Zinacantoco Curing Roles (see B. Metzger, 1960). tee ese eecieere oat as Soper er a beet me oe Sme rece aS el ie prem te ee net hae te ete ses rnin en Fahne ts ft mihi up) cere ie vi mr ling ite win mnt sulted by Zinacantecos; and in some cases, these saints have represent Soe aE Soe ew Chapter four Economic and Social Aspects of Curing lv Ti1s cuarren we analyze the important social and economie char- ‘acteristics of hletik. This is accomplished by comparing male hioletie with 2 group of male laymen on a variety of relevant indicators that r= fleet achievement and wealth, The family backgrounds of hiloletik are also discussed. Some attention is given to the economic benefits and rawbacks associated with occupying the role of hilol in Zinacantan. In general, our analyses draw on survey information obtained from approximately 4oo households in Hteklum, ‘Apas, Patosil, Nachih, and. Vo'elYohvo’. The data from the fst three of these are more extensive, and for this reason we have focused on them comparatively. The ques- tionnaire used inquired about the names and ages of all occupants of a house, the background characteristics of the head of household, and: the cargo career and economic assets of the head of household, Economie Indices Gross household income. This figure was computed by adding all Sources of income. The following are the categories of information used and the rationale for each 3. Amount of com seeded in cold country, This was converted into income by multiplying the quantity seeded by two constants based on the midpoints of fluctuation in yield and price mentioned by informants, We have used an average yield of 1.5 fanegas for every cuarto seeded and an average price of $110 per fanega harvested; thus one cuarto ‘would yield $165 annual income, The procedure gives results close to those stated by Cancian in his discussion of the economies of Zi teco corn farming (F. Cancian, 1972).Economic and Sociel Aspects of Curing hot country. This was given a value of ased on considerations similar to 6 1. Amount of com seeded in I er evey svar ede $5 ac ccm itn ses pe faces were ions for transportation and hired labor. tice soumces of income forthe houschold head and any other contribu aemenbers ofthe domestic group. These were mostly entrepreneurial rats and wages in eash or kind, Careful questioning in each ease Tite the approximate annual value of such income in monetary terms. ig: Fruit oes. In some hamlets frit trees planted in sitios ae an im portant part ofthe domestic economy. Generally, however, fruit merely Fepplements a family’s det, adding litle or no cash income. We have Considered fewer than ten fut tees a negligible contribution. ‘Trees in frces often are counted at $10 each—an arbitrary estimate, but one ‘nase on th rough estimates tat informants were able to give Household liquid asets. We derived this figure by adding the follow- {ng two items 2 The toal value of any horses or mules owned by the household head, The consensus of our informants was that the average market vale of a horse was $30 and that of a mule SS0o. ‘2 The quantity of land owned by the household head. Land owned bya wife through her ovn inheritance was not counted as aliquid asset easured by the volume of com that canbe planted on athe than by arca, All responses, there fore, wer in cuartos that could be seeded and we have given one euarto the value of $500. er capita household income, Sine not all the persons resident in a house are necessarily part ofthe same domestic economy or dependent ‘on the gross household income, we use the following general guidelines. ‘Unmarried children are considered to he dependent onthe gross inc 4s areal other unmarried or obviously dependent persons living inthe ‘house (eg. grandparents, inlaws, and stray children). For married ‘children living in the parents’ house (almost always a married son living ith is fater), we tried in each ease to determine wether te yourgee ‘couple maintain common domestic economy with the rest ofthe house- old—that is the son and father farming together, and the mother and ede jointly preparing food from onmon sup. In ost vas the case and all in the house were counted as depen- Economic and Social Axpects of Curing conn Comparisons Between Hl nd Lay Howscholds s hoehcl ncome Hiehiun Pato Henschel ase: Hick on Rom Paton dlent on the gross income. When it was possible to separate the income ofthe parental generation from that of offspring living inthe same house, the gross and per capita income figures were calculated only for the senior household male and his immediate dependents. Holand Lay Households Je 4 compares the gross household incomes, liquid assets, and per capita incomes of biol and lay households in each of three samples. Al- though the configurations are by no means the same from hamlet to ham let, a general patter is discernible: h'ilo-headed households tend to be less wealthy in both assets and income than those headed by laymen. Before we discuss these figures in detail, it should be noted that the in- ‘come figures fr hilol-headed households do not include income derived from curing. A healer is paid by gifts of rum and perishable food and since these are unmarketable, they cannot be considered in the same manner as the cash and salable commodities on which the household in- come figures are based, although they obviously affect the economy of the hilol's household. Generally speaking, we ean regard the present figures as indicative of some economic disadvantage for the hiloletik. ‘Household assets. In all three samples the assets of hilo households are generally lower than lay households. In “Apas the lay average 24:3% higher; in Patosil and Hteklum the figures are 19 9.9% respectively. ‘The general tendency for hol households to possesse if ti sived = Our figures suggest that the average hill farms on a smaller scale in hot country, and plant and harvest less corn, ‘The reasons for this Economic and Sock Aspects of Curing st Wioletik in “Apes although they have a lower average gross Sncome than laymen, abo tend to have fewer dependentsa phenomence for which we have no explanation, ‘There was no strong association between the size of a howsehold group and whether or not the household head was ale But we have feed that Holt do tend to lve in smaller households (this trend is sep Ported by data cllectd in the controled stay reported in Chasers hich shows that Wloltk also have fewer children). The aereoe ois of Will and lay households, respectively, in our samples was: and 374'Apas;36and 42 in Htcklam; and 49 and 4 iv Patrol Since these vals do not reveal any striking pater, is difcut to telat houschold size to cconomie status. The potential role of famly size in determining family income ean obviously be viewed from tro opposing standpoints. Large families tend to lower average income by "sing the denominator in the per eapta income exlelation, But large families, when they contain tenage or older sons, are an economic ad Yantage insofar as they increase the supply of agricultural labor, We chose to examine the ater consideration by comparing the inomes of Wiloletik and laymen who had sons helping them in the elds, Howevee, our samples donot include consistent data on the ages of son, but spy state the number and sex ofa subject’ children. Thus we mut use the age of the household head to estimate the roloof children in family Income. Age 35 was arbitrarily chosen as th point a which i may be assumed that a man’s sons begin tobe of eaoomie value to im. A coms Parative tabulation ofa sample of cases revealed the samo average num ber of sons per household for bth hiloletikand laymen inthis age group, These data, then, ofr lite support for the hypothesis that ages of ci dren may account for difference in income. Ablebodied sons are undoubtedly an astet in farming activity, but stisby nomeans clear that they area major factor in determining wealth Cancio's detailed analysis ofthe activities of Zinacantec com farmers (F. Cancian, 1972) emphasizes that factors of ‘Management and in- herted assets are much more important than family size inthis It seems fair to say that with management skill, good luck, and capital resources (which may bea function of through astute borrowing, rather than a matter of Zinacanteco can be a successful agricultural Since management sil erucial to economic