Market September 16
Not far away you could find the cambaya or blanket stall, or Don Teófilo Casasola's stall for fine fabrics such as satin, "harméss and flat". In front of him, an old lady with a calm appearance, brought to sell merchandise that was auctioned off by the Monte de Piedad in Mexico City, such as: Spanish mantillas, fine cashmere cuts, watches, bags, lamps, etc.; Her clients were wealthy people, they settled down to where a short time ago you could see the "El Faro" canteen, whose owner at that time was Don Constantino Piña, who also served as the market's administrator.
In what is still Calle de Rayón, parallel to Juárez, there were stalls selling first class vegetables and fruit of the best quality, as well as sellers of nopales and one or another merchant of canned goods, as well as tongs to move the embers of the stoves, the watering cans, the funnels, the anafres or braziers, the trays to fry the tacos and pambazos in the neighborhood parties or the candlesticks to place the paraffin, with which most of the houses were lit at that time. houses.
In Lerdo, in addition to one or another stall selling serapes, shawls and girdles, there were those who sold colored wool cords for braids, bone combs, among them "the piojero", hair brooms, necklaces of paper, a complement to the clothing of some indigenous people. Also on this street was the stall of something difficult to do; the mattress cover, since the mattresses were made at home of pure wool and their covers were made of a fabric called cotín.
Likewise in Lerdo, but on the steps and the platform of the main market building, people who sold cecina, longaniza, pork cheese, pork rinds, all brought from towns specialized in these goods, settle down. Also in this area were the women who sold cooked ducks, acociles, frogs and cooked beef leg in their little ones. On the platform, the not at all discreet sale of pulque; the chestnuts, the trays full of the tasty cured prickly pear, which more than one customer savored.
On General Prim, parallel to Lerdo, there were some fruit and vegetable stalls, but in particular there were the seed stands, the sale of tequezquite and the essential lime to prepare the nixtamal for tortillas. Up on the platform, the xochimilqueras, so called because they came from Xochimilco with their large loads of quelites, cilantro, beets or rosemary on waking days. Along with them, flowers from the broom, the rose of Castile, pansies, jasmine, gannets and poppies were sold, whose sale and planting were not prohibited.
The street vendors were really a group that gave strength and life to the market. Some came from Villa Victoria, and in their baskets they offered cheese, cream in clay jars covered with a corn husk, the butter tamale; also they went from here to there, the women hooked quilts, which they spread at every step to show their handiwork. The ones that offered baskets and colored palm baskets that they made in Santa Ana. The gorditas de haba. Those who sold grass, fans, straw or palm brooms and sellers of puppets, monkeys and sawdust balls.
A highly requested trade by the people who came, especially from the towns, was that of the yerberas. They were inside the market, at the entrance. They sold deer eyes, poultices, garlic strips, herbs for bathing women in labor and a whole assortment for any illness or evil eye. The only ones who could compete with them were the merolicos, who, with their rare medicines on the ground, with a strong voice and ease of speech, explained to those behind the line everything they issued and the ills they cured, from a sore molars to incurable rheumatism. In the afternoon, after having sweated profusely and almost without a voice, they retired with great satisfaction and with a few pesos in their bags.
The diviners, with turbans on their heads and a chair to seat their palero, came to guess the reason for the ills of the body, as well as how to prevent them; They also cleared up the doubts of the person who asked them to tell him who had stolen his cow. To continue guessing, they went on to make a collection and they did not do so badly, in addition to what the person who requested the special consultation gave. Without missing the one in the cage with the little birds that, with their beak, took out the piece of paper with the prediction of luck and love.
The cries and shouts filled the environment as everyone passed by: “dealer, little dealer, who buys me five cents a lot, come closer, I'll make you your pilon”. Some applauded so that those who passed could see their merchandise. There was one or another that cannot be forgotten, like the blond woman who sold the soap and who shouted “! By weight! By weight! By weight!” Another one who is not forgotten was Teófilo Casasola, who threw the flat or satin fabric to whoever passed through his door, at the same time that he shouted; “Here are your rags, take them with you”, like that, there were merchants who, due to their special aptitudes and attitudes, attracted attention.
Barter: This is what was called the exchange of merchandise between merchants, taking into account the value of the equivalent of what is given and what is received. There were no fixed or official prices, like those currently marked and never respected. He was used to haggling. Among the measures used was the heap. As its name says, a very irregular measure, both in price and quantity, but it seems that everyone agreed and the pile was the same in one stall as in another. The same thing happened with the bunch. The seeds were almost always sold in quarts, sometimes in liters, the same one that was used to measure liquids, when the jar was not used. There were other measures such as the load, the arroba, the rod, the scale and the meter that not everyone had. There was no lack of those who, forgetting the price per measure, entered the haggling. The one who sold gave a price and the one who bought put another until they reached a different and convenient one for both.
The coins that circulated at that time were the copper ones of 1 and 2 cents, the nickel ones of 5 and 10 cents, the silver one there were 10 and 20 cents, the "toston" of 50 cents and the strong peso that was currency. strong and appreciated.
remember when Halsey needed to wear compression socks for the first day of AYT and she didn't know how to make them look cute
— jess Wed Jun 01 11:30:16 +0000 2016
"Plaza day", on Fridays, numerous groups of foreign tourists, mostly North Americans, came to buy handicrafts. They were guided by boys who, dedicating themselves to this, soon learned the English language. It was when the dollar began to circulate, since most merchants liked to receive it. Tourists mainly bought serapes, palm hats, wooden compacts, tin lamps, colored baskets and an endless number of colorful and beautiful Mexican handicrafts. Something that tourists also got were images of the atmosphere full of folklore. They portrayed peasants and women who, with the shawl, covered part of their faces and their mischievous laughter. Over time, allowing himself to be photographed became a business: accepting only if there was a tip. The fame of the flea market with so many visitors, transcended in such a way that great international film actors such as Johnny Weismuller and Edward G. Robinson, among others, came to visit it, to the extent that word spread to get closer to meet such famous characters. Some peasants came from the parts closest to the city, brought their merchandise and arrived on donkeys. Their clothes were simple; blanket or cambaya clothing. The man, palm hat; the surianos, with tlapehuala hats; women's petticoats and colored blouses, embroidered aprons with brightly colored figures and the essential rebozo. Those from some areas used to use the wool chincuete; at the waist, the belt or girdle and the quexquemetl. Men and women with huaraches, and some still barefoot.
Among the customs of "market day", a very popular one was that housewives, from all social classes, dedicated the morning to do their shopping, with which they stocked up all week, and it was to be seen as the ladies , carrying their basket themselves or being accompanied by a domestic, they came down Juárez street to look outside the stores "El Cairo" of Mr. Cueva or the "Crédito" of Mr. Ciro Estrada, for some porter who already with his refined he was waiting for his eventual employer; The basket was filled with a good assortment, the porter, next to the domestic, carried it on his back to the lady's house, while she stayed to shop for clothes or other items, they almost always met some acquaintances , but his talk was very brief since the porters shouted when walking: “there goes the coup! Stand aside!”
Another of the customs of that day, by logical consequence, was that in all the houses the popular "taco de plaza" was eaten since everything necessary for its preparation had been bought and carried in the basket. But as has always happened in Toluca, as soon as something is installed, the others follow and thus, "Lupita's tacos" became famous in the center of the zocalo, she had all the ingredients for the taco de plaza, from; leg, nopales, acociles, white cheese, white fish from Lerma, sardines, charales, tomato, onion, serrano peppers, cured manzano peppers, pork rinds, barbecue, papaloquelite, gourds and some other ingredients to suit the buyer and consumer.
In the afternoon, tired of the hustle and bustle, peasant families sat comfortably on the ground to eat their taco, treating themselves to tortilla by tortilla, salt and quelites, without missing a catrina or jícara de pulque, or their “goat ” which was a liter jar, which passed from hand to hand. At that time, from the pulquerías located in those streets and with names such as: "Los 7 compadres", "Hell", "La Reina Xóchitl" and, "El Colorado" among others, live music of cornet and drums was heard. , with happy notes of some march or double step, giving the atmosphere a touch of celebration and joy for all those present. The domestic staff of private homes were also beginning to show themselves, who, in groups of two or three, went in search of countrymen to greet them.
Nearby, to the north was Doña Severiana Ramírez's "La Pasadita" bar, and further up the "El Reflejo" bar, which gave the place its name and which was on Matlazincas street, which began with what used to be Plaza España and which Those who know say that the founders of the city lived there and that is why there are so many neighborhoods.
After that day of work and afternoon of rejoicing, through the pulques and chumiates, back to their places of origin by the side of the Verdiguel river, at that time in the open, many stopped there to relieve themselves and there was a kind of ravine that it was dangerous in the rainy season, many fell there, they were beaten and, in general, they lost their hats and their blankets, and that is the famous phrase of "Toluca does not kill, just taranta, removes blanket and throws into the ravine" , which became a justification, not to say that they were drunk, both they and they, when they were questioned by their relatives.
Time has passed and with it, much of what is written here has disappeared.
In the social aspect and returning to the great dances of the 70's, we refer on this occasion to the coronation of distinguished Miss Malena Moreno Ortiz (today a successful painter) as sovereign of the Lions Club of Toluca and, having as princesses other esteemed and beautiful ladies from Toluqueña society they are: Roció Hurtado Tomas and Pitina Nava Barbosa; Malena daughter of the esteemed Engineer Guillermo Moreno Díaz, the famous Memo Beto (RIP) and Martha Ortiz de Moreno (RIP); This event was held in the majestic Clarish Hall (social center of the 60's and 70's) today the Deportivo Toluca Hall of Fame located at Felipe Villanueva corner with Morelos Avenue.
This great social event was preceded by the Governor of the State, Professor Carlos Hank González, and his distinguished wife, Doña Guadalupe Rhon de Hank, accompanied by more than 600 personalities from Toluca society, enlivening the great dance with the great orchestra of Raúl Gonzalo Curiel and the great group 2 plus 3 and, serving the succulent dinner, the extraordinary banking house Mayita Orvañanos de Robles Gil.
Among the attendees (some already deceased) were: CP Ricardo Blanco private secretary of the governor, Mr. Arturo Martínez Legorreta (recently deceased) and his wife Pilar, José Antonio Muñoz Samayoa and his wife Tenchita, Agustín Gasca Aguilar and his wife Maquiz, Alfonso Gómez de Orosco and his wife Amalia, Carlos Zarza and his wife Linda, Enrique Torres Torrija and his wife Etelvina, Genaro Barrera Graff and his wife Meche, Gustavo Barrera Graff and his wife Lucia, Felipe Chávez Becerril and his wife Mila, Jaime Pons and his wife La Chata Pons, Fidelio García Rendón his wife María, Guillermo Moreno Díaz and his wife Martha, Mario Nava Beltrán and his wife Lupita, Arturo Hurtado and his wife Perla, Gustavo Estrada and his wife Sarita, Antonio Yurrieta and his wife Blanquita, Fernando Corona and his wife Chedes, Antonio Estévez and his wife Carmelita, Vicente Camacho and family, Emilio Caire and his wife Cristy, Mario Rojas and his wife Chelo, José Luis Rojas and his wife Mago, Eduardo Zen Il and his wife Victoria, Mike Amador and his wife Renne, Joaquín Iglesias and his wife Chuiquis, David Álvarez and his wife Meche, Antero González and his wife Lucia, Eduardo Monroy and his wife Lulú, Juan de Dios Ozuna Pérez and his wife Pilar , Samuel Pérez and his wife Aida, Mario C Olivera and his wife Celia, Guillermo Ortiz Garduño and his wife Lupita, Santiago Velasco and his wife Adelita, Enrique Arias and his wife María Elena, Valentín Aguilar and his wife Alma, Gustavo Tapia and his wife Catalina, José Acra and his wife Rosita, Filiberto Hernández and his wife Luz Alva, Mr. Alemán and his wife Linda Hobs, Guillermo Rodríguez and his wife Tencha, Jesús Barrera Legorreta and his wife Sonia, and Maricela Hank Rhon among other personalities.