Daughters of clay: in the village of Quinchamali in central Chile, women carry on an age-old tradition that continues to model daily life.

• Author: Stuparich, Ricardo Carrasco

IN EARLY APRIL, autumn takes hold of this region and transforms it with cooler temperatures and the yellow-ocher colors that dominate the landscape. Thousands of leaves drift from the poplars and cover the roads, giving a decidedly pastoral feel to the scenery. This is the time when the people of Quinchamali stream into the vineyards for the harvest.

This area of Chile is known for its line stock of wines produced from the rulo, or dry farmed, vineyards. It is also famous for its cherries and for a host of other fruit like watermelon and tomatoes, known internationally for their aroma and flavor.

But inside the houses, another activity is going on. Like a jealously guarded secret, it leaves its particular seal on the people of this village. It is the work of the loceras of Quinchamali. Loceras are potters, women who extract red mud from the, nearby hillsides and dedicate themselves to the feverish creation of thousands of clay pots and figurines.

I arrive over muddy roads at the home of one of the loceras, Anjibda Smith Vielma. She is one of the oldest potters and one of the most respected among the small group of women who perpetuate this rustic art. Her modest but welcoming home is on the outskirts of the village. Though she could rise her land to plant wheat or other crops, she says proudly that she prefers to "live from the earth, from the clay." Accompanied by her husband, Don Floriano, she passes on to others what is today the noblest tradition of the region.

"I have a clay mine in my own backyard. You just have to known how to find the right kind, the clay you can really use," she says as she throws her braid over her shoulders and digs out shovel-fuls of dirt with a spade.

The aroma of fresh herbs rosemary, mint, fennel--spreads like a giant veil over the hills. Vielma carefully accommodates the reddish-black mud in the sacks that she has ready in her little horse-drawn cart. As she stops to catch her breath, site explains, "I've worked with clay since I was a little girl. It's like I've always known how to give simile to the plates and platters I make. Before, in the olden days, my mother and I would go and sell our crockery in the nearby villages like Bulnes and Chillan. We traveled by horse and cart through the hills over the muddy roads and around the bushes to get to the place where we traded our wares."

She moves forward several feet and unloads her precious, heavy cargo. This is women's work by tradition, but Don Floriano labors alongside his wife. removing impurities from the clay and leaving it creamy and malleable so that she can work with it more easily.

My first visit is a short one. Most potters consider their work to be personal, almost private, and I want to be...