Ancient Maya Commoners

Chapter 2. Daily Life in a Highland Maya Community: Zinacantan in Mid-Twentieth Century

CHAPTER 2 Daily Life in a Highland Maya Community: Zinacantan in Mid-Twentieth Century evon z. vogt This chapter purposely focuses on Zinacanteco culture in the 1950s, when I first engaged in field research in the highlands of Chiapas in southeastern Mexico (Vogt 1994). The reason: it is being published in a volume on the culture of Maya commoners in pre-Columbian times, and I decided that the earliest systematic description I could provide of Zinacantan would be closest to the daily life of those ancient Maya commoners studied by the archaeologists. Now, a half century later, these Zinacantecos drive automobiles; keep their accounts with calculators; possess and utilize computers,TV sets, and cell phones; and engage in a varietyof economic enterprises that are a far cry from the subsistence maize farming I observed in the 1950s. Daily life for a Zinacanteco family ordinarily begins an hour or two before dawn when the father awakens and goes outside to urinate. He takes a reading on the predawn constellations rising in the east and judges when it is time to awaken the women of the household. This traditional time reckoning is amazingly accurate. A Zinacanteco who later possessed a watch and whowas interviewed in mid-July reported that Shonob (Pleiades) rises at 4 a.m. and Osh-lot (Orion’s Belt) rises at 5 a.m. (Vogt 1997). It is time to awaken the women because it will take them at least an hour to gently blow the smoldering embers into a fire burning on the floor-hearth inside the square thatched-roof house; give the maize kernels (which have been soaking in lime water on the fire during the night) a grinding on the mano and metate and bake the tortillas on the clay comal (round griddle) resting on three hearthstones in the fire (Figure 2.1); warm up the beans; boil the coffee; and have breakfast ready to serve the men just at sunrise, which comes quickly after a very short dawn at this tropical latitude of sixteen degrees north. 24 Evon Z. Vogt Figure 2.1. Zinacanteco domestic furniture Having watered and changed the grazing location of the horses or mules, which are carefully staked with a long rope to prevent their breaking into nearby fields of maize, the men are now seated on small wooden chairs or stools on the eastern side of the fire (the men’s domain toward the rising sun), wearing their woolen chamarras (ponchos) and warming themselves. Zinacantan is located in the highlands of Chiapas at an elevation of 7,000 feet, and it is always cold in the early morning. The women (including the mother, her unmarried daughters, and perhaps a recently married daughter-in-law or two) are kneeling on petates (reed mats) around the west side of the fire (the women’s domain toward the setting sun), forming the tortillas from the ground maize dough by slapping them back and forth between their hands (an unmistakable percussive sound in traditional Mexican communities) and then placing them on the comal, turning them, and removing them when cooked. There is usually a division of labor, with one or more of the women grinding while others pat the tortillas and place them on the comal. The tortillas are kept warm in a gourd container by the fire that is covered with a handwoven cotton cloth. The men (including the father, his unmarried sons, and perhaps a newly married son or two) are served first, accompanied by some eating rituals Daily Life in a Highland Maya Community 25 that constitute good etiquette in a Zinacanteco home. First comes a ceramic bowl of warm water with which to wash their hands; then a bowl to rinse their mouths. Next a bowl of beans is placed on the earthen floor before each man in rank order (i.e., the eldest man first, then next eldest, etc.) as the woman politely asks ‘‘Mi chave’ chenek’?’’ (‘‘Will you eat beans?’’). Next comes the gourd of warm tortillas with ‘‘Mi chave’ vah?’’ (‘‘Will you eat maize tortillas?’’). Finally, a cup of sweetened coffee is presented with ‘‘Mi chavuch’ kahve?’’ (‘‘Will you drink coffee?’’). In each case, the man will politely respond, ‘‘I will eat beans, thank you,’’ and so forth. A tiny dish of salt is always set down after the food, and each man sprinkles a bit on his beans before he takes...