Once the vanilla was pollinated, there was little that needed to be done for the plants until the time of harvest. This allowed time for caring for the family milpa (cultivated crops), hunting, and other necessary tasks. It was also a time of concern, especially if the rains did not return on time. Papantla has always had very inconsistent rainfall and consequently there has been great preoccupation with the rain cycles. As the soil is thin and much of the land sits on a great limestone shelf, the heavy rainfall is quickly absorbed into the land. If rain does not return by May, it can be disastrous for vanilla and food crops alike. Therefore, prayers and offerings were made for rain on a continual basis.
The beans were originally harvested when they were ripe and beginning to dry. Later, as techniques improved and standards were set, the beans were harvested when they were nearly ripe. The finest beans—those with the greatest amount of oil—were harvested in late January and early February. The majority of the vanilla was brought to the casas de beneficio and sold green. Depending on where the families lived, it was sometimes easier to keep the beans on the ranchos and dry them there. Also windfalls and vanilla that matured early were dried at home. These beans were not considered as premium quality. However, some of the Totonacs became beneficiadores and purchased beans from their neighbors, then dried them using the same methods as the Europeans and Mestizos. This was especially common in the pueblos tucked into the sierra that were not easily accessible to Papantla though a few of the beneficiadores in Papantla would travel to the ranchos to collect the vanilla.
In the initial stages of commercial vanilla production, vanilla was counted by the thousands. Later, it was sold green in lots of 100 pods. Then it was sold by the pound in rolls of 3–5 pounds each; 100 green beans were considered about 5 pounds. Now it is sold by the kilogram, both as green beans, and as dried.
Papantla was known as Kachikin, or “the city.” Trips to Kachikin were planned for the delivery of beans or for festivals and holy days, and combined with picking up supplies unavailable outside of the town. Burros or mules were the primary method of transporting goods. When the vanilla was finally ready for shipment from Papantla, it was loaded into tin boxes and then into larger cedar boxes. The boxes were carried by the mules either through the hills to Tecolutla, where they were floated in flat-bottomed boats called chalanes or be taken by mule back into the mountains to the rail head at Tezuitlan, where the vanilla traveled to the port of Vera Cruz. The majority of the vanilla headed to the United States, but until the early years of the twentieth century, it also went to Europe.
A successful harvest and sale were always celebrated, usually with local fiestas. The successful transport of money back home was important as the sale. Robbery, assault, and homicide have always been a problem integrally tied in with producing vanilla, just as being “tied to the company store” has been a problem for small farmers everywhere. Many of the beneficiadores had stores and essentially kept the Totonacs in servitude. They would not tell the Totonacs the selling price for their vanilla, but instead would issue credits, which rarely covered the cost of supplies. These two problems were always in the forefront of the minds of the growers. However, as Spanish was not spoken fluently by most Totonacs, and even those who spoke Spanish were usually illiterate, they had no access to the current prices for vanilla, and so were forced to accept the pay or not sell at all. As vanilla often went through several hands until it reached the beneficiadores in Papantla, the price difference between what the farmer got and what the vanilla ultimately was sold for, would be significantly different.
The families who either dried their own vanilla or who worked in the casas de beneficio used the vanilla oil that ran off during the first stages of curing and drying to rub on their skin or to shine their hair. Vanilla was also used as an air freshener and as a perfume for clothing. Dried beans were tucked into hatbands along with flowers and feathers. A vanilla-flavored aguardiente was always prepared for baptisms, weddings, and other significant family events, a tradition that has been carried forward and followed today even as the other rituals have slipped away.
Acknowledgment
The coauthors wish to acknowledge the important contribution of Rocio Aguilera Madero for the preparation of this chapter through personal communications notably on Totonac vanilla farming, and through the information published in the newsletter La Voz del Vainillero, Union Agricola Regional de Productores de Vainilla, Papantla, Mexico.
References
Bruman, H. 1948. The culture history of Mexican vanilla. The Hispanic American Historical Review 28:360–376.
Chenaut, V. 1995. Aquellos Que Vuelan: Historia de los Pueblos Indigenas de Mexico, los Totonacos en el Siglo XIX. Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologia Social, Mexico City.
Chenaut, V., ed. 1996. Procesos Rurales e Historia Regional (Sierra y Costa Totonacas de Vereacruz). Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologia Social, Mexico City.
Harvey, H.R. and Kelly, I. 1969. The Totonac (Handbook of Middle American Studies), University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas.
Kelly, I. and Palerm, A. 1950. The Tajin Totonac, Part 1. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Ossenbach, C. 2005. History of orchids in Central America. Part I: from Prehispanic times to the independence of the new republics. Harvard Papers in Botany 10:183–226.
Appendix: The Legend of Vanilla
This is a Totonac legend about the origin of vanilla in Mesoamerica. The time period of when this legend emerged is uncertain.
In early times, the Land of the Good and Resplendent Moon, was the kingdom of Totonacapan, ruled by the Totonacas. The palm-studded sands, verdant valleys, and shimmering hills and sierra in what is now known as Vera Cruz, were overseen from several locations. One was Papantla, place of the papan birds. Another was El Tajin, the thunderbolt, an ancient city built in honor of the deity, Hurakan/Tlaloc, god of the storms. It was here in this dense, tropical rainforest that vanilla was first cultivated and cured. It was here that the fragrance from the vanilla was so exquisite, that Papantla later became known as, The City That Perfumed the World.
There was a time, however, before the reign of Tenitzli III, when there was no vanilla. In this city, famous for its artists and sculptors, Tenitzli and his wife were blessed with a daughter so incredibly beautiful that they could not bear the thought of giving her away in marriage to a mere mortal. They dedicated her life as a pious offering to the cult of Tonoacayohua, the goddess of crops and subsistence, a powerful goddess who affected their very life and survival. Their daughter, Princess Tzacopontziza (Morning Star), devoted her time at the temple, bringing offerings of foods and flowers to the goddess.