes of diminutive
horses, sheep, oxen, and men, each with an open-
ing which serves as a whistle. After firmg, they
are painted and varnished. Owing to complete
lack of water near the town in the dry season, this
activity is carried on only during the rains.
Ocumicho figurines are seen in markets in many
parts of western Mexico and the tierra caliente of
Guerrero and Michoacan.

Red clay tiles, which are slowly replacing
shakes in the Tarascan area, are made in some
pueblos within the clay belt on the margins of the
Sierra. Tanaco is the sole town within the Sierra
proper to make this product. In Nahuatzen the
technique of making flat concrete tiles was intro-
duced in 1944. Such tiles are replacing the less
durable clay ones in some mestizo towns.

TEXTILES

In 35 modern Tarascan villages spinning and
weaving of cotton, wool, or agave fiber are
carried on as cottage industries. Both indigenous
and European techniques are employed, neither
having changed since the 16th century. Since the
beginning of the present century, however, factory-
made textiles from large Mexican towns have
begun to displace some home-woven articles, but
indigenous conservatism still supports the native
handicraft.

Spinning.—Formerly Tarascan weavers spun
raw cotton from the tierra caliente, but at present
commercial cotton thread, purchased in mestizo
markets, is prepared for weaving by twisting five
to six strands on the spinning wheel. Today only
raw wool and agave fiber are homespun, the latter
with the native malacate (uipinu), or hand
spindle with round clay wheel, the former with the
16th century spinning wheel (lorno). (See Beals,
1946, p. 36, for illustration of spinning wheel.)
Both cotton thread and spun wool are usually
colored locally with aniline dyes purchased in
mestizo markets. .

Weaving.—Tarascans weave all agave and
cotton fabrics on the native belt loom (patakua
(Paracho); jopdsatakua (Charapan, Tarecuato)),
a horizontal loom which has a backstrap and is

found in most parts of indigenous America south
of the United States (pl. 11). Customarily, only
women operate this loom; however, in Tarecuato
agave fiber is woven with it by both men and
women, and in Tanaco, exclusively by men.
Until the 1880’s the most important fabric made
with the belt loom was the cotton manta, a simple
white cloth used for native clothing since pre-
Conquest days. The cheap factory-made cottons
of Puebla and Veracruz have completely displaced
the indigenous manta, so that today Tarascans
weave women’s and men’s belts (fajas), shawls
(rebozos), aprons (delanteras), tablecloths and
napkins (servilletas). Widths of cloth ranging
from 1% inches (women’s belts) to more than a
yard (rebozos) can be woven on these looms.
Designs are usually woven into the above-named
articles, the warp threads being first arranged for
large widths on a long stick (Sekudérakua) and for
the narrow fajas on the Sekudni, an arrangement
of four to five small sticks placed in the ground.
Some of the finest examples of cotton weaving are
found in the Sierra pueblos: Paracho (whose
women make the Tarascan ‘‘rebozo corriente’’),
Ahufran (women’s belts), Angahuan (women’s
belts, aprons, rebozos), Charapan (belts, aprons,
tablecloths), San Lorenzo (tablecloths, belts).
In the early colonial period the weaving of agave
fiber was apparently widespread in the Sierra
(AGN Congregaciones, f. 14), but today it is limited
to Tarecuato and Tanaco. In these villages the
main agave fiber products are morrales (square
bag with shoulder straps), ayates (coarse piece for
wrapping articles to be carried on back), and
costales (coarsely woven sacks for carrying goods
on mules and burros). The fiber of maguey bruto
(akaémba t'aaimiti) is used for the finely woven
morrales, while that of maguey del toro (torakaémba)
is employed for the coarser ayates and costales.
Leaves of the agave plant are cut and the fiber
extracted and carded. After drying, it is spun by
(1) rolling fibers on the thigh with the band, or
(2) with the malacate. The fibers are woven on
the belt loom in the same fashion as cotton’
(pl. 11). A piece of the agave fabric is doubled
over and sewn on the sides to make the morral,
and a shoulder cord is added. Other agave fiber
products made in Tarecuato include rope and

139 Agave fiber products were manufactured in Pichdtaro during the last
century (AAM, siglo XIX, leg. 707).
40 The loom for weaving agave fiber is called u4natakua in Tarecuato.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 65

cord; these and the woven articles are marketed
in Guanajuato, Jalisco, the tierra caliente, and in
all parts of the present Tarascan area.

Woolen products are woven mainly on the
European loom, which was introduced early in
the 16th century." During most of the colonial
period this loom was used principally in the
obrajes, or cloth mills established by Spaniards in
various parts of Mexico near an abundant supply
of wool. Indians first learned European weaving
techniques in these mills, the labor for which
came from surrounding native pueblos. By 1540
an obraje, operated by 26 forced native workers,
had been set up in Acdmbaro (Paso y Troncoso,
1905, vol. 1, p. 33), and before the close of the
century woolen mills existed in Taximaroa and
Valladolid (Zavala and Castello, 1939-46, vol. 6,
p. 225). Moreover, Indians quickly learned to
spin wool, for tributes of spun wool were exacted
from some pueblos, possibly to supply obrajes
nearby.” It is not clear when the Tarascans
began to use the hand loom in their own villages;
possibly some looms were set up in the northern
towns in the 16th century.'® A report of 1789
(AGN Historia, vol. 73) on the Tarascan pueblos
of Lake Patzcuaro and the Sierra, however, men-
tions the use only of the native loom. The first
indication of a native wool industry in the Taras-
can area comes from the Martinez de Lejarza
report of 1822, which cites the obrajeros of San
Juan Parangaricutiro (later the most renowned
of the Tarascan blanket-weaving towns) and of
several northern mestizo towns.'* Tarascan wool
weaving on a commercial scale may be post-
colonial, having little economic basis until the
break-down of the large woolen mills at the close
of the colonial period. Today woolen blankets
(cobijas, serapes) are made on the European hand
loom in 24 Tarascan towns, Nahuatzen and pre-
volcano Parangaricutiro being the largest pro-

141 Strands of wool are sometimes mixed with cotton in making women’s
belts. Often the warp is of woolen strands, the woof of cotton thread.

142 For example, ea. 1540 the people of Purudndiro (Michoacin) contributed
each week two arrobas of spun wool (Paso y Troncoso, 1905, vol. 1, p. 117).

43 The Relacion de Chilchota (Mus. Nac.) states that some natives in
the town made clothes of wool, but the type of loom used is not given. More-
over, according to the Relacion de Cuitzeo (Mus. Nac.), the Indians living
around the lake “‘. . . benden lana a los conmarcanos para hacer ropa para
vestirse, y sus mugeres la benefician...’’ Again, the type of loom used to
weave wool is not given.

“4The northern towns mentioned: Morelia, Zinapécuaro, Zitécuaro,
Taximaroa, Jiquilpan, Huarachita, La Piedad, Huaniqueo, and Tanga-
mandapio. At that time the latter pueblo was wholly Tarascan; according
to Martinez de Lejarza (1824, p. 227), “‘. . . sus habitantes trabajan telares de
algodén y lana.’”

ducers. In many towns only three of four
obrajeros operate full time and produce mainly
for local consumption. Raw wool is purchased
locally, is washed, carded, dried, and spun by the
obrajero. In addition to manufacturing blankets,
some weavers in Nahuatzen, Charapan, and
Tanaco make woolen cloth for the traditional
black skirt, which is still worn by most Tarascan
women. Such skirts, however, are being made
increasingly from factory-woven woolens pur-
chased in mestizo towns.

Embroidery and sewing.—In the Sierra villages
of San Lorenzo, Tarecuato, Angahuan, Ahuiran,
Cuanajo, Nahuatzen, and Charapan some women
specialize in cross-stitching and embroidering
designs on blouses (huzpiles), napkins, and table-
cloths. Many of these articles are for tourist
trade in Uruapan, Zamora, and Patzcuaro.
During the colonial period and the first half of the
19th century, the men and women of Ahuiran
and Pomacuarda knitted men’s stockings of cotton
thread, using otate needles (AGN Historia, vol. 73,
f. 344; Martinez de Lejarza, 1824, pp. 179-180).
Ahuiran stockings were sold to mestizos and
Spaniards over a wide area, but this trade declined
after the change in styles of men’s clothing in
the early 1800’s.

Hat making.—Among the Tarascans this indus-
try was introduced probably in early colonial
days.“ However, the first mention of the in-
dustry comes from the report of 1789, which cites
it in Nurio (AGN Historia, vol. 73, f. 348).
There, hats were made of wool, likely by a felting
process, but the industry had disappeared by the
end of the last century. None of the colonial
sources mentions the manufacture of straw hats
in Tarascan towns. Old men from Pichataro
remember hat making during their childhood,
which fact at least dates the industry in the last
half of the 19th century. (Palm-leaf hats were
made in Morelia at the end of the colonial period,
according to Martinez de Lejarza, 1824, p. 29.)
Today hats (principally of palm leaf, some of
wheat straw) are made in seven Tarascan towns,
Jaracuaro Island being the main center.’ Palm
leaf brought up from the tierra caliente is cut in
thin sections, which are braided into strips, called

48 According to tradition, hat making was one of the many industries
which Don Vasco de Quiroga taught the natives. (Leon, 1904, p. 63.)
448 At least one member (and often three or four) ofevery family on Jaracuaro

Island makes hats. Having little tillable land, this pueblo is one of the most
specialized home-industry towns in the Tarascan area.

66 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

trensas. In practically every Tarascan pueblo
women, children, and sometimes men weave
trensas in their spare time, while walking to and
from market, and while herding sheep. Braids
are sold in the main markets, where they are
purchased by hat makers. Little wheat straw is
now braided, palm leaf being more durable and
more easily handled.” After they are pressed
and straightened with wooden rollers (fashioned
like a clothes wringer), the braids are sewed
together in spiral form, beginning at the crown.
The brim and crown are made separately and
sewed together. In JarAécuaro wooden forms are
used to block crowns. Most hatters employ a
Singer sewing machine, but those of Urapicho,
Pamatécuaro, and Zacén sew by hand. In some
towns hat making is disappearing, owing largely
to factory competition. Pich&taro, formerly an
important hat town, now has but four hatters.
In 1936 the industry disappeared completely in
Tirindaro.

Tule weaving.—The indigenous sleeping mat or
petate (k‘uirakua) is found in most of highland
Mexico. Also, the fire fan or soplador (p‘unita-
tardkua), an indispensable kitchen utensil, is
woven of tule. Mats and fire fans are made
wherever tule is available—along the shores of
shallow lakes, marshy areas, and river banks.
Consequently, the villagers living around Lake
Patzcuaro are the chief tule weavers in the
present Tarascan area (map 20; pl. 12). In San
Andrés 90 percent of the werking population
make petates. Even a few families in the Sierra
towns of Pichaétaro and Cherdn fabricate mats
from tule reeds imported from Erongaricuaro.
Formerly the towns near the northern march
districts were important petate producers, but
there the industry has greatly declined with the
desiccation of wet areas and disappearance of the
tule brakes.“8 Tule is likewise being depleted
along the shores of Lake Pitzcuaro. The peta-
teros of Pudcuaro, Napizaro, and Uricho import
reeds from Jardcuaro Island, the local supply
having been exhausted years ago.

Tule reeds are cut with the sickle, semidried,
and bundled for transport or storage (pl. 8). In

447 Hats of wheat straw are now made only in Pamataécuaro, Teremedo, and
Apo (mestizo).

148 A few petates are still made in Tarascan Tarejero, on the border of the
former Zacapu marshes; in mestizo Ettcuaro (Tangancicuaro Basin); and in
TacAtzcuaro (near the Cotija graben lakes). Moreover, the industry is still

carried on in some of the Lerma Delta towns east of Lake Chapala, and in
a few villages around Lake Cuitzeo.

the Lake area a twilled technique is used in mat
making, which is performed on the ground, the
only tools being a knife or sharp stone to cut tule
stalks and a wooden mallet to flatten the reeds as
they are twilled. Several sizes of mats are made;
the largest, called simply k‘ufrakua-k‘éri, meas-
ures 1.5 by 1 m.“° Both mats and fire fans are
taken to the Lake markets (Patzcuaro, Erongari-
cuaro, Quiroga), where they are purchased by the
Sierra people and buyers from the tierra caliente.

Basketry.—Ihuatzio and San Jerénimo in the
Lake area are the only modern Tarascan towns in
which baskets are made. The former Tarascan
towns of Tangamandapio (west of Zamora) and
Panindicuaro (north of Zacapu) are the main
basket centers in the general area, supplying the
Sierra people with the Sindiéa, or harvest baskets
for maize. The Ihuatzio baskets are made of
split carrizo stalks, which grow in abundance in
local house lots. Both wicker and twilling tech-
niques are used (pl. 12).

Netting.—In all fishing villages around Lake
P&tzcuaro nets are made by men, women, and
children in their spare time. On Janitzio and the
Urandén Islands a few professional rederos fabri-
cate nets to sell to fishers in other pueblos. Cotton
thread purchased in P&tzcuaro is wound on the
hilador (Soréranskua) and five to six strands are
twisted with the native malacate or with the
European spinning wheel. The twisted strands
are water-soaked and sun-dried. Nets are made
with the éurikua, a large wooden needle (20 cm.
long, 2 em. wide).

Capote making.—In many parts of indigenous
Mexico the palm-leaf raincape (capote), similar to
those worn in the Orient, is a common outdoor
apparel during the wet season. Capotes are made
by women in three Tarascan towns—Quinceo,
Arantepacua, and Turicuaro—using leaves of the
palma pimu (Acoelorraphe pimo), which are im-
ported from the tierra caliente below Ario de
Rosales..° The capes are fabricated by tying
soaked strips of palm leaf onto braided cords, two
of which are stretched parallel and one foot apart
on pegs driven into the ground. The strips of

140 Other types: The k‘amériéa (1.3 m.X80 em.) and the ¢im4nitepémueta
(1 m.X50 em.), both used for sleeping; the jatapetakua, a small knee mat;
idstitan, a long, narrow mat sold to mestizos as a sort of rug. Many more
sizes and varieties occur, the names and types varying from place to place.
The terms and types given above were observed in Ihuatzio and some of the
ranchos along the shore of the Taasfu-k‘éri Peninsula.

180 Most of the palm leaves used in Arantepacua are said to come from the
localities of Rosario, La Playa, Charapendo, and San Marcos, south of Ario,

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CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—-WEST 67

palm are tied on one cord, half-hitched to the
second one, and then tied back to the first; the
loose end of the strip is permitted to hang over
the second cord, thus forming a drainage surface
similar to thatch (pl. 12). The process is re-
peated, adding a new row of tied strips to the prev-
ious one until the garment (4 ft. long and 3 ft.
wide) is completed. Arantepacua capotes are
marketed as far north as Guanajuato. No men-
tion is made of these raincapes in the colonial
sources, nor is there a Tarascan word for the gar-
ment. It is not improbable that the capote is an
introduced trait.

Broommaking.—This is another minor industry
now practiced by a few men in Arantepacua.
Pimu palm leaves are symmetrically arranged
around the end of a finished pine stick and then
tied with agave fiber or a braided strip of palm.
The result is a common broom found in all parts
of central Mexico.

WOODCRAFT

According to the early Spanish chroniclers, the
Tarascans were clever craftsmen in wood, and
under the instruction of Spanish masters the
natives became among the best carpenters in
New Spain (La Rea, 1945, p. 20; Escobar, 1924,
p. 147). By 1580 Indian carpenters in at least
four towns—Pitzcuaro, Necotlin (Undameo),
Tiripitio, and Tingiiindin—were turning out
European-styled tables, chairs, and writing desks,
which found ready sale among Spanish colonists in
all parts of Michoacén.%= At that time lathework
was established in Paitzcuaro, and probably before
1540 Tarascans had begun to carve saddle frames
for Spanish horsemen (Molotinia, 1903, p. 183).
Like other Tarascan industries, woodwork was
probably a rudimentary pre-Conquest craft greatly
modified and improved by European techniques.
However, the present commercial types of Taras-
can woodwork—cabinet work, lathe work, and adz
work—all appear to have been developed in the
16th century.

Specialized woodwork (apart from lumbering
and shake making) was formerly more widespread
among Tarascans than at present. At the end of
the 18th century wood objects were manufactured
in 21 pueblos (AGN Historia, vol. 73), today in
only 13 towns. In but eight of the latter is the
“tia Rel. de PAtzcuaro, 1581 (Martinez, 1889, p. 47); Mus. Nac., leg. 102:

Rel. de Chocandiran, Rel. de Necotlin; Rel. de Tiripitio, ms. (in Garcia
Library, Univ. of Texas).

industry more than 150 years old; in only five of
the present towns do more than 25 percent of the
working population engage in woodwork.

Adz work.—This is the simplest of the wood
techniques now practiced by Tarascans (and by
other Indian groups, as well as by mestizos in
many parts of Mexico). Before the Conquest
the Indians shaped boats from a single log and
carved delicate figures on throwing sticks and
tom-toms, possibly using obsidian and copper
cutting tools. With the introduction of the
European steel adz and gouge early in the 16th
century, native wood carving was greatly facili-
tated. One of the earliest European objects
which the Tarascans carved with the adz was the
saddle frame (fuste), an industry which disap-
peared 100 years ago. Today wooden spoons
and bowls (bateas) of softwoods are the principal
adz and gouge products, Pamatdcuaro and its
offspring settlements Sirio and San Benito being
the chief producers.! These objects are also
made in the Tarascan villages of Turicuaro,
Cumachuén, Pichataro, Zirosto (formerly impor-
tant) and Sevina (where the industry was intro-
duced a few years ago), and in the mestizo towns
of Patzcuaro, Técuaro, Zirahuén, Uruapan, Qui-
roga. Spoons and bowls are made from softwoods:
jaboneillo (Sa4pu), palo blano (urapit-tku), and
aile (pamu). Occasionally bateas are made of
pine. Tools include the common adz and vari-
ously shaped gouges, which are driven with a
wooden mallet (pl. 13). The products of Pama-
tacuaro and surrounding settlements are marketed
in all parts of Michoacan and sometimes are
taken as far as Guadalajara and Mexico City.

Lathe work.—This represents one of the most
characteristic forms of modern Tarascan wood-
craft, Paracho being the center of the torneros.
Formerly the simple bow lathe was employed to
make bowls, vases, candlesticks, chocolate beaters
(molinillos), chessmen, toys (tops, yoyos), darning
eggs, etc. (See Beals, 1946, p. 43, for illustration
of bow lathe.) Since 1942, however, when a
power line was constructed near the town, most
of the bows have been replaced by electrically
powered lathes. About six torneros in Paracho
and five in neighboring Ahuiran still use the bow.
Formerly turned objects, chiefly rosaries, choco-

151 It is doubtful that wooden bateas were carved before the Spanish Con-
quest. Gourds of Crescentia alata probably functioned for the modern batea.

The “‘bateas’’? employed in early Spanish gold placering in the téerra caliente
were likely fashioned from Crescentia gourds.

68 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

late beaters, and malacates, were made in Charapan
and Cocucho, but this activity has now disap-
peared. Most of the turned objects are shaped
from madrofo wood (pandyksa). Carving is
done by pressing variously shaped steel chisels
and gouges against the whirling block of wood.
In Paracho, designs are painted and burned into
objects, and the surface lacquered or varnished.
The wheel lathe, an early Spanish introduction, is
used by most cabinetmakers in the area for
turning wood.

Cabinet work.—As mentioned earlier, cabinet
work was rapidly adopted by Tarascan craftsmen
in the early colonial period. In the 17th and 18th
centuries inventories of miners’ and merchants’
household goods in west-central and northern
Mexico rarely fail to mention chairs, tables, boxes
“de Mechoacan.”’ The majority of present Taras-
can towns has at least one cabinetmaker who
partially satisfies local demand for furniture. In
Paracho, Corupo, and Cuanajo—the Tarascan
furniture centers—carpenters make chairs, tables,
bed frames. Cuanajo is famed for its wooden
chests, which are marketed in all parts of Michoa-
cin. Most furniture is made from pine wood with
simple tools (saw, mallet, plane, chisel, gouge).
As mentioned above, chair and table legs are
turned on the wheel lathe (fig. 6). The more
common jointing techniques used include mor-

fp.

ES

Figure 6.—The wheel lathe, used by most Tarascan cabinetmakers for turning wood.

ticing and tenoning, housing, and dovetailing.
Some pieces are joined with wooden pegs; metallic
nails and screws are never employed.

Musical instruments.—The most sophisticated
of Tarascan woodwork is the manufacture of
stringed instruments in Paracho. This pueblo
has been the guitar towr of Mexico since colonial
times. In 1940 Paracho claimed 49 guitar makers
and three individuals who made violins (including
base viols). The art has spread to neighboring
Ahufran, where three men made violins in 1946.
Local woods—¢irimu, qaile, and palo blanco—are
used for the top and base of the guitars; for sides
and handles and inlaid designs walnut and cedar
are imported from Mexico. Some guitarreros
utilize local pine and fir for the tops of violins and
base viols. The wood is cut with a small saw
and planed to desired thinness. The top and
base are cut from a pattern; the side bands are
soaked and bent into place, being glued to the top
and bottom pieces and held in place with braces.
Strings and metal parts are assembled, and the
instrument is varnished and waxed, ready for the
ultimate consumer. Most guitarreros work on a
contract basis for Mexico City or Guadalajara
buyers, and many Tarascans have moved their
trade to the larger towns, mainly Mexico City,
where their products bring higher prices.

The age of the Paracho guitar work is not known.

The wheel ranges from 2% to 4

feet in diameter and is usually turned by a small boy.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—-WEST 69

1s first mentioned as an established industry in
the report of 1789 (AGN Historia, vol. 73, f. 344),
indicating that it had been introduced for some
time.

LACQUER WORK

Modern lacquerwork in Michoacén is closely
associated with wood carved with the adz and
lathe. Before the Spanish Conquest various
gourds (Lagenaria, Cucurbita, and Crescentia)
were lacquered with a varnish made from the
insect axin (Coccus axin) and chia (Salvia sp.)
This industry probably centered in the Balsas and
Tepalcatepec Basins (Brand, 1944, p. 60) and was
extended into the towns near the southern edge of
the Sierra, e. g., Peribin and Uruapan. After the
introduction of Spanish adz work during the co-
lonial period, lacquer was applied to wooden bateas
im Peribin, Zirosto, Zacin, Uruapan, and Patz-
cuaro. Bateas were painted, but not lacquered,
in Cucupao (Quiroga) and Santa Fé de la Laguna.
Today few Tarascans practice the art, the famous
bateas of Uruapan being lacquered by mestizos.
Some of the turned vases and bowls of Paracho
are finished with tung oil and synthetic lacquer
purchased in mestizo markets.

LEATHERCRAFT

Probably one of the first native Tarascan crafts
stimulated and expanded by the early Spaniards
was leatherwork. With the introduction of cattle,
Tarascan tanners were able to multiply leather
production, which formerly had been based on
deerskin, to meet the heavy Spanish demand for
saddles, halters, shoes (the famous ‘‘zapatos de
baqueta de mechoacdn’’).** Tanning was done with
local oak bark, as it is today (AGN Tierras, vol.
83, exped. 13). During the colonial period leather-
crafts were centered in the northern Tarascan
towns near the pastures and hide supply, and in
a few pueblos of the Sierra. The latter included
Cheran, Cherandtzicurin, Ocumicho, and Nahuat-
zen, which was one of the largest tanning centers

182 Fray Toribio de Molotin{a’s statement of 1540 on the Tarascan leather
industry is revealing: ‘‘Han deprendido a cutir corambres . . . son buenos
zapateros, que hacen zapatos y servillas [slippers], borceguias [high shoes],
pantaflos, chapines [wooden shoes with leather straps] de mugeres; . . . este
oficio comenzdé en Michoacan, porque alli se curten los buenos cueros de venados.
Hacen todo lo que es menester para una silla ginete bastos y fuste, coraza y sobre-
corazas. . .” (Motolinfa, 1903, p. 183). According to the Relacién de Micho-
acdn (p. 16) “‘cotares de cuero,”’ or leather sandals, were made for the caltzontzin
in pre-Conquest times.

in the Tarascan area.’ By the latter part of the
19th century leathererafts began to decline, and
today within the Tarascan area only Nahuatzen
(largely mestizo) continues to tan hides and make
saddles and other riding equipment. Some
Tarascan towns now boast of one or two zapateros
who make huaraches of imported leather for local
consumption. The principal huarache-making
centers are now the surrounding mestizo towns:
Coeneo, Zacapu, Tinguindin, Los Reyes, Uruapan,
Ario de Rosales.

METALCRAFT

Copper work.—The Tarascans were probably
the foremost metallurgists in pre-Columbian
Mexico. They worked gold, silver, and copper.
The precious metals were formed into ornaments
and disks, which the caitzontzin stored on the
islands in Lake Patzcuaro; useful objects, such
as axes, coas, and spearheads, were made of
copper (Relacién de Michoacdén, pp. 104-109,
122-123). Although definite archeological evi-
dence is not yet at hand, it is probable that the
Tarascans purified native copper and extracted
metal from simple oxide ores by smelting (Hend-
richs, 1940, p. 327). From cursory inspection
of copper artifacts extant in the Museo Regional
Michoacano, Morelia, it appears that Tarascans
cast copper objects (axheads) in stone molds.
After casting, the axes seem to have been further
shaped and possibly hardened by hammering.'*®
Accidental, rather than deliberate, alloying with
tin and zine probably occurred.

The Tepalcatepec and Balsas Basins contained
the ancient copper mines and metallurgical sites.
Hendrichs (1940, 1945-46) has described several
probable ancient copper mines sites in both the

18 AGN Tierras, vol. 83, exped. 13; Zavala and Castello, 1939-46, vol. 7,
pp. 361-362; AGN Historia, vol. 73, ff. 178-179. The present northern Taras-
can towns of Zipiajo, Azajo, Companja, Tatejero, Tirindaro, Naranja, and
Teremendo were all producers of shoes and saddles in the latter part of the
18th and in the 19th century.

184 Beals (1946, p. 44) states that in 1940 one person from Aranza was tanning
hides in Cherin. The old men of Ocumicho remember the manufacture of
the black “‘zapatos de raquetas’”’ in their town during the last century. These
were sold throughout the Sierra as well as in surrounding mestizo towns.

185 The Lienzo de Jucutacato, a 16th-century representation of the migra-
tion of a people from the Gulf of Mexico into the Tarascan country (where
they learned metallurgy) clearly depicts smelting of ore or metal (probably
copper) apparently with the aid of charcoal and forced air draft (blowpipes)
at the ancient copper center of Jicalén (Jicalin Viejo), 20 km. south of Urua-
pan.

18 Microanalysis of Tarascan copperware has not yet been undertaken.
Until the results of such analyses are known, it is impossible to make definite
statements as to ancient metallurgical methods. Interestingly, the flange

shape of the modern Tarascan steel axhead is identical with that of the copper
axes found in archeological sites in the Balsas Basin.

70 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

southern and northern drainages of the lower
Balsas (Guerrero). However, the mines of
Inguardn in the northern drainage of the lower
Balsas in Michoacdin were the main source of the
metal. Smaller deposits, such as those of Sinagua,
were gophered over a wide area. The villages
of La Huacana, Jicalin, Sinagua, and possibly
Tzatzio appear to have been the chief pre-Colum-
bian copper refining centers.'”

Needing copper for the manufacture of brass
cannon, the Spaniards quickly levied tribute in
copper bars on various pueblos in the Balsas and
Tepalcatepec Basins. Later, adventurers (in the
name of the Crown) took over the native mines
at Inguard4n, probably introducing European
smelting techniques. The main 16th-century
Spanish smelting and refining center was Tzatzio,
10 miles each of Ario. This center was located
within pine and oak forests, which afforded raw
materials for charcoal, and was near the chief
highway from P&tzcuaro to the tierra caliente.
Copper ore and probably native copper was car-
ried by Indians to Tzatzio from the Inguardn
mines, which lay 15 miles to the south (AGN
General de Parte, vol. 5, ff. 311-313, 1601).
Tzatzio was probably an ancient copper center,
and the experienced Tarascan metallurgists were
retained by the Spaniards to continue with Euro-
pean methods. Before the end of the 16th century
the Spanish Crown had established an asiento
in the Michoacéin copper industry, in order to
insure a steady supply of metal for the foun-
daries in Mexico City.! Between 1607 and 1614

187 The Suma de Visitas, ca. 1540, state that the Spaniards exacted tribute
of copper bars from La Huacana and Jicalén (Paso y Troncoso, 1905, vol. 1,
pp. 123, 294). Moreover, every 20 days 20 Indians of Coyuca carried copper
bars to Mexico (ibid., p. 80). Coyuca, located near the confluence of the
Balsas and Cutzamala Rivers, may have been a collecting point for small lots
of copper refined in various pueblos of the middle Balsas drainage. At the
end of the 16th century copper was still being mined, refined, and made into
tools at Sinagua (Mus. Nac., leg. 102, Rel. de Cinguacingo). Tzatzio was one
of the first Spanish copper smelting centers in the area, and was probably
an old Tarascan center as well (AGI Aud. de México, leg. 258). In passing, it
should be noted that the old La Huacana was located near the Inguar4n
mines. In 1759 the town was destroyed by the eruption of Jorullo, and a new
settlement, the La Huacana seen on modern maps, was established near
Tamacuaro 15 miles west of the old site (AGN Historia, vol. 73, ff. 392-394)

188 Under the asiento, or contract, system, control of various industries was
farmed out to private individuals. In the ease of the copper industry of
Michoacin, administrative control was purchased from the Crown for 6-year
periods. The administrator was obliged to furnish the Government a stipu-
lated amount of copper annually at a fixed price. In 1599 an official survey
was made of the copper industry in Michoacin. The surveyor recommended
that owing to forest depletion around Tzatzio and the consequent difficulty
in charcoal supply, refining operations should be moved to Ario, near abun-
dant pine forests (AGI Aud. de Mexico, leg. 258). It is doubtful that this
move was made, since in 1607 copper was still being refined at Tzatzio (Zavala
and Castello, 1939-46, vol. 6, p. 166).

official copper refining operations had shifted 20
miles northward to Santa Clara (Villa Escalante),
which has remained the copper center of Michoa-
cin to this day (AGN Mineria, vol. 22, exped. 3).
In addition to copper bars for the royal artillery,
the colonial administrators established the manu-
facture of caldrons and other copper vessels,
which they sold to all parts of New Spain (AGN
Historia, vol. 73, ff. 389).1 Colonial copper
production, however, was not limited to the royal
refineries at Santa Clara, for as late as 1789
braziers were still being made by native copper-
smiths at Jicalén (AGN Historia, vol. 73, f. 366).
Moreover, some copperwork was done in Pa&tz-
cuaro throughout the colonial period.!

Today the sole survivors of the former Tarascan
copper industry are some 30 mestizo copper-
smiths in Santa Clara, where the renowned casos
(caldrons), vases, and bowls are still manufac-
tured. Ore or native copper is no longer refined;
instead, scrap copper is purchased, melted down,
and cast in earthen molds. Sixteenth-century
hand bellows are still used to force an air draft;
charcoal is employed for fuel. The cast vessel is
finished and hardened by alternate annealing and
hammering.

Ironworking.—With its concomitant tools (bel-
lows, hammers, anvils, tongs, etc.), ironworking
was introduced into Tarascan economy early in
the 16th century. Curiously, one Sierra village,
San Felipe de los Herreros, became the foremost
ironworking center of Michoacén during the
colonial period and the early 19th century. In
1644 bridle bits, spurs, locks and keys were
fashioned and marketed in surrounding Spanish
and mestizo towns (Basalenque, 1886, vol. 1,
p. 467). As late as 1851, 68 families (practically
the entire town) were professional smiths, supply-
ing the countryside with plow tips, hoe blades,
axheads, woodworking tools, etc. In 1946 three

169 During the 17th century Tarascans from all parts of Michoacin were
forced to work in the Inguara4n mines and the fwndiciones at Santa Clara.
Most of the fundidores came from the tierra caliente and from the tierra fria
towns of Zirosto and Patzcuaro (Zavala and Castello, 1939-46, vol. 6, p. 166;
vol. 7, p. 240). In 1789 there were 8 copper refineries at Santa Clara, each
operated by 30 to 40 men (AGN Historia, vol. 73, f. 389).

160 The Relacién de Patzcuaro of 1581 (p. 47) mentions “‘herreros y calderos.””
Basalenque (1886, vol. 1, p. 451), writing in 1644, states that copper bells were
made in Patzcuaro. As late as 1862 (Romero (1862, p. 7) writes of PAtzcuaro
coppersmiths, who were refining ore from Inguarén and Churumuco. Several
new copper deposits in Michoacan were exploited during the last quarter of
the 18th century, e. g., the mines of Apupato, near the old site of Urecho
(AGN Historia, vol. 73, f. 888) and those of Chirangangueo, near Tusantla,
south of Zitacuaro (AGN Mineria, vol. 62, exped. 1; Martinez de Lejarza,
1824, p. 92).

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—-WEST al

old smiths, who work at their trade only part
time, represented the remnant of a once thriving
home industry.

The former source of metal for the San Felipe
smiths is problematical. According to a local
informant, during the 1880’s ‘“‘planchas de hierro”’
were brought in from Cotija, a muleteer and trade
center having close connections with the tierra
caliente and the Sierra of Guerrero. This infor-
mation points to Coalcomén in the Sierra Madre
del Sur of Guerrero as the principal source of
iron. Other ironworking towns of Michoacan
include Irimbo and Nahuatzen. Mestizos in the
latter pueblo fashion knives and machetes.

STONECUTTING

Stonework among modern Tarascans is limited
to approximately 12 metate makers in Turfcuaro.
Formerly this village was noted throughout
Michoacdn for the high-quality metates (iaudn),
manos (poaékua), and molcajetes (Stiimatakua)
carved from a fine-grained andesite (¢akaépu
amiakiti, or “good stone”), found near the summit
of the composite voleano Kandkuarani (Cerro de
la Corona) nearby. Since the introduction (ca.
1925) of the engine-powered nixtamal mills in
mestizo and larger indigenous towns, demand tor
new metates has sharply declined.!®

Metates and molcajetes are roughly shaped at
the quarry on Kandkuardni and are carried down
to the pueblo on burro for finishing in the stone-
cutter’s house. Stone is worked with steel tools,
e. g. the pick (pikua) and sledge hammer (pikua-
k‘éri), and is finished with a polishing stone (jand-
mu). Several sizes of metates are made and sold to
traveling merchants who pass through the town.

TRADE AND TRANSPORT

The structure of trade among the Tarascans is
not dissimilar to that of most Indian groups of
central Mexico. Although every settlement has
at least one store where general merchandise can
be purchased, most trading is done at the tianguis,
or market, held regularly in the larger towns.
Throughout the area professional traders—huaca-
leros (who carry merchandise on their backs),
arrieros (who haul products on the backs of
burros), and lately, wholesale buyers from the

16t According to local informants, in 1912 practically every family in the

village made metates. Since that time most of the villagers have turned to
woodwork (mainly bateas).

large mestizo towns (who ride in trucks and
busses) —all serve as distributing agents.

The market (uasajpikuagu, or ‘‘the place where
people sit’’).—Sunday is the most important
market day for the Tarascans.'” Large groups of
Indians from neighboring pueblos flock to the
regular markets held in the large mestizo towns
within or on the edge of the Tarascan area. Since
colonial times Paracho has been the largest
Indian commercial center of the Sierra. To the
south Los Reyes and Uruapan are the exchange
centers for tierra caliente and tierra fria mer-
chandise."* A lesser number of Indians attend
the northern market towns: Zamora, Tingiiindin,
Purépero, Zacapu, and Chilchota (the commercial
center for the La Cafada pueblos). Generally
speaking, each large Sunday market draws upon
a certain Indian area defined by a walking or
riding distance of one day or less (map 21). On
occasion, however, the Pétzcuaro or Uruapan
tianguis is visited by Indians who live more than
1 day’s travel away. In the Sierra often the
entire family attends the regular market, leaving
Saturday with handicrafts or farm products
(usually fruit, chickens, or eggs) packed on
burros, and arriving at the plaza at night.!*
Sunday morning is a time of brisk trading. By
afternoon most of the traders have sold their
wares, purchased supplies, and have departed for
their respective pueblos. The Lake Patzcuaro
fishers got to market in boats, carrying fish and
vegetables to Patzcuaro, Erongaricuaro, and
Quiroga to trade for maize, wheat, and firewood.

Lesser markets are regularly held in a few
smaller Indian towns. For example, there is
a Sunday market at Charapan, attended by
people from Cocucho, Urapicho, Corupo, San
Felipe, and Nurio. On Saturdays and Mondays
there is some commercial activity in Cheran, as
professional traders pass tbrough the town going
to and coming from the Sunday Uruapan market
(Beals, 1946, p. 80). Again, on Thursdays

182 An important exception is the Pétzcuaro market held on Fridays and
Sundays. A minor fish market occurs also on Tuesdays.

163 Formerly Peribin was one of the largest tierra caliente—tierra fria markets
in Michoacan, but since the close of the colonial era it has ceded most of its
trade to Los Reyesnearby. Important fiesta markets are still held in Periban
however.

164 Within the last 8 years the pueblos along the Uruapan highway have
ridden busses or taxis to market. Since 1943 similar transport has been
extended to Charapan, Zirosto, and intermediate pueblos. Moreover, during
the dry season lumber trucks haul loads of men and women from some Sierra
towns to mestizo markets.

7

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO

72

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CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 13

professional traders gather at Patamban to buy
pottery for the various Sunday markets.

Besides the regular weekly markets, in practi-
eally every village lively trading accompanies the
annual religious or semi-religious celebrations. In
some instances such markets are large enough to
be termed fairs. Commercially, the most im-
portant of the annual fiestas is the pueblo’s saint’s
day, attended by traders and villagers from miles
around. Other fiesta markets occur during the
Corpus Christi, Easter, and Christmas celebra-
tions. Often a particular village, such as San
Juan Parangaricutiro, holds special religious (and
commercial) festivals to honor a special saint or
miraculous event.!®

Trading in the market is done mainly on a
monetary basis. Little outright bartering takes
place. An interesting exception occurs at Erong-
aricuaro, where wives of fishermen exchange
baskets of fresh or dried fish for piles of firewood
carried in from the Sierra. Another instance of
barter takes place at the Patamban market; there,
women from the Pamatdcuaro ranchos trade
tamales for pottery and fruit.

The market takes place in the town plaza, and
when the number of traders is exceptionally large,
some sellers are crowded off into adjoining streets.
Each vendor pays the municipal authorities the
piso de plaza, or tax for the use of a small selling
space on the sidewalk. By custom, stalls are
segregated according to the type of article sold,
pottery being dispensed in one section of the plaza,
foods in another, etc. (pl. 14). (See illustration
of Chilchota market in Beals, 1946, p. 84.) Ex-
cept in special markets, such as Patamban, the
number of merchants of fruit and vegetables ex-
ceeds all others. (See Beals, 1946, p.82.) More-
over, in the large towns professional mestizo
vendors of factory-made clothing, hardware, ete.
are numerous, while the Indians selling handicrafts
are relatively few. The P&tzcuaro, Erongarf-
cuaro, and Paracho markets, on the other hand,
are composed of a much larger percentage of
native traders.

The village stores.—Almost without exception
every Tarascan village boasts of at least one store

165 Of interest are the Palm Sunday (Ramos) fairs held in Periban, Zamora,
Uruapan, and Patzcuaro. Exchange of tierra caliente and tierra fria products
is particularly significant at these markets.

166 At the Ramos fair at Periban (April 14, 1946) at least three-quarters of
the selling space was occupied by tropical fruit vendors and sellers of factory-

which handles mainly staple food imports (salted
dried beef, dried fish, salt, piloncillo, lard, beans,
and wheat flour) and beverages (soft drinks, beer,
and hard liquors). A small assortment of canned
goods can be purchased in the stores of the larger
towns. Often other items, such as cigarettes,
kerosene, and metal household ware, are carried.
In the small villages stores are customarily oper-
ated by well-to-do Tarascan families, often by the
wife and children, while the man farms.'*” In the
large pueblos the storekeepers are usually mestizos
who have moved in from neighboring towns.!®
Significantly, the infiltration of Spanish-speaking
storekeepers into indigenous towns often repre-
sents one of the initial steps toward hispaniciza-
tion of the native population.!”

The professional traders.—The huacalero (in-
spikuuiri, or ‘‘one who trades”) represents the last
vestige of the ancient Indian carriers (tamemes),
formerly important agents of distribution throvgh-
out Mexico. Few such traveling merchants, each
of whom carries his wares in a wooden crate
(huacal, képartakua) tied to his back, remain;
the majority have been displaced by burro and
motor transportation. As late as 1900 large
numbers of Tarascan huacaleros from many
Sierra villages carried handicrafts into the Balsas
Basin, the coast of Guerrero, and Colima and
returned with tropical fruit, salt, and cheese.
Today about 15 huacaleros operate out of Pama-
tacuaro, carrying locally made wooden spoons
and bateas, Patamban pottery, morrales from

made goods from Zamora, Guadalajara, Morelia, and México. Regional
handicrafts were represented as follows:

Article: Origin Vendors (number)
Blankets 222-2 2222 --5-- Gharapan=<_ 27 - ssssae- 10 walking vendors.
BlanketSis-ss-------=- PAQUIN SNe se aeeaeeeee a= 1 stall.

Rebosos: ss. sass 4235 Paracho 1 stall
Women’s belts__--_---- Nahuatzen_--- 1 stall
Strew. hats: 2-:__=-.-<:- IADOs -222c8-s5-<scs-hoe 1 stall.
Agave TOpe222_- ===. Tarecuato: = 222. sssc-5 2 stalls.
Otter yee aasesccsen= Patamban_--.- = 12 stalls.
Pottery - Santa: W622 2------- 1 stall.
Pottery2--20-2-2-22.-=- San Juan Tlaquepaque 1 stall.
(Jaliseo).
Wooden tops-__-------- Paracho-se. sete ecc ons 1 stall.
Wicker baskets___-.__- Tangamandaplo- 1 stall.
iuaraches*-.2-2sso=-2- Los Reyes--.-- - 8stalls.
Hiuarachess..-2==------ PeribSn'2=.- sfecs2c ss 1 stall.

167 Chern, as Beals points out (1946, p. 79), is unique in that, although it is
the largest Tarascan town, the storekeepers are Tarascan.

168 For example, although Tarecuato is almost wholly native in speech,
its three or four stores are operated by mestizos. Merchants of Paracho,
Patamban, and Nahuatzen are all mestizos.

169 Apart from its distributive function, the village store (mestizo or in-
digenous) frequently serves as the only readily accessible publie place where
a stranger may introduce himself and ask questions about the town. Except
in the municipal seats, the town officials, all of whom hold nonremunerative
posts, are rarely found in the jefetura. or tow hal!

74 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

Tarecuato, and medicinal herbs of the Sierra to
Colima, most parts of Jalisco, the tierra caliente of
Michoacén and Guerrero. Tropical fruits make
up most of the return load. A few professional
carriers haul pottery from Santa Fé to Quiroga
and, at times, to Morelia. Huwacaleros from other
towns have practically disappeared.

Although they do not use the large hwacal,
many women of the Sierra devote most of their
time to carrying various products to the sur-
rounding mestizo markets. For instance, the
women of the Pamatscuaro ranchos (Uringuitiro,
Tierra Blanca, etc.) carry ocote splinters, wooden
spoons, and tamales to Zamora, Chilchota,
Patamban, and the Lake area.’ Again, some
women of Corupo collect eggs and chickens from
surrounding towns and take them to the Sunday
market at Uruapan.'”!

’

The arrieros, or the “mule-skinners,”’ in spite
of inroads of motor transportation, still account
for a large part of the interregional trade in
Michoacdén. Mule and burro transport came into
use on a large scale in New Spain after the forced
services of the tamemes were restricted in the last
half of the 16th century (Spain. Law, Statutes,
ete., Lib. VI, tit. 12, ley 6-10). Indians, however,
were slow to adopt animal transport. Even in
the latter part of the 18th century the majority
of the muleteers operating in Michoacan were
Spaniards or mestizos, who hired Indians as
helpers. By 1789 some Tarascans owned mule
or burro trains in Cherdén, Urapicho, Angahuan,
Charapan, and Pomacuarin (AGN Historia, vol.
73). Even today the greater part of the arrieros
operating in the Tarascan area are mestizos with
headquarters in some of the northern towns.

170 During such trips the women of these ranchos may be gone from their
households for 3 or 4 days. In their absence housework is done by the child-
ren or the men, who rarely travel.

1 Such rounds may last a week. The women visit Charapan, Zacan,
Ziristo, Pamatacuaro on certain days, returning to Corupo by Friday, and
arrive at Uruapan Saturday evening. Eggs are carried in a small crate held
on the back with the ayate. Six or seven chickens are tied on the top of the
box, and, in addition, many women carry one or two fowls in their arms.

fria.

Like the huacalero, the arriero in the Tarascan
area has functioned chiefly as a commercial inter-
mediary between the tierra caliente and the tierra
During the colonial period, however, some
mule skinners extended operations into the north-
ern mining districts. Moreover, various mestizo
towns in Tarasca became arriero centers—strategic
points along the main routes where mule trains
met, animals were sold and traded, supplies pur-
chased, and merchandise exchanged. Such towns
became residences of many muleteers. <A series
of these centers lies within the tierra caliente and
includes Apatzingin, Huetamo, and Coyuca.
Another series is located within the tierra tem-
plada: Uruapan, Ario, Tac4mbaro. Other centers
are found in the tierra fria: Cotija, and, formerly,
Parangaricutiro and Jiquilpan. Most of these
towns still function as arriero centers, and although
motor transportation is continually replacing the
mule and burro, some of them will continue to
serve as way stations for fuel and repairs and
collecting points for products carried out by
trucks.

Since the construction of motor roads in many
parts of Tarasca, former arrieros and huacaleros
have begun to use public busses and semipublic
trucks to transport merchandise. Pottery vendors,
for example, stand for hours along the highway,
hailing through-trucks to take them and their
goods to Guadalajara, Morelia, or Mexico City.
Moreover, heavy sugar and cascalote trucks now
operate from Uruapan, Patzcuaro, and Los Reyes
into the tierra caliente.

The wholesale buyers represent a modern type
of merchant, who with the advent of road con-
struction have begun to penetrate into the
Tarascan area. Grain dealers from Morelia,
Zamora, and Uruapan now run their trucks into
the Sierra towns to buy surplus wheat. Again,
many woodworkers in Paracho are on contract
to city wholesalers for turned work and guitars,
which are collected at intervals in trucks or pas-
senger cars.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 15

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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ff. 227-236. Idea del Estado en que
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ff. 285-405. Ciudad de Pazquaro y
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2. (AGI)

3. (AGN)

Mineria, vol. 22, exped. 3. Autos que
sigue el Asentista de cobres de este
reino . .-., 1735.

Vol. 62, exped. 1. Sobre informar a

S. M. el numero de minas de cobre

que se le laborean en este R®°, 1801.
Tierras, vol. 64, exped. 3. Descrepcion y
Visita del p° de Tingambato ... 1599.

Vol. 83, exped. 13. Prouisse™ de lo
determinado en el pleito quen en esta
R! aud® en tratado de los indios del
pueblo de sant frane® cheran con los de
naguatzin sobre la propiedad de unas
tierras de pedim*t® de los de cheran,
1625.

Vol. 867, exped. 8. Titulo original y
congregacion. cheranhatzicurini. Ju?
de pasquaro, 1519 (in Cheranatzeurin
contra Aranza, por tierras, 1760).

4. (Mus. Nac.) Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico,
DUE:

Leg. 99, No. 33. Relacién del Pueblo de Santa
Maria Magdalena de Cuitzeo de la Laguna,
ff. 284-290.

Leg. 99, No. 58. Relacién de la Villa de San Miguel
de Charo Matlalzingo, ff. 484-489.

Leg. 102, Relaciones geogrdficas de la Didécesis de
Michoacan 1579-81. (Transcripts of original
documents by Paso y Troncoso.)

Relacién de Xiquilpan, ff. 2-8.

Relacién de Chocandiran, ff. 8-13.

Relacién de Tarecuato, ff. 13-17.

Relacién de Peribdn, ff. 17-24.

Relacién de Necotlan, ff. 25-26.

Relacién de Cuiseo de la Laguna, ff. 27-37.

Relacién de Chilchota, ff. 52-72.

Relacién de Sira4ndaro y Guaymeo, ff. 73-78.

Relacién de Cuseo, ff. 78-80.

Relacién de Acdmbaro, ff. 83-90.

Relacién de Cinguacingo (Sinagua), ff. 94-95.

Relacién de Tinguindin (Chocandiran), ff. 96-
101.

Coleccién Gémez de Orozco, vol. 1.
Relacién de Querétaro, 1582.
Relacién de Taneftaro, 1580.

PRINTED MATERIALS

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76 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7

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1946 a. Maize in Mexico, a preliminary survey. Mo.
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1946 b. Report on maize from Cherdn. Jn Beals,
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Brats, Raupu L., Carrasco, Pepro, and McCork te,
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1944. Houses and house use of the Sierra Tarascans.
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BEAUMONT, PABLO DE LA PurisimA CONCEPCION.

1874. Crénica de la Provincia de los Santos Apéstoles
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Branp, Donatp D.

1944. An historical sketch of geography and anthro-
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BuEN, FERNANDO DE.

1941. El Micropeterus (Huro) salmoides y_ los
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1943. Los lagos michoacanos I, Caracteres generales.
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Escospar, Matias DE.

1924. Americana thebaida, vitas patrum de los
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Foster, Grorcre M.

1948. Empire’s children: the people of Tzintzuntzan.
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Henpricus, Pepro R.

1940. Datos sobre la técnica minera prehispdnica.

El México Antiguo, vol. 5, pp. 311-328.

1945-46. Por tierras ignotas. Viajes y observaciones
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Mexico, D. F.
Lrén, Nicoris.
1904. El ilmo. Sefor Don Vasco de Quiroga, primer
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LumMHo.LtTz, Cart.
1902. Unknown Mexico. 2 vols. New York.
ManceEtsporr, P. C., and Camron, J. W.
1942. Western Guatemala a secondary center of
origin of cultivated maize varieties. Harvard
Univ. Bot. Mus. Leaflets, vol. 10, pp. 217-
250.
Martinez DE Lrsanrza, J. J.
1824. Analisis estadfstico de la provincia de Michua-
c’in en 1822. Mexico, D. F.
Martinez, JUAN, ED.
1889. Descripecién de la ciudad de Pasquaro [1581].
Morelia Museo Michoacano Anales [época I],
ano segundo, pp. 41—48.
Martinez, MAxIMINo.
1945. Las pindceas mexicanas, vol. I. Anales del
Instituto de Biologia, vol. 16, pp. 1-345.
MEMORIA LEIDA ANTE LA LEGISLATURA DE MICHOACAN EN
LA SESION DE DfA 30 DE JULIO DE 1869.
1869. Morelia.

MenpizhBat, Micguet OrTHén DE.
1939. La demografia Mexicana: epoca colonial 1519-
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grafia y LEstadfstica Boletin. Vol. 48, pp.
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Mexico Ciry. Universtipap Nactonat, INsSTITUTO DE
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1945. ... El Parfeutin, Estado de Michoacan.
Mexico.
Mexico. SERVICIO METEOROLOGICO MEXICANO.
1939. Atlas climatolégico de Mexico.
Di F:
MituareEs Caro, A., and Manrecé6n, J. I., Ep.
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de notarfas de México, D. F., vol. 1 (1524-
1528). Mexico, D. F.
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ID Wage
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Visitas. Madrid.

Tacubaya,

Mexico,

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CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA——-WEST

Pf£REZ HERNANDEZ, JosE Marfa.

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1946. Informe sobre el voled4n de Parfeutin.
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1945. Crénica de la Orden de N. S. Padre San Fran-
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RELACION DE LAS CEREMONIAS Y RITOS, POBLACION Y¥
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1903. Morelia, Mexico.

ReELAci6N DE MicHoacdn.
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RELACION DE PAtTzcuARO.

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a

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PLATE 1.—Physical landscape. a, Portion of a Sierra basin near Arantepacua. 6, Southwestern part of Lake Patzcuaro; Jaracuaro Island and newly formed
Pastora Island, upper center. c, Cultivated floor of cinder cone crater near Charapan. d, Lake Patzcuaro, looking northward; note voleanic islands in
middle of lake and the Urandén Islets immediately off shore. e, Mixed pine-oak forest at edge of maize field, Char apan. f, La Canada, looking westward,
or down valley.

PLATE 2.—Water supply and settlement. a, Wooden aqueduct at Pamatacuaro, which brings water from the local spring (center) to the outskirts of town.
», Hoisting water from one ofthe public wellsin Charapan. c, Street in Ihuatzio, Lake Patzcuaro. d, Panorama of San Jeronimo on Lake Patzcuaro, show-
ing compact assemblage of adobe structures. e, Partial view of Zacdn near Paricutin Voleano (background), showing grid street pattern, scattered dwellings,
and large lots. f, Los Conejos (San Juan Nuevo), founded in 1944 to house refugees from destroyed San Juan Parangaricutiro. Nearly all trojes were trans-

ported from old San Juan and reassembled on the new site. g, Street scene, Charapan (Sierra). h, Street scene, Tirindaro, Zacapu Basin. i, Plaza at

Charapan

PLATE 3.—House types. a, Front view of troje from inside house lot, Quinceo. b, Back view of troje from the street, Sicuicho. Notethe plank wall (¢ar¢éakata)
to left of house. c, Elaborately carved door, Charapan. d, Planks housed in L-shaped cornerpiece, Cuanajo. e, Notched plank ladder leading to lofto
troje, Charapan. f, Roofed gate, Sicuicho. g, Trojes at Pamatacuaro. Note rail fences.

=~

PLATE 4.—House types. a, Old log struc ture, Zacin. 6, Old wooden troje, Tirindaro. c, Adobe house at Apo. The floor plan and roof are similar to those
of the plank troje. d, Wooden house at Caltzontzin, the refugee pueblo east of Uruapan. These new structures are North American n appearance,
e, Abandoned adobe two-shed house, San Jeronimo, f, Street scene, San Jeronimo. The house at left with the high verandalike front is often seen in
Lake Patzcuaro towns.

—Maize culture. a, The Egyptian plow, still widely used in Mexico (Nurio). Note straight steel tip (reja) which slips over endpiece of plow
yoke and goad near end of tongue; leather strap used to fasten yoke to horns of oxen. 6, Planting maize near Caltzontzin. The first plow, which opens the
furrow, is followed by two small boys, who drop seeds at regular intervals. The second plow covers the seeds. c, Contour plowing near Cuanajo. Field
of youngmaize. d, Hillof maize and beansin hoe land near Chilchota. Plants are about 1 week old. Newly burned desmonte near Apo. Note wood ash,
which will be mixed with underlying soil. f, Platform on which maize fodder (rastrojo) is stored, An

PLATE 6.—Wheat culture. a, Irrigated wheat fields near Chilcota, La Cafiada. 6, Temporal wheat fields on the northern edge of the Sierra, near Tirindaro.
ec, Method of hauling wheat bundles to the threshing floor, Apo. d, Cutting wheat with the sickle, near Pichataro. ¢, Threshing wheat with flails, Sirio.
f, Threshing wheat in the era with horses, at Comanja. The carreta (right) is used in many parts of Tarasca to haul wheat bundles and maize fodder.

Se

2 Peas. ET

PLATE 7.—Horticulture and domestic animals. a, Large plowed ekudiu, San Felipe. Note anima]pen adjoining froje. b, Small patch of cabbage in house lot,
San Felipe. c, Vines of chayoteineckuaiu, Tanaquillo, La Canada. d, Irrigated vegetable plotsalong west shore of Lake Patzcuaro, near Arocutin. e, Ditch
well and palas (t‘aparatarakueca) used to lift water from ditch to irrigate fields. Near Uricho. /, Sheep grazing in harvested maize field, near Tanaco.

g,Herding sheep near summit of Cerro de Patamban. The flock is from the rancho of Uringuitiro. h, Bee hivesin house lot, Azajo.

cay
jnosnp eynregt [[wUs oy ‘G

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= 24 ke
See E i aed

PLATE 9.—Ceramics: Pottery making at Cocucho. a, Vessel being started from’a single daub of clay. The vessel is worked on top of the mouth of a broken
olla. 5, and c, Bottom portion of vessel being shaped. d, Piece of clay being rolled out on board. e¢ and f, Sides of vessel are built up by adding pieces of
rolled clay.

PLATE 10.— Ceramics: Pottery making at Cocucho (continued) gand h, Rolled pieces of clay are worked into sides of vessel. i, Sides of vessel are smoothed
with corncob. jand k, Lip of vessel being shaped. /, The finished olla. The vessel was made in about 25 minutes.

PLATE 11.—Textiles. a, Weaving cotton cloth for aprons on the native belt loom, Charapan. 6, Weaving women’s belts (fajas), Azajo. The belts vary in width
from 114 to3 inches, carry various designs, and each is of several brilliant colors. c, Weaving men’s sashes of white cotton thread, Janitzio, C ari is drying
on the petate, lower right. d, Weaving a mor of agave fiber, Tarecuato. e, Stretching woven pieces of agave fiber, Tarecuato. Each piece is doubled
over to make a morral. /, Weaving agave fiber on the belt loom, Tarecuato. g, Spinning agave fiber witb the malacate, Tarecuato.

7) Pe A
4 Pisgh en oe
i Rie FR Bg

aks aia

PLATE 12.—Textiles. a, A milpa of tule along the shore of Lake Patzcuaro, between San Jer6énimo and San Andrés. Many petate makers own their own milpas,

but sometimes portions of the brakes are leased to tule sellers, who harvest the reeds and distribute them to various villages around the lake. b, Harvesting
tule, Jaracuaro Island, Lake Patzeuaro. After partially drying in the sun, the reeds are bundled into manojas and stz 1in shocks. c, Weaving petates,
Thuatzio. Note the wooden mallet on the mat near the man’s hands. d, Making capotes, Arantepacua. Work is done je the kichen. Note the hearth,
lower left. Palm leaves are kept moist by dipping them in the batea of water at left. e, Embroidering a huipil, or blouse, Tarecuato. f, Baskets woven at
Ihuatzio. The large one (left), called @uite, is used to carry bread and fruit. It is usually transported on the back in the ayate. The flat round basket is
called ¢‘Akiata and is used to carry fish and tamales. The twilled basket is a tlascal (the Tarascans call it ‘‘tascile’’) for tortillas. The handled basket at
the right (simply named ‘‘canasta’’) is for carrying eggs, piloncillo, and often fish.

3.—Woodwork. a, Gouging tools, Pamatacuaro. 6, Wooden spoons and ladles, Pamatacuaro. c, Modern electrically powered lathe shop, Paracho.
urned objects made at Paracho. e, Cabinetmaker’s shop in house lot, Corupo. f, Making molinillos with the bow lathe, Paracho. g, Nest of wooden
boxes, Cuanajo. h, Small (2 feet high) folding chair commonly made in Cuanajo. i, Bateas made at Sirio.

1 ey wears

ao plainer

*LATE 14.—Markets and transport. a, The Sunday firewood and fish market, Erongaricuaro. The wood vendor at left has already bartered a pile of pinesticks

for a few fish in the basket
of burros bringing pimu palm leaves from the tierra

, Pottery section of the Sunday market at Uruapan.
caliente to Ario de Rosales

c, The bread section of the Erongaricuaro market on the plaza. d, A train
e, Boats from Janitzio landing on the mud flats at Erongaricuaro for the

Sunday market. /, Hauling disassembled chairs and tables from Corupo to the Uruapan market

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