Urban Professions in Mexico, 1917
Trades and callings are almost hereditary in Mexico. As one who has specialised in the subject of Mexican antiquities, I am inclined to believe that this is a remnant of…
From: Unknown To: 1917 C.E.
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Mexico of the Mexicans by Lewis Spence.
Trades and callings are almost hereditary in Mexico. As one who has specialised in the subject of Mexican antiquities, I am inclined to believe that this is a remnant of ancient caste practice, for there are signs that such was observed in Ancient Mexico. Thus if a man is a tailor, all his sons usually become tailors. The same thing applies to localities. Nearly every district has its industry—pottery, basket-making, cotton-spinning, or what not; and practically every soul in the community adheres to the local activity. Towns or villages situated close to one another do not compete in trade, but, as if by common consent, adopt separate industries.
Of the standard trades—the carpenters, masons, tailors, butchers—I do not intend to speak, as these display practically the same idiosyncrasies in all lands. It will be more to the purpose to describe those trades which are purely Mexican in character, leaving the more stately "industries" of the country for treatment in the chapter upon "Mexican Commerce and Finance."
And, first, the water-carriers. These are, in reality, persons of importance in a land like sunburnt Anahuac, where water is not "laid on” in the majority of dwellings, Water-carriers, but is brought to the capital in aqueducts, and distributed by carriers who earn from 50 to 75 cents a day.
The water-carrier is usually a staid, almost solemn-looking person, clothed in bronze-coloured garments of leather, which match his skin in hue, bearing on his back a large pig-skin full of "the element by which he liveth," suspended by a broad leathern band which he supports with his forehead and by the strength of his muscular neck. In front of him he carries an earthenware jug, which is not intended, as some imagine, to measure the fluid he sells, but which, alas, he does not himself patronise. It holds a smaller supply of water to balance the larger vessel, and the two represent his "load."
Perhaps "too much familiarity breeds contempt," and having earned his scanty pay, he hastens with it to that scourge of Mexico, the pulqueria, where he usually succeeds in "drowning remembrance of his watery toil." He has an odd way of keeping tally with the housewives with whom he deals. Along with the jars of water he hands them a small berry, and this at the week's end is redeemed at the rate of 1 ½ cents for each.
His antithesis is the pulquero or seller of pulque, who traffics the national beverage through the streets in large pig-skins. This he extracts twice a day from the agave plant. When it begins to put forth its high central flowering stalk, the core is cut out and a receptacle left capable of holding three to four gallons, into which flows the sap which should support the stalk. This is withdrawn by means of a long gourd and emptied into the pulquero's pig-skin. The pulquero usually wears a cloth jacket and low-crowned sombrero, and is clean, alert, and businesslike—as, by the way, are most people who deal in intoxicants!
The sale of tortillas in the streets is undertaken by the enchiladera, who is but the "middle-woman" between the manufacturer of the Mexican staff of life and the working classes. A woman will collect a small army of, say, a dozen assistants, who manufacture the tortillas, and it falls to the enchiladera to retail the dainties.
She usually establishes herself at the door of a pulqueria, where she dispenses the pancakes of maize-flour smoking hot, which she manages to do by spreading them on a chafing-dish. Sometimes she sells turn-over tortillas, in shape resembling what in Scotland are known as "Forfar bridles," and which contain meat and chili, or cheese and onions. These she retails at the extra-ordinary price of two for a cent and a half, and manages to make a profit out of the transaction!
Other lesser occupations abound. There are, for instance, the cateiteros, or wooden-tray sellers; the petatero, or seller of reed mats, at a medio or about threepence apiece, and used as beds by the very poor, of whom there are sometimes twenty sleeping in the same room. There are also the jaulero, or bird-cage sellers; the cedaceros, or sieve sellers; the canasteros, or basket sellers; and others who make and carry articles in huge loads from town to town, manufacturing and selling them on their way.
Then there are the cabazeros, whose street-cry is "Good heads of sheep hot!" the cafatero, or proprietor of a coffee-stand; the velero, or candle seller; the mereillero, or pedlar of hardware; the tripero, or vendor of entrails used as the casing for sausage meat; the pollero, or chicken seller; the escobero, or broom-corn seller; the nevero, or ice-cream seller; the mantequero, or lard carrier; and the pirulero, or seller of piru, a red berry used for feeding birds. There are men termed lenadores, whose lifetime is spent in gathering sticks, from which to manufacture charcoal; there are women called casureras, whose days are passed in gathering rags; and there are the lavanderas, or washer-women, of whom the better class wear a hat over the rebozo, while the rest go bareheaded.
Perhaps the most picturesque of the numerous street-vendors in Mexican cities are the flower and fruit sellers. The ancient Aztecs had a passion for flowers, and this they have bequeathed to their present-day representatives in full measure. The little stalls in the plazas are tastefully and sometimes lavishly decorated with the wonderful blossoms from the deep tropical valleys. But, oddly enough, these are seldom seen in the houses of the upper and middle classes, who appear to prefer the artificial abominations which, like stuffed birds and antimacassars, remind one unpleasantly of the unlamented Victorian age of domestic decoration in our own land. Flowers fade so quickly in the rarified atmosphere of Mexico, that this is perhaps the reason for their non-appearance in the apartments of the capital, except, perhaps, at dinner-parties and similar functions.
A fair type of the original Aztecs may be found among the boatmen and women who ply their trade on the Chalco canal, bringing into the capital flowers and vegetables from the remains of the floating gardens.
The boats are of two kinds: one resembling a canoe and usually managed by a woman; the other flat-bottomed, 6 or 8 ft. wide, 30 or 40 ft. long, and capable of carrying the produce belonging to two or three families. Many of the latter have a cabin in the middle, which forms the home of the occupants, where they work, eat, and sleep.
A great deal of vegetable-growing is done in the chinampas, or floating gardens as they are called. These are formed from mud and vegetable formations either upon the lakes or the canals. On the larger bodies of water they can be propelled across the surface by aid of a large pole. On the canals they are seldom larger than about a quarter of an acre, and some of them even support fair-sized trees. These gardens are cultivated the whole year round.
All through the night, every quarter of an hour, is heard the shrill whistle of the policeman. The force is well appointed, and with almost a military organisation, copied after the French system. The salary is $1 a day both for guardas, or day-watchmen, and serenos, or night-watchmen. The belated traveller is challenged by the officer as by a sentry with the cry of Quien va? ("Who goes there?") and must promptly respond Amigo! ("A friend!"). If further questioned, he must answer to the Donde vive? or "Where do you live?" with the name of his hotel or place of lodging. Then he is allowed to pass; but if the reply should be unsatisfactory, he is immediately arrested.
Cafe life, if it is not quite such an institution as in some European countries, is sufficiently a phase of Mexican existence to require some description. "Sylvani's" Cafe Life resembles the Cafe de la Paix in Paris. The Chapultepec Cafe, near the entrance to the park of that name, is the smartest in Mexico city, and is the resort of the cream of Mexican society on Sundays and high days. The scheme of the Mexican cafe, or restaurant of the better class, is uncompromisingly French. String bands discourse at most of these places of entertainment.
The cheaper cafes and restaurants, the resorts of the lower orders, provide cheap but tasty fare, practically every dish of which is so smothered in chilli sauce as to be almost uneatable to any but a native. The surroundings are rather crude and the service perfunctory, but it is here that one sees a part of the real Mexico. The dish may be enchiladas, that is, tortillas containing cheese and onion or meat, served with radish or salad, and garnished with the eternal chilli sauce, the peppers of the chilli when green often actually being served stuffed with cream cheese! Or perhaps one may be treated to fried eggs and frijoles—also served with chilli accompaniments or "trimmins," needless to say.
Spence, Lewis. Mexico of the Mexicans. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1917.
About TOTA
TOTA.world provides cultural information and sharing across the world to help you explore your Family’s Cultural History and create deep connections with the lives and cultures of your ancestors.
