THE CHILD’S WORLD IN OXCHUC by Nancy Moprano Sumario Después de describir el medio y Ia yida de Jos indigenas tueltales de Oxchuc en el estado de Chiapas, México, Ja autora del presente articulo, especializada en educacion de grupos indigenas, nos habla muy ampliamente de Jos aspectos edu- cacionales entre los nifios de esta comunidad. Abarca los as pectos psicolégicos, culturales y de aculturacién por la que est4 pasando Ja juventud estudiantil de Oxchuc. Su experiencia de dos aiios de trabajo entre ellos, le permite ofrecer datos como los siguientes: no tienen problemas de disaipima, siempre respetan al maestro, lo obedecen y se muestran arrepentidos si cometen una falta, pues creen que se han hecho actecdores de castigo por parte de Dios, al ir contra Ja costumbre de su. grupo; raramente son castigados por sus padres 0 precep- tores. Estos sélo se limitan a explicarles las implicaciones de su acto. Si algim nifio tiene que ser castigado, el medio mas comtin de hacerlo es limitindole la comida y Ja sal. Es raro que se Je pegue a un nifio. Las principales caracteristicas de la educacién y del mundo infantil de los indigenas tzeltales de Oxchuc, estin relatadas en este trabajo. Cabe recordar Ja frase que Carlo Antonio Castro pone en una de sus novelas en labios de un niiio tzeltal: “Cuando supe cémo pensar, tenia cnatro aiios de edad...” ¥ este articulo nos muestra e6mo Ios nitios tzeltales progresan admirablemente, desde esta edad hasta su mayoria, en el desarrollo de su pensamiento. High in the mountains of Chiapas, in Chiapas, in southern Mex- ico, lies Oxchuc. Its people, Tzeltal-speaking Mayas, scratch a liv- ing from the rocky soil, corn being the principal crop. Although many have been converted to Protestantism within the past decade, life continues to follow the ancient patterns for the most part. They live in wattle and thatch huts similar to those depicted in the ancient murals; some have gathered into small hamlets and villages, others scattered among the hills and mountains, close to their fields. The home sonsists of several huts standing in a yard and usually surrounded by a borad fence. One, about twelve feet squared, serves for sleeping quarters. It generally contains a sleep- ing platform, and perhaps a wooden trunk, Another, with wooden slats for walls, is the kitchen. The hearth, often no more than a few stones, stands in the middle. Along the walls are the water- jars and one or two low tables for holding the cooking imple- ments, What food is stored in the house is piled along the walls, left on the tables, or hung from the rafters. Most food is left in the field and picked as needed. Clothing and tools are also kept here, stored in the same manner as the food. Low stools, boards, or pieces of stone, serve as chairs. In the yard also stands a small528 América Indigena jow but for steam-bathing, the temazcal. All of these buildings have dirt floors. There may also be a pen or two for animals, The immediate family consists of the parents and their un- married children; if the father is particularly prosperous and not a Protestant, there may be a second wife with her youngsters. In the broader sense it consists of the clan, all those related through the male line; and living with the immediate family may be one or more relatives. But all who reside together comprise an economic unit, everyone who is capable of contributing his labor. It is this theme of work, the good worker, the hard worker, one’s earning power, which recurrs continually in the life of Oxchuc, and which plays a profound role in the education of the child. Within the home each participates as much as he is able, gain- ing recognition and respect accordingly. The atmosphere should be one of quiet industriousness, for noise, especially quarreling, invites the attention of the gods and may cause illness. One hears stories of domestic discord, separations, children going off to live with relatives, but these are rare. For the most part whatever an- noyances engendered by people living close together be, they are carefully guarded. It is only when influenced by alcohol that these emotions mayo come to the surface. The Catholics give a religious sanction to drinking and consume a great deal of alcohol; the Protestants are teetotalers, Food The typical day begins well before the dawing. The family gathers round the fire as the women prepare the corn, making a gruel (pozol) and waflers (tortillas). Breakfast consists largely of pozol; all may drink out of the same gourd, which is passed around among them. With the coming of daylight the men and boys set off for the fields, carrying their digging sticks, or to any of their other tasks. The women and girls stay closer to the home, cleaning, cooking, watching over their few domesticated animals, primarily sheep and chickens. By about ten o'clock they set out for water, to wash themselves and their clothes, to comb their hair, and to gossip. They return home laiden with the waterjars now weighing perhaps close to fifty pounds. The little girls, too, have their own smaller jars. These are carried on the back with a thong across the forehead. After the sun has passed the meridian another meal is eaten; this time it may consist of tortillas with a few beans or some leafyThe child’s world in Oxchuc 329 vegetable, and chile peppers. It is washed down with the ever present pozol, or, if the family can afford it, with coffee. The afternoon continues much the same as the morning, but now the women may have time to set out their weaving, the men to make net bags or fix their tools. In the evening another, lighter, meal may be taken. The corn and beans are put to soak for the morrow, and soon, one by one, the family roll themselves into their thin blankets, and so to sleep. Throughout the day the children, saye those at school, have followed in the footsteps of their elders and, aside from the very young, have kept to much the same tasks and hours. A child comes into the world surrounded by his family. If the father is at home, and he tries to be, it is he who assists during the delivery. If not, it is the other children or a female relative. Children are a part of this, as they are a part of all the other physical activities of the family. All eat together, often using the same gourd. They sleep together in the same bed or on the same boards, and cannot help but be aware of their parents’ love-mak- ing; it is often they who toilet-train the younger babies. These physical processes are a part of life, accepted as such, and although there are strong taboos against exhibiting the genitals in public, there are few of the conflicts and anxieties to which we are so prone. When not being carried or held the infant is placed in a small hammock, but most of the time he spends on somebody's back, his mother’s, sister’s, or that of any other female relative, held in place with a broad carrying-loth. Feeding is by demand. At the first whimper his mother swings him around to her breast, or he is hurriedly brought to her. She will continue nursing him until he is three or four years of age, sharing her milk among all her young children. This is the only dairy product the Oxchuquero will ever know. Although the infant spends much time in physical contact with another person, there is little show of affection. A young child may lean up against a parent or crawl up his mother’s back when he wants to sleep, but while he is not pushed away, neither is he fondled. 2 Before he has learned to walk he is diapered, and if he begins to urinate he may be held away from his carrier so as not to stain her. Once walking his only garment consists of a tunic or shirt, and now he will be pulled out of doors when he begins to eliminate, most often by a slightly older sibling; by imitation of his elders he eventually learns to what part of the yard to ga330 América Indigena These children develop physically more slowly than those of the United States. They begin to walk several months later; toilet training is accomplished somewhere during the third year; the first adult teeth come through during the seventh year. Aspects of Education At that age when children naturally begin to imitate those around them, these are not discouraged. The little girl is given her wad of dough, and so begins to play at making tortillas. The little boy is given his little stick, and begins to play at planting. Toddling after their parents and older siblings as they do all day, they have much chance to observe and imitate. The worker is respected. The ability to hold one’s own as an adult, economically, is the principal criteria for marriage. As the child is able, he begins to enter into the world of the adult, to take his place in society. This subtle respect is his reward. As he begins to take his place in society, so more and more is expected of him. At first it may be just the gathering of twigs for the fire or keeping an eye on a hel- pless creature, be it infant or animal; by the time he is eight or nine he will have begun to cover his personal expenses and pay for his clothing. A boy may work for another, grow some crop on his own, or sell firewood. A girl may sell her weaving; if she owns some hens the eggs are for sale; or she may enter domestic service with a Ladino (mestizo) family. Whatever they earn is theirs to keep or spend as they will. Actually there is little division of labor between the sexes, and none according to age as such; children take on new tasks as they are able. Women’s tasks tend to center in the home, men’s in the farming, but apart from the planting of the corn, which is the province of the men, and the grinding it, which is the women’s, few are the tasks reserved for either sex. Women haul the water, weave and sew, make some of the clay pots, and clean the house. Men plant, build houses, go to the distant plantations to earn a cash income. Beyond this anyone can do any task, and does, according to the need of the moment. Along with a child’s growing economic independence goes a growing freedom of movement. All travel is by foot, and there is nothing unusual in a child’s going off for a few hours or a few days, be it to work, visit, or attend a fiesta with his friends. Children seek out their own age-mates for companionship, much as do our own. Living, as they do, in small, isolated communities, the possibilities are limited. With clans being so few, the chancesThe child’s world in Oxchuc 331 are that a child’s friends will also be relatives, but he does not confine himself to his relations. These groups of boys or girls engage in many activities together when not working. They play together at the school house, they go off to market together, they attend the fiestas as a group. There is no seeking across the sex lines for companionship, but on trips a brother or sister may go along with a group of the opposite sex. As he is accepting of physical needs and activities, so the child is accepting of physical depravations. He comes from a perpetually hungry people. He may have meat only twice a year, and then the poorer cuts. Although the family own chickens, the ges are most often used for cash income. By our standards he is underslept. The family lies huddled to- gehtre on the rough board matress or on the floor, with only a palm mat beneath. Their bedding, often consisting of no more than one or two thin cotton blankets, is not enough to cover ail well, nor keep out the cold. No matter how accustomed, he remains a light sleeper. Infant mortality remains high, perhaps close to 20%, the prin cipal causes being intestinal disorders, Tespiratory infections, and contageous diseases. Those who survive are strong, their resistance to infection very high. They withstand cold and hunger without complaint. Indeed, few can afford any but the skimpiest of cotton garments, for an area where freezing fogs are common. Cold is ac cepted as just another part of life, not worthy of comment. Pain, too, receives little notice. This writer has seen little chil dren with large open cuts on their feet running about on the stones and in the mud, with nothing in the way of bandage or medication, and of course barefoot. But although the wound might be swarm ing with flies (again not worthy of attention), there was no in- dication of infection. Despite their many physical depravations, these children are far more active than our own, running about, climbing trees, seem- ing to take a far more energetic and exhuberent joy in life than ours. Traditionally, children were educated primarily through imita tion, and through the precepts and tales of their elders. Where the teaching of morality had to be implemented, it was through the threat of the displeasure of the gods; misbehavior might cause illness to oneself or some member of the family. But a child rarely has to be reminded of this, for it is so much a part of the life around him. One of the principal teachings is a respect for one’s elders. One becomes a fully participating member of the com-332 América Indigena munity on marriage, and gains prestige at the birth of every new child; the very words for mother and father are used as titles of respect. As a boy becomes older he will have the opportunity of serving his community directly through some public office. It is this, not money, which earns Prestige. But as one’s elders, includ- ing older brothers and sisters, are to be respected, so one must help care for the young. Food is shared among the siblings. At meal- time all eat out of one bowl, taking turns and passing the food around. This writer has seen children as young as five not eat a precious piece of candy until sure that their brothers and sisters had some, too. Personal property is not to be touched. Homes are not locked; theft is almost unknown. Life, too, is respected, a gift of the gods. While one may not be able to save it, it is not to be tampered with, except in the case of witches; one may not feed a dying animal, but neither will he put it out of its misery. But above all, it is the industious person who is repected. Life is simple, and by the time a child has reached school age he has had time to learn all the patterns and expectations of society. It is only when something new or unexpected happens that he must seek guidance. When a stranger comes among them, the children hide, but are soon pecking to see how their elders are reacting. Gaining in confidence, they may surround the stranger, but always from behind, silent, touching nothing, ready to flee if noticed. Addressed directly, they stand, eyes cast down, barely making their teplies audible. To an outsider they appear very, very shy; within their own community there is no need to deal with strangers, for there are none. Differences between girls and boys Little differentiation is made between boys and girls, as indeed, except im the sphere of public life, there is a basic equality of the sexes. All children are wanted and during the first years of life are treated alike. Gradually they tend to imitate more the parent. of their own sex and are encouraged in this, but as there is relati- yely little division of labor along sex lines, so there is little dif- ferentiation between the rearing of boys and girls. As the children grow older, at perhaps the age of seven, they tend to spend more time with their own sex group. There is a little superficial guard- ing of the girls; one should never go about completely alone, but her companion may be no more than an infant carried on the back. Girls tend to center their activities more on the home, butThe child's world in Oxchuc 333 then, so do their mothers. They are as free as the boys to earn money, to take themselves off to a fiesta or for any other purpose. It is only in public that there appears to be a sharp difference in sex roles, although never as sharp in Oxchuc as in some neighbor ing municipios (townships), such as Chamula or Zinicantan. Public office is reserved for men. But women are able to reproduce and suckle the young. A father will rarely carry his children in his arms while walking through the market. Approaching the prin- cipal village, he may walk ahead of his family. But he will carry his share of the burdens. On the road there is no special order for walking, and he will help carry the little children. He will often consult his wife, right in the market place, before making a purchase. Within the home the woman surrenders none of her economic independence upon marriage, which is, more than any- thing, a partnership between the two mates and between their families. Goldstein + has suggested that people of a folk society, such as Oxchuc, have what he calls a “concrete” personality, one that is mot so much compulsive as it is accustomed to deal with only well patterned situations, where the correct reactions have been learned early in life, and where there is no need to train oneself for dealing with the unknown or with working out much abstract philosophy. Indeed, the people of Oxchuc are well integrated with their environment, and feel secure within it. From their first mo- ments there is a place for them, and easily, largely through imita- tion, with few or no conflicts, they learn their role. Conflicts ap- pear to be barely a part of their life, at least on the surface. People living close together may tend to generate at least small differences, but in his first years a child learns that any expression of aggres- sion invokes the wrath of the gods. Whatever hostility the children do express is under the guise of play, with mild forms of tag and wrestling, And here, as with the adults, the aggression is seen largely in inter-personal relations with seemingly no connotations of internal pressures. Physical processes engender no conflicts, at least among the children (the men express some anxiety about their virility). The physical depravations which they experience are paid no more notice than the pleasanter sensations. Eating receives slightly more attention than other processes, and has a ritual role in festivals. But the emphasis given food is much less than among ourselves. Drunkenness is equated to a godly state of being, but the very rapid conversion of large nembers of people to a teetotaling sect of Protestantism is an indication of its relative unimportance in the fibre of life.334 América Indigena With seemingly less cause for ageression these appear to be genuinely less aggressive people. And with fewer internal conflicts, it becomes easier for a person to isolate the cause of his anger. Frustrating situations are avoided as much as possible, but when they must be encountered, as in contacts with the often hostile Ladinos, a person prepares himself ahead of time and afterwards appears to have much less to express. Anger is most often ex- perienced as a feeling of sadness. When some thirty youngsters were asked how a boy might feel if, while reaching for some fruit he fell out of a tree, almost all answered, “sad”. It is rare for children to misbehave. Teachers say that they do not have disciplin problems, and from what this writer has been able to observe, this is so. Teachers, as all adults, are to be res pected; if they make a request they are to be obeyed. Actually adults hold youngsters in much respect and rarely request anything of them. There is little need, for the children have long since blended in with the way of life. When they do have a specific desire, such as going to boarding schools, it is rare that a parent denies (moreover, the youngster is free to take himself off if he wants). When children do misbehave, knowing that they are in- voking the anger of the gods and going against all custom, they are rarely punished. Again, their parents may explain to them the implications of their act. On the rarest of occasions a child may be punished. Many adults have gone through life without having recieved any or doling it out to their children. But if a child must be castigated, the most common means is to limit his food for a meal and deny him salt. Tt is rarer for a child to be beaten, al- though this is not unknown. So the child of Oxchuc learns his place in the world, and how to conduct himself. He is far more secure than our own youngsters, freer of anxieties, knowing few hostilities, but much respect. He is fully capable of coping with his environment. Within the past decade Jarge numbers of the children of Oxchuc have been exposed to an outside influence, the school. Schools have existed in the municipio for a longer time, but with very scattred attendance. With the coming of the Instituto Nacional Indigenista, its bilingual schools, and its native teachers, this picture has changed, and now a great number of the children receive at least some degree of formal education. Attendance remains sporadic, for there is still much opposition to this foreign influence, most regarding it as secondary to work. Yet there are many who have come to feel that it is only through literacy that there can be more effective coping with the Ladinos.The child’s world in Oxchuc 335 So many of the children report to school for about five hours a day, divided into two sessions, where they sit aowded together, listening to a teacher intone the mysteries of reading, arithmetic, and Spanish. The village schools rarely extend beyond the third year, but increasing numbers of boys and a very few girls are enrolling in a government operated boarding school im San Gris tébal de Las Gasas, about a day's walk away. New factors introduced by the school The schools have introduced several new factors im the life of Oxchuc, as have the Protestant missionaries. Lhere is some instruction in sanitation and an attempt to inculcate a respect for our medicine. There is some teaching of more modern methods of agriculture and the introduction of new and improved cops. But perhaps the most obvious and readily accepted change has been the introduction of games. Play, as such, had little or no place in the life of Oxchuc, beyond the imitative play of the todd- lers. Children were soon working, and while this was voluntary and no imposition, it did limit the way in which they could spend their time. Two of the earliest games introduced were basket-ball and yolley-ball. Other sports were not sponsored because they require considerably more equipment, a large, level playing field, or the wearing of shoes. Today every school has its playing field. During the day it is the province of the children, but in the late afternoon the men take over. Athletics has become a part of life, at least for the men of Oxchuc living near a school. Marbles and tops are the province of little boys. Those not yet ready to brave the ball court often race about, playing some variation of Tag or Hide-and-Seek. The sex groups play apart, but there is little difference in their games beyond the fact that the boys play a little more roughly than the girls. The first way this writer was able to become directly involved with the children was through one of their variations of Hide- and-Seek, they were posing for her camera and running gleefully off as she was about to snap the picture. Or they would troop silently behind her and as she turned, flee, trailing behind a wave of giggles. Among themselves Tag is played without bases, the object being to run until you tag your opponent, or lasso him, or pile on top. The first to run is the leader, signaling as goal some youngster336 América Indigena standing apart. After tagging, all stand around for a minute, resting, and then the chase is on again, often the one just tagged being the new leader. A mild form of wrestling is common, similar to that of our own school children. Many boys carry sling-shots. In ancient times they used these for hunting, but now that there are rifles their aim is poor. This writer has been told that girls like to play with dolls, although she has seen no evidence of this. And then there is always the live baby doll on hand for mothering. But the girl and women, as among ourselves, engage in much gossiping and giggling wher ever they congregate, be it near the school house or at the place from which they get their water. The same joy and abandone which they show in any of their games they show in a group work project. Wherever one person is needed for the job there are three or four, and if all cannot participate directly they encourage the others with calls and whelps. By the time he has reached what we call the latent years, the child has learned all that there is to know for a successful life within his community. Now will come continual practice, a refin- ing of techniques, and the opportunity to earn more money. The boys will go away to the plantations. By the onset of puberty, at about fourteen for the girls and a little later for the boys, they will be ready to marry. Then the boy’s mother will set about seck- ing him a wife, and he, too, may go looking. Boys of this age hold the girls in great awe. The prospective bride must not be a rela- tive, and she must be from Oxchuc. His choices are severly limited, for there are few clans, and any clan member is a relative. She will have to be a good worker. Beyond that there are few requirements. For a first marriage she should not have had any children yet, although there is no expectation of virginity. The martiage is essentially an agreement between the two families; the young couple may not meet until the day it is to be consumated, in the girls home. The child’s world in Oxchuc? Does it exist? In “Los Hombres Verdaderos” the first words are. “When I knew how to think I was four years old,” and the author proceeds to unfold a tale of childhood and early manhood, making no allowances for the different thought processes of a child. 2 In “Juan Pérez Jolote” Pozas devotes half a page to the child- hood of a neighboring Chamula.* Teodoro speaks of his earlyThe child's world in Oxchuc 337 years in Ixtapa in much the same tone as he might describe his activities today. The Indian teachers, too, describe children in much the same terms as their contemporaries. The Oxchuquero makes no special notice of childhood, once the youngster has begun to “think”, to imitate his elders. While parents express concern’ over the upbringing of their youngsters, they also also hold the desires of their children in much respect and, if the issue arises, try to not cross them. Life appears to follow a smoothe rhythm, with no sharp break between childhood and adulthood, no sharply defined stages of development or age-roles. NOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1Goldstein, Kurt. “Concerning the Concept of Primitivity.” Culture im History, Stanley Diamond, editor. New York: Columbia University Press, 1960, pp. 9-117_ 2 Antonio Castro, Carlo. Los hombres verdaderos, Xalapa: Universidad Vera- cruzana, 1959, p. 11: “Cuando supe pensar, era mi edad Ja de cuatro afios 8 Pozas, Ricardo. Juan Pérez Jolote: Biografia de un tzotzil. México. Fondo de Cultura Econémica, 1959. 4 Castellanos, Rosario. “Teodoro Sanchez.” Accién indigenista, N° 70, abril, 1959.