The Maya Chronicles
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_Nonoalco_ was also the name of a small village near the city of Mexico
which still appears on the maps. Sahagun tells us that some extreme
eastern tribes in Mexico called themselves _Nonoalca_ (_Historia de la
Nueva Espana_, Lib. X, cap,[TN-13] XXIX, p[TN-14] 12); and the licenciate
Diego Garcia de Palacio mentions "quatro lugares de Indios que llaman
los Nunualcos" as dwelling, in his time (1576), in the eastern part of
the province of San Salvador, of Aztec descent, and who had recently
come there. (_Carta al Rey de Espana_, p. 60, New York, 1860). It should
be mentioned in reference to these names and all others of similar
vocalization, that both in Maya and Nahuatl the Spanish constantly
confound the short [)o] and [)u]. As the Bachelor Don Antonio Vasquez
Gastelu observes: "usan de la _o_ algunos tan obscuramente, que tira
algo a la pronunciacion de la _u_ vocal" (_Arte de lengua Mexicana_,
fol. 1, verso, La Puebla de los Angeles, 1726).
Senor Alfredo Chavero, in his Appendix to Duran's _Historia de las
Indias de Nueva Espana_ (p. 45, Mexico, 1880), claims that _Nonoalca_
was the name given to the Maya-Kiche tribes, or rather adopted by them,
when, at an extremely remote epoch, they penetrated to the central table
land of Mexico. He thinks that subsequently they became united with the
Toltecs, and were dispersed with that people at the destruction of the
city of Tula. The grounds for this theory he claims to find in certain
unpublished manuscripts, which unfortunately he does not give in
extracts, but only in general statements. Like much that this writer
presents, these assertions lack support. All the names he quotes as of
Nonoalca, that is, Maya origin, are distinctly not of the latter tongue,
but are Nahuatl. And the introduction of the mystical city of Tula is of
itself enough to invest the story with the garb of unreality.
It is, in fact, nowhere in terrestrial geography that we need look for
the site of the Tula of Quetzalcoatl, nor at any time in human history
did the Tolteca ply their skillful hands, nor Tezcatlipoca spread his
snares to destroy them. All this is but a mythical conception of the
daily struggle of light and darkness, and those writers who seek in the
Toltecs the ancestors or instructors of any nation whatsoever, make the
once common error of mistaking myth for history, fancy for fact.
Therefore, any notion that Yucatan was civilized by the Toltecs after
their dispersion, or owes anything to them, as so many, and I might say
almost all recent writers have maintained, is to me an absurdity.
This reference to the Quetzalcoatl myth at the commencement of the Maya
chronicle needs not surprise us. We encounter it also in the Kiche
_Popol Vuh_ and the Cakchiquel _Memorial de Tecpan Atitlan_. These
members of the Maya family also grafted that myth upon their own
traditions. As history, it is valueless; but as indicative of a long and
early intercourse between the Maya and Nahuatl speaking tribes, it is of
great interest. As this question will also recur in reference to various
later passages in the Maya chronicles, I will discuss it here.
One of the earliest historians of Yucatan, the Doctor Don Pedro Sanchez
de Aguilar, states that six hundred years before the Spanish conquest
the Mayas were vassals of the Aztecs, and that they were taught or
forced by these to construct the extraordinary edifices in their
country, such as are found at Uxmal and Chichen Itza. His words are:
"Fueron tan politicos y justiciosos en Yucatan como los Mexicanos, cuyos
vasallos habian sido seis cientos anos antes de la llegada de los
Espanoles. De lo cual tan solamente hay tradicion y memoria entre ellos
por los famosos, grandes y espantosos edificios de cal y canto y
silleria y figuras y estatuas de piedra labrada que dejaron en Oxumual
[Uxmal] y en Chicheniza que hoy se veen y se pudieran habitar." _Informe
contra Idolum Cultores del Obispado de Yucatan_, fol. 87 (Madrid, 1639).
The vague tradition here referred to was made part of the testimony in a
lawsuit at Valladolid, Yucatan, in 1618. These old documents were
brought to light by the late eminent Yucatecan historian Doctor Justo
Sierra, and Dr. Berendt took a copy in manuscript of the most important
points. I think it worth while to insert and translate this testimony.
VILLA DE VALLADOLID--ANO DE 1618.
"DOCUMENTO 1º. A la primera pregunta dijo este testigo que conoce al
dicho Don Juan Kahuil y a la dicha Dona Maria Quen su legitima muger y
que todos los contenidos en la pregunta, tuvo noticia muy larga de su
padre de este testigo, porque fue en su antiguedad _ahkin_, sacerdote
entre los naturales antiguos, antes que recibiesen agua de bautismo,
como los susodichos contenidos en la pregunta vinieron del reino de
Mexico y poblaron estas provincias, y que era gente bellicosa y valerosa
y Senores, y asi poblaron a Chichenica los unos, y otros se fueron hacia
el Sur que poblaron a Bacalar, y hacia el Norte que poblaron la costa;
porque eran tres o cuatro Senores y uno que se llamo _Tumispolchicbul_
era deudo de Moctezuma, rey que fue de los reinos de Mexico, y que
_Cuhuikakcamalcacalpuc_ era deudo muy cercano de dicho Don Juan Kahuil
por parte de sus padres, y que dicha _Ixnahaucupul_ hija de _Kukumcupul_
fue muger de su abuelo de dicho D. Juan Kahuil, todos los cuales fueron
los que vinieron de Mexico a poblar estas Provincias, gente principal y
Senores, pues poblaron y se senorearon de esta tierra, porque como dicho
tiene, le oyo decir al dicho su padre que eran tenidos, obedecidos y
respetados como a Senores de esta tierra, y de uno de ellos procede el
dicho D. Juan Kahuil, y de estos hay mucha noticia y dicho su padre le
dijo muchas veces, que habia constancia entre ellos de lo sucedido por
estos Senores.
"2º. A la segunda pregunta dice este testigo, que como dicho tiene, oyo
decir a su padre y otros Indios principales que los susodichos
contenidos en la primera pregunta vinieron de los reynos de Mejico a
poblar estas provincias, los unos se quedaron en Chichinica que fueron
los que edificaron los edificios sontuosos que hay en el dicho asiento,
y otros se fueron a poblar a Bacalar, y otros fueron a poblar la costa
hacia el norte, y este que fue a poblar la costa, se llamaba _Cacalpuc_,
de donde procede el dicho D. Juan Kahuil, y estos que asi se
repartieron, fueron a poblar las provincias susodichas, y las tuvieron
sugetas y en govierno, y que le cupo a un Cocom, el poblar en
Chichinica, y le obedecian todos por Senor, y los de la isla de cuzumel
le eran sugetos; y de alli (de Chicinica) se pasaron a la provincia de
Sotuta, donde estaban, cuando los conquistadores vinieron, y siempre
fueron tenidos, obedecidos y respetados como Senores.
"3º. A la primera pregunta dijo este testigo que conoce al dicho D. Juan
Kahuil, y a la dicha Da Maria Quen, su muger, y que de todos los
contenidos en la pregunta, tuvo muy larga noticia de ellos, porque D.
Juan Camal, cacique e gobernador que fue del pueblo de Sisal, de los
primeros que lo gobernaron por comision e titulo que le dio el Oidor
Tomas Lopez, oiendo como era de los antiguos caciques del dicho pueblo
en estas provincias, lo trataba en conversacion a sus principales y este
testigo, que siempre estaba en su casa, y fue alguacil mayor ordinario
en ella, como los contenidos habian venido de Mejico a poblar esta
tierra de Yucatan, y que los unos poblaron a Chichinica y hicieron los
edificios que estan en dicho asiento muy suntuosos, y que habiendo sido
los que vinieron de Mejico, cuatro deudos o parientes con sus allegados
y gente que trajaron; el uno poblo como dicho tiene a Chichinica, y el
otro fue a poblar a Bacalar, y el otro hacia el Norte y poblo en la
costa, y el otro fue hacia Cozumel; e poblaron con gente, y fueron
Senores de estas provincias, y las gobernaron y senorearon muchos anos;
y que oyo decir que uno de ellos llamado _Tanupolchicbul_ era pariente
de Moctezuma, rey de Mejico."
(_Translation._)
CORPORATION OF VALLADOLID--YEAR 1618.
"DOCUMENT NO. 1. To the first question the witness answered that he
knows the said Don Juan Kahuil and the said Dona Maria Quen his lawful
wife, and all those referred to in the question; that this witness had
full information from his father, who formerly was _ahkin_ or priest
among the natives, before they had received the water of baptism, how
the parties above mentioned in the question came from the kingdom of
Mexico, and established towns[116-1] in these provinces, and that they
were a warlike and valiant people and lords, and thus some of them
established themselves at Chichen Itza, and others went to the south and
established towns at Bacalar, and toward the north and established towns
on the coast; because they were three or four lords, and one, who was
named _Tumispolchicbul_, was a kinsman of Montezuma, king of the kingdom
of Mexico, and that _Cuhuikakcamalcacalpuc_ was a very near kinsman of
the said Don Juan Kahuil on his father's side, and that the said
_Ixnahaucupul_, daughter of _Kukumcupul_ was wife of the grandfather of
the said Don Juan Kahuil, all of whom were those who came from Mexico to
found towns in these provinces, prominent people and lords; then they
founded towns and ruled this land, because as he said, he heard his said
father say that they were regarded, obeyed and respected as lords of
this land, and that from one of them proceeded the said Don Juan Kahuil;
and of these there is abundant information, and his said father often
said to him that there was unanimity among them as to what took place by
these lords.
"2ND. To the second question this witness answered that as he has said,
he heard his father and other leading Indians say that the parties above
mentioned in the first question came from the Kingdom of Mexico to found
towns in these provinces; some remained in Chichen Itza, who were those
who built the sumptuous edifices which are in the said locality; others
went to found towns at Bacalar, and others to found towns on the coast
to the north; and he who went to found towns on the coast was named
Cacalpuc, from whom proceeds the said Don Juan Kahuil and those who thus
made division went to found towns in the above mentioned provinces, and
held them under subjection and government; and he chose a certain Cocom
to rule in Chichen Itza, and they all obeyed him as lord, and those of
the island of Cozumel were subject to him; and from there (from Chichen
Itza) they passed to the province of Zotuta, where they were when the
conquerors came, and they were always regarded, obeyed and respected as
lords.
"3RD. To the first question this witness answered that he knew all the
parties mentioned in the question and had abundant information about
them, because Don Juan Carnal who was chief and governor of Sisal, one
of the first who governed it by commission and brief given him by the
Auditor Tomas Lopez, being one of the ancient chiefs of the said town in
these provinces, spoke of the subject in conversation with his leading
men and with this witness, who was constantly in his house and was chief
clerk in ordinary in it, saying the parties mentioned had come from
Mexico to found towns in this land of Yucatan, and that some settled at
Chichen Itza, and erected the very stately edifices which are in the
said locality, and that those who came from Mexico were four kinsmen or
relatives with their friends and the people they brought with them; one
settled as heretofore said at Chichen Itza, one went to settle at
Bacalar, one went toward the north and settled on the coast, and the
other went toward Cozumel; and they founded towns with their people, and
were lords of these provinces, and governed them and ruled them many
years; and that he had heard it said that one of them named
_Tanupolchicbul_ was a kinsman of Moctezuma, King of Mexico."
This legend is also related, with some variation, by Herrera, and as I
shall have occasion more than once to refer to his account, I shall
translate it.
"At Chichen Itza, ten leagues from Itzamal, the ancients say there
reigned three lords, brothers, who came from the west, and gathered
together many people, and reigned some years in peace and justice; and
they constructed large and very beautiful edifices. It is said that they
lived unmarried and very chastely; and it is added that in time one of
them was missing, and that his absence worked such bad results that the
other two began to be unchaste and partial; and thus the people came to
hate them, and slew them, and scattered abroad, and deserted the
edifices, especially the most stately one, which is ten leagues from the
sea.
"Those who established themselves at Chichen Itza call themselves Itzas;
among these there is a tradition that there ruled a great lord called
Cuculcan, and all agree that he came from the west; and the only
difference among them is as to whether he came before or after or with
the Itzas; but the name of the building at Chichen Itza, and what
happened after the death of the lords above mentioned, show that
Cuculcan ruled the country jointly with them. He was a man of good
disposition, was said not to have had either wife or children, and not
to have known woman; he was devoted to the interests of the people, and
for this reason was regarded as a god. In order to pacify the land he
agreed to found another city, where all business could be transacted. He
selected for this purpose a site eight leagues further inland from where
now stands the city of Merida, and fifteen leagues from the sea. There
they erected a circular wall of dry stone, about a half quarter of a
league in diameter, leaving in it only two gateways. They erected
temples, giving to the largest the name Cuculcan, and also constructed
around the wall the houses of the lords among whom Cuculcan had divided
the land, giving and assigning towns to each. To the city he gave the
name Mayapan, which means "the Standard of the Maya," as Maya is the
name of their language.
"By this means the country was quieted and they lived in peace for some
years under Cuculcan, who governed with justice, until, having arranged
for his departure, and recommending them to continue the wise rule he
had established, he left them and returned to Mexico by the same route
he had come, remaining in Champoton some time, where, in memory of his
journey, he erected a building in the sea, which remains to this
day."[120-1]
Bishop Landa and some other early writers also give versions of this
tradition, but do not add any facts to those in the above quotations.
Evidently it was a widespread legend of the origin of the great
buildings of Chichen Itza. Is it a tradition of fact or is it a myth?
I confess that to me it has a suspiciously mythical aspect. It is too
similar to what I may call the standard hero-myth of the American
Aborigines. Everywhere, both in North and South America, we find the
myth of the four brothers who divided the land between them, one of whom
is superior to the others and becomes the ruler and instructor of the
ancestors of the nation. He does not die, but disappears, or goes to
heaven, and is often expected to return. Just so in one of the Maya
myths, Cuculcan did not return to Mexico, but rose to heaven, whence
once every year he descended to his temple at Mayapan and received the
gifts which from far and wide pious pilgrims had brought to his shrine
(Landa, _Relacion_, p. 302). All these myths relate to the worship of
the four cardinal points and to the Light-God, as I have shown in a
previous work (_The Myths of the New World_, chap. III. New York, 1876).
The proper names in the legend have nothing of a Nahuatl appearance.
They are all pure Maya. The "kinsman of Moctezuma," the second reading
of whose name is the correct one, is given as _tan u pol chicbul_, "in
front of the head of the jay-bird," the _chicbul_ being what the
Spaniards call the _mingo rey_, which I believe is a jay (Beltran, _Arte
del Idioma Maya_, p. 229). The other long name is a compound of _Zuhuy
kak camal cacal puc_. The historian Cogolludo informs us that _Zuhuy
Kak_, literally "virgin fire," was the daughter of a king, afterwards
deified as goddess of female infants (_Historia de Yucatan_, Lib. IV,
cap. VIII). _Camal_ was and is a common patronymic in Yucatan;
_cacalpuc_ means "mountain land,"[121-1] and thus the whole name is
easily identified as Maya. Possibly the member of the family Camal who
bore the name was a priest of the goddess.
It will be noticed that neither the legend nor the legal testimony
speaks of these foreigners as of a different language or lineage, but
leaves us to infer the contrary. Had they been of Aztec race it would
certainly have been noticed, for the Mayas had frequent mercantile
relations with these powerful neighbors, they borrowed many words from
the Nahuatl tongue, and single chiefs in Yucatan formed alliances with
the Aztec rulers, and introduced Aztec warriors even into Mayapan, as is
shown by the Chronicles I publish in this work, and also by the fact
that a small colony of Aztecs, descendants of these mercenaries, was
living in the province of Canul, west of Merida, when the Spaniards
conquered the country (Landa, _Relacion_, p. 54). Therefore the Aztecs
were no strangers to the Mayas, and doubtless the learned members of the
priesthood and nobles in the fifteenth century were quite well aware of
the existence of the powerful empire of Anahuac.
But regarding the legend I have quoted as, in part at least, based on
actual history, we may accept the fact that there was an important
emigration from Mexico, and yet not one of either Aztecs or "Toltecs."
It must be remembered that the Huastecas, an important branch of the
Maya family, occupied from time immemorial the coast of the Mexican Gulf
north of Vera Cruz, and west to the mountains of Meztitlan, a province
inhabited by a Nahuatl speaking race, but not subject to the dynasty of
the Montezumas.
I have already referred briefly to their history, and it is possible
that after their serious reverses, about 1450, they sent migratory
bodies to their relatives in Yucatan. At any rate, there seems a
consensus of testimony that the general trend of migration of the Maya
race, was from north to south, and in Central America, from west to
east.
We have in this paragraph examples of the use of three of the "numeral
particles." _Cante bin ti katun_, literally, "it (_i. e._ time) went on
for four katuns," and a few lines later _hunpel haab_, one year,
_hunpiztun_, the first year.
The correct translation of _peten_ has been debated; it is from the root
_pet_, anything round, a circle, and usually means "island." By a later
use it signifies any locality with definite boundaries, hence a
province, or kingdom. The following is the entry in the _Diccionario de
Motul_:
"PETEN; isla, _item_ provincia, region, comarca--_uay tu petenil
Yucatan_, aqui en la provincia de Yucatan."
The name of the first leader, Holon Chan Tepeuh, does not recur in the
Annals. Its signification is: _holon_, a generic name for large bees and
flies; _chan_, sufficient, powerful, still in use in Yucatan as a
surname; _tepeuh_, ruler, from _tepeual_, to rule. This last word is
marked in the _Diccionario de Motul_ as a "vocablo antiquo." It is of
Aztec origin, as in the Nahuatl language _tepeuani_ means "conqueror."
The name we are considering should probably be rendered "Holon Chan, the
ruler." The province ruled by the Chan family at the time of the
conquest was on the eastern coast, south of that of the Cupuls.
The name _Chacnouitan_ is elsewhere, as we shall see, spelled
_Chacnovitan_ and _Chacnabiton_. I am inclined to believe the last
mentioned is nearest the correct form. By Pio Perez it was supposed to
be an ancient name of Yucatan, and he translates the phrase, _uay ti
petene Chacnouitan_, by "a esta isla de Chacnavitan (Yucatan)." Dr.
Valentini says: "the translation could as well stand for 'that distant
island,'" and that "Chacnouitan was neither the whole nor the northern
part of Yucatan, but a district situated in the southwest of the
peninsula," (_loc. cit._ p. 38).
With this I cannot agree, as the adverb _uay_ always refers to the place
(in no matter how wide an accepation) where the speaker is. Therefore I
translate it "here, (_i. e._ to this general country of Yucatan, and at
first) to the province Chacnouitan." The province referred to was, I
doubt not, somewhere around Lake Peten. The word _chac_ is often used in
local names in Yucatan, and usually means either "water" or "red," as it
is a homonym with several significations.
Several names similar to it are found in the Peten district. On Lake
Yaxta, are the ruins of the very ancient city Napeten, and that lake may
have once been called "Chac-napeten," "the water of Napeten." Again, on
the road from Peten to Bacalar is the town Chacnabil, and the compound
_Chacnabiltan_ would mean "toward or in the direction of Chacnabil" (see
_Itinerarios y Leguarios que proceden de Merida, etc._, p. 15, Merida,
1851). The Itzas always remembered the Peten district, and when they met
with reverses in northern Yucatan, they returned to it and established
an important State there, which was not destroyed until the last decade
of the seventeenth century.
3. _Hunpel haab minan ti hokal haab_, "one year lacking from five score
years."
The name Ahmekat is probably an old form for _ahmeknah_ or _ahmektan_,
both of which are given in the _Diccionario de Motul_ for chieftain,
leader, captain.
4. _Lai tun_, the relative _lai_ with the particle _tun_, which is
called by Beltran a "particula adornativa." _uchci_ is the aorist of the
defective verb _uchul_, _uchi_, _uchuc_, to happen, to take place, come
to pass. _Emob_ is the third plural of _emel_, to descend, to disembark,
arrive. Pio Perez translates the phrase _ca emob uay lae_, "luego
bajaron aqui." As this was written in the province of Mani, the "here"
now refers in a narrower sense to the vicinity of the writer. The word
_chuulte_ I take to be an error of transcription for _uchci_, as it is
so translated by Pio Perez. It is noteworthy that the word _chicpahci_,
"discovered," conveys the sense that Chichen Itza was already in
existence when the migration here recorded reached northen[TN-15]
Yucatan. It is from _chicul_, a sign or mark by which something is
recognized.
Of the proper names in this section Bakhalal, "the canebrakes" (_halal_,
the cane, _bak_, a roll or enclosure), is the modern province of
Bacalar, on the east coast of the peninsula. _Ziyan caan_ appears to be
used as a synonym of it, or else refers to a part of it. Its meaning is
a picturesque reference to the view from the sea shore, where the
horizon is clearly defined, and the sky seems to rise from the water,
"the birth of the sky;" _Ziyan_, birth, _caan_, sky.
The name Chi C[=h]een Itza was that of one of the grandest ancient
cities of Yucatan. _C[=h]een_ is the name applied to a tract of
low-lying fertile land, especially suitable to the production of cacao
(Berendt); _chi_ is edge or border. It is therefore a name referring to
a locality, "on the border of the _c[=h]een_ of the Itzas." _C[=h]een_
also means well or cistern, and another derivation is "at the mouth of
the well," as _chi_ can also be rendered "mouth;" either of these is
appropriate to the features of the locality, as it is a fertile
low-lying tract with two large natural reservoirs near by.
5. _Paxi_, from _paaxal_, a neuter form of the active verb _pa_, to
break in pieces; it means "to go to pieces, to fall in ruins, to be
depopulated or deserted." Applied to a city it is often translated "to
be destroyed," but it does not convey quite so positive a meaning.
_Kuyan uincob_, "men of God," from _Ku_ the general name for Divinity.
Chichen Itza was one of the chief centres of religious life in Yucatan,
and its priests were esteemed among the most learned in the peninsula.
The name Chanputun, Champoton, or, reversed, Potonchan, is derived by
Gomara from the Nahuatl _potonia_, to smell badly, and _chan_, house (in
composition). Elsewhere, however, we find it in the form Chakanputun,
and this is Maya. _Chakan_ is the term applied to a grassy plain, a
savanna, and it was especially applied to the ancient province in which
the city of Ho, now Merida, was situated, as appears from the following
entry in the _Diccionario de Motul, MS._
"AHCHAKAN: el que es de Merida, o de los pueblos de aquella comarca, que
se llama _Chakan_."
The correct form of the name is probably _Chakan peten_, the savanna
region.
6. The only obscure expression in this section is _yalan che, yalan
aban, yalan ak_. This often recurs in the ancient Maya manuscripts, and
was evidently a well-known formula, probably the refrain of one of their
ancient chants. In Mr. Stephens' translation it is rendered "under the
uninhabited mountains" (!) which is an attempt to render Pio Perez's
words "bajo los montes despoblados," "in the uninhabited forests."
_Aban_ or _haban_ is an obsolete word, only found in compounds, as
_yoxhaban_, huts made of branches. Both it and _ak_ were the names of
various branches or twigs. The phrase is literally "under the trees,
under the branches, under the foliage," and meant that those who thus
lived were homeless and houseless. It is a striking testimony to the
love of solid buildings and walled cities which characterized the Mayas.
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