Читать книгу Strange Peoples - Frederick Starr - Страница 7

Table of Contents

Though Mexico is our next-door neighbor, life and customs are greatly different there from our own. Three different peoples make up the population. First, are the pure-blood Spaniards, who have been born in the country; second, there are the Mestizos, mixed people, partly Indian, partly Spanish; third, are the pure Indians, who now form about five-twelfths of the whole population. From the City of Mexico northward the land belongs chiefly to the mestizos; from the City of Mexico southward Indians prevail.

We will say nothing of the Spaniards nor of the wealthy mestizos, both of whom are like European whites generally in their life. But the poorer mestizos in the cities and towns and the country people generally are interesting. The dress of the country gentleman was brilliant. It was of broadcloth or soft-dressed leather, of a buff or brown color. The little, close-fitting jacket, cut square at the waist, was supplied with two lines of silver or steel buttons, and embroidered with patterns in gilt or silver thread. The trousers fitted almost as a glove fits the hands, and there was a double row of bright buttons up the sides of the legs and a lacing of silver cord. The shoes, which were tan or buff, were sharp-pointed. Unfortunately this handsome costume is not common nowadays. All mestizos, rich and poor, still use the serape, which is a long and narrow blanket, usually of handsome, bright colors. In putting it on, one corner is held with the hand at the left shoulder, while the blanket is passed behind the back and around the body in front; the free end is then thrown over the left shoulder and hangs down behind. It thus holds itself in place and needs no tying or pinning. However poor a mestizo may be, he wants a fine hat or sombrero. Mexican sombreros have high, pointed crowns, and wide brims. They are made of palm or wool. Those of wool are of various colors—gray, brown, black, sometimes red, blue, or green. They are of all prices. They are decorated with bands of silver or gilt tinsel, and true silver ornaments are made in many forms for fastening to them; a fine sombrero, well made and well decorated, may weigh several pounds and cost many dollars.

The Mexicans are highly polite in manner. This is partly the result of Spanish training, but is also partly due to the old Indian fondness for ceremony. The movements of the hands and fingers by which they greet each other are graceful and pretty. Friends, meeting each other, warmly embrace. If a boy is spoken to by a gentleman he politely removes his hat and holds it while he is being addressed and while he answers. Should a stranger ask a little Mexican his name, with his hat off the boy would reply, giving his name and adding, “Servidor de usted, señor”—“your servant, sir.”

The houses of poor Mexicans are miserable. The walls are usually built of great sun-dried adobe bricks; there is but one room and that is small. There are no windows and but one door; the roof is flat and the floor is of dirt or stone. Generally there is no bed and there may be no table, and few if any chairs or stools. There are usually some rush mats in the corner, which are spread out upon the floor at night for sleeping on. There are always a brasero and a metate. The brasero is a little kettle-shaped earthenware stove, where food is cooked over a wee fire of charcoal. The metate is the grinding-stone, on which the woman grinds corn-meal.

The three common foods of the Mexican poor are corn-cakes, eggs, and beans—tortillas, huevos, and frijoles. The corn after being well soaked is ground on the stone; the woman, taking the lump of wet dough, throws it back and forth from one hand to the other, turning it as she does so around and around. In this way she shapes a flat, thin, round cake which she bakes upon a round pottery griddle. The eggs are usually fried, so are the black beans, a great deal of lard being used. Often they use no knives, forks, or spoons in eating. The corn-cakes themselves will be used in handling the eggs and in scooping up the beans. After thus serving as a fork and a spoon it will itself be eaten.

But rich people in Mexico have beautiful homes. The outside, on the street, is quite plain. The house surrounds a square court or space which is called a patio. Passing through a great doorway, one goes from the street into the patio. All the rooms of the house open on the patio, either directly or under pretty arched galleries or corridors. The patio itself may be planted with trees and shrubs bearing sweet flowers, and often there is a fountain at the centre, with goldfish in the basin.

Cages of birds are hung around the patio, or under the corridors, and the little captives delight with their brilliant colors or their sweet songs. Every one in Mexico keeps birds as pets, and you may see, even in the houses of the very poor, mocking-birds, doves, parrots, or clarins with their clear, whistling note.

Wherever there are real roads in Mexico, there you may see the quaint old-fashioned ox-carts with wheels often made from solid blocks of wood cut to shape. Two oxen are generally yoked to each, but when heavy loads are to be dragged, four, six, or even more are used at once.

A MEXICAN OX-CART (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).

MEXICAN WATER-CARRIER (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).

In Central Mexico water is precious, and in the cities special men make it a business to sell water from house to house. The water-carriers of different towns greatly differ in the form and size of the jars they use and in the mode of carrying them. In the city of Mexico, where they are becoming an uncommon sight, the man carries two water-jars of metal, one in front, one behind, hanging by straps from his shoulders and cap; in Guadalajara a number of round pottery water-jars are set into a sort of a frame mounted on a cart or barrow; in San Luis Potosi there are four oval jars set into a wheelbarrow with an enormous wheel; in Guanajuato they use great slender jars nearly as tall as the man himself, with a ring of wood at the bottom to hold them when they are set on the ground.

In the centre of every Mexican city or town of any importance is the plaza or public square. Sometimes this is surrounded by handsome buildings and laid out with care as a garden. Among orange trees laden with sweet blossoms and golden fruit, rose bushes, banana trees, there wind pleasant walks with benches in the shade, where rich or poor may rest. Usually at the centre of the plaza there is a band-stand where on certain evenings every week fine concerts are given.

The plaza is the pleasure-spot and gathering-place of all. To it flock venders of all kinds, with cakes, candies, fruits, sugar-cane, peanuts, toys, etc. Some of the wares are strange, and I am sure you could not guess them. There goes a man with a lot of pretty colored balls like wee toy balloons; they are red, white, blue, yellow; they are chewing-gum! There is another man with a great crumpled sheet of some whitish brown stuff; children flock to him with their coppers, and he cuts off pieces which they walk away munching; it is fried pigskin!

OTOMI INDIAN GIRLS (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).

Mexicans delight in holidays, and they celebrate a great many. The 2d of November, the day of the dead, is a great day. For several days beforehand thousands of strange toys have been offered for sale. Some are skulls made of sugar or clay; there are skeletons of various sizes and materials, corpses, funeral processions, grave monuments. These are all called “deaths.” When the day of the dead comes children expect to receive these strange presents. When they rise in the morning their first cry is, “Papa, mamma, give me my death.” There is a great excitement the day before Easter. All down the streets may be seen figures of Judas hung up above the heads of the passers. In the big cities there will be hundreds of them of all sizes and shapes. They are made of cardboard and paper, and have fireworks inside. At a certain hour they are all set on fire, and burn and explode at a great rate, much to the delight of the boys and girls. But these are only two of many occasions during each year to which little Mexicans look forward with delight.

We have spoken only of the mestizos. The Indians are also interesting. There are many tribes, all with their own customs, and many with their old languages still in use. In the State of Oaxaca alone there are fifteen languages still spoken. Among the many Mexican Indian tribes perhaps the Aztecs, Otomis, Tarascans, Zapotecs, and Mayas are the best known.