El Afilador

Some days ago I wrote about the dying trade of El Camotero - the sweet potato vendor. Remember his specific sound?

Well, here in my quarter in Cholula there is a guy who pursues a tradition not less rare: El Afilador - The knife-sharpener. I have the feeling that I hear him everyday, but my barber told me today that he actually "comes out when he needs money"...

This time the sound you hear doesn't come from a valve, but it really is a flute. Pan pipes called chifre to be exact. What's interesting that I found a recording which was captured in Argentina and it seems to be pretty much the same. Intercultural similarities:


Together with his cry - Afiladoooooor - echoed by the empty streets every time gives me the creeps. It's exactly like in this video:

Now, the question is: Why do so many different professions actually use the same sound in different countries? Mexican and Japanese sweet potato vendors, Mexican and Argentinian knife-sharpeners - and ever wondered why in so many countries (not in Germany, though) the barbers use the barber's pole?

Source: Wikipedia

I might terribly run off the topic, but I was too surprised when doing my research on this. Do you know what the barber's pole actually represents? Bloodletting. Urgh.

It dates back to the time when barbers were expected to perform bloodletting as well. White represents the fresh bandages, red the blood-soaked ones and the pole itself represents the staff that the patient gripped during the procedure to encourage blood flow. Blue might either be used to complete the color spectrum of the American flag, or as a representation of venous blood, whereas red stands for arterial blood.

Yummy - next time when I see this pole I will think twice if I really want to enter the bloodletting shop...