Explanation of the hammocks use

A review of the most important uses given to the hammock in rural areas even today, allows us to enter the daily life of the communities and realize how this object is a point of confluence of social life. These uses are:

- For human reproduction

- Such as delivery table

- Like cradle

- Like hunting assistant

- As an instrument of healing

- Resource like Shelling

- As break through

            With respect to the hammock as a place of human reproduction we will mention that among some families in rural areas, it is customary on the eve of marriage, the bride urda a "big hammock" to share with her husband after wedding .

            For people of the city can it seem incredible that a hammock can be used as a delivery table, but for the vast majority of women of the people who for generations have been born, watched them grow and die to his family in a hammock, it is the most natural.

            Midwives in rural areas, like pregnant women, believe that giving birth in a hammock is much more comfortable than a bed. The first argument is used with respect to the adaptability of the hammock to your body and at the time of birth, the pregnant has everything needed to grab hold to force.

            On the other hand, for a pregnant woman it is much more comfortable getting in and out of a hammock that a bed because the first, besides being much cooler, can be placed at the desired height.

            The use of the hammock as the cradle is a fairly common practice, even outside of rural areas. This is due to the characteristics of the hammock, to which you can upload the banks by a knot making it a safe and cool place for kids. Thus they put them at the same time, away from the ground and animals. In addition to all the above advantages, the use of the hammock as the cradle allows the mother sit with your child and rocking, which so far can not be done in any conventional crib.

            The hammock as assistant hunting also plays an important role, as we know this activity is part of the survival strategies of families in rural areas. The hunt is carried out in two different ways: one is called "make whipped" and the other "to spy". The latter is performed during or shortly after the rainy months and is finding somewhere where, naturally, water is stored; Nearby, the hunter chooses a tree to wait for prey.

            So, you can hang your hammock between the branches of trees to make waiting more bearable.

            The technique where the hammock is used as a tool to cure some backaches, unfortunately is not widespread. However some families use and involves winding the hammock around the painful art of the person (who is standing) and pull the ends of the hammock so that this does pressure. Families who have used the hammock in this way think that with pressure, the bones back into place.

            In Yucatan, as in the rest of the country, the diet is based on consumption of grains, mainly corn and beans. Hammocks made with ancient techniques, or thresh the henequen allow faster and with less difficulty than with your hands. The technique involves placing inside the hammock what you want Shelling, close well and hit it with a stick, so that the grains are falling down and peel stays in the hammock. Currently not many families resort to this strategy, because they do not have thick hammocks as before and current risk of breaking.

            The use of the hammock to sit is also an ancient custom in rural areas. The lower-income families generally have only one table and two or three chairs and in some cases even have these things, because traditionally sit on benches, especially when the food is done in around a small three-legged table and by the stove where tortillas are made.

            Because customs described above, the chairs are almost never enough for all family members and less for visits, so the hammocks are used as a seat plus they are much more comfortable.

            The fact that get a visit will yield a chair or bench is a sign of courtesy and kindness, but be offered a hammock goes beyond that, almost always it means a gesture of trust and acceptance the hosts.

            Besides all the uses that have been mentioned, one of the most important remains the use of the hammock to rest comfortably all night, in this regard, older people think that hammocks made with threads of agave are much better than cotton or synthetic fibers, as the latter in the hot season are very hot and the cold are very cold. In addition, under the rocking in nylon can not be placed pieces of medium firewood pinned to sleep with pleasant temperatures, as they run the risk of heat synthetic fiber melts and the person falling off the hammock, as has happened to some.