THE TAJIN TOTONAC PART 1 KELLY AND PALERM 



19 



126 ). 38 In any case it would appear that they 

 were not Nahuan. For example, the son of Xolotl, 

 upon meeting a stray Toltec in the Valley of 

 Mexico, was forced to communicate with him by 

 signs (Torquemada 1:44). Probably it is safe 

 to assume that the Toltecs were Nahuan. Sahagun 

 (3:115) states so definitely, and it is said that 

 the two languages used generally in all the "Chi- 

 chimec empire" were "Tulteca, which is called 

 Mexicana" and "Chichimeca" (Ixtlilxochitl 1: 

 482). Allegedly, the Chichimecs did not speak 

 Mexicano generally until the time of Techotla- 

 latzin, their fifth ruler (Ixtlilxochitl 2 : 73). 



These early Chichimec invaders, supposedly 

 Otomian, were reinforced by the arrival of a 

 subsequent (Torquemada 1:258, 261) group, usu- 

 ally called the Teochichimecs. Torquemada 

 (1:261) says flatly that they were "those whom 

 nowadays are called Otomi." M Nevertheless, it 

 appears that the Teochichimecs, like the earlier 

 Olmeca-Zacateca, became Nahuatized. Sahagun 

 (3:116) has them acquire both the Otomi and 

 Mexicano languages; Chavero (in Muiioz Ca- 

 margo, ftn. 4, p. 55) concludes that the original 

 Teochichimecs were not Nahuan but that they 

 learned the language through contact with Mex- 

 icano-speaking peoples. Such a situation might 

 be significant in explaining the bilingual charac- 

 ter of Totonacapan at the time of the Discovery, 

 for the Teochichimecs settled various pueblos, 

 which, a few centuries later, were within Totonac 

 territory. These included "Tuzapan," Papantla, 

 "Tonatico," Chichilintla, Nautla, "Cempoala," and 

 Jalpan (Torquemada 1 : 262, 264, 269). 



Torquemada (1:264) identifies the Teochichi- 

 mecs with the Chichimecs who conquered the 

 Totonac realm about Zacatlan and "Tenamitic." 

 Since he does not distinguish two waves of in- 

 truders in Zacatlan, it must be assumed that the 

 two groups — possibly allied in speech and in cul- 

 tural antecedents — became amalgamated. It seems 

 highly probable that the Chichimec invasion — 

 if not the immediately subsequent Teochichimec 

 incursion — accounts for the presence in historic 



38 At least one group of later Immigrants which affiliated Itself 

 -with Xolotl is said to be Otomf (Boban 1 : 76 ; Ixtlilxochitl 1 : 94 ; 

 Veytia 1 : 254) ; but Ixtlilxochitl (2 : 41) considers their language 

 "very strange and different." 



*• Elsewhere (1:258), Torquemada adds to the confusion by 

 stating that the Teochichimecs came in search of "los primeros 

 Chichimecas, Aculhuas, Tepanecas, Chalmecas, Hulmecas, y 

 Xicalancas, Deudos, y Parientes suios." 



893477—52 3 



times of the small island of Otomi speech just south 

 of Zacatlan (Orozco y Berra, 1864, map facing p. 

 392). 



The conquest of Zacatlan must date from the 

 late twelfth or early thirteenth century. The 1581 

 informants at Cuautenco and Totutla, near Tetela, 

 placed the arrival of the Chichimecs in the Sierra 

 de Puebla during the thirteenth century (Paso y 

 Troncoso 5 : 152, 168) . Although the dating is ap- 

 proximate, it agrees with other evidence. Xolotl 

 and his band moved into the environs of the Valley 

 of Mexico following the fall of Tula (in A. D. 

 1156 or 1168), for they found the site already in 

 ruins (Ixtlilxochitl 1:83; Torquemada 1:42). 

 Ixtlilxochitl (1 : 84, 474) would have them arrive 

 5 years after the destruction of Tula. The second 

 group, the Teochichimecs, appeared on the scene 

 shortly thereafter. 



In other words, the arrival of these invaders in 

 Totonacapan accords surprisingly well with the 

 date (between A. D. 1180 and 1230) calculated 

 for the destruction of the ancient center of Tajin 

 (Garcia Pay on, 1947, p. 305) . Apparently there is 

 no mention of the Papantla area in connection with 

 the Chichimecs of Xolotl ; but the Teochichimecs 

 are said to have peopled a great stretch of country, 

 and among their settlements, Torquemada (1 : 262, 

 269) twice mentions "Tuzapan" and Papantla. 

 Perhaps then the destruction of Tajin is attribu- 

 table to the Teochichimecs rather than to the 

 Chichimecs of Xolotl, although the difference is 

 slight if, as suggested above, the two groups be- 

 came fused at Zacatlan. 



In summary, tradition indicates that the Toltecs 

 were not without ties in Totonacapan — ties which 

 are confirmed by the Tula-affiliated site of 

 Teayo, not far from Papantla. In the years fol- 

 lowing the fall of Tula and the destruction of 

 Toltec power, the population of a great part of 

 Mexico seems to have been extraordinarily fluid. 

 Legends record mass migrations from one area to 

 another, and with each settlement of immigrants, 

 dislocation of earlier inhabitants. 



In the Zacatlan region of the Sierra de Puebla 

 alone, there is recorded the arrival of three im- 

 migrant groups, evidently within the span of a 

 few years following the destruction of Tula. Here, 

 the early Totonac population was overrun by the 

 Nahuatized Olmeca-Zacateca; shortly thereafter, 

 by the apparently Otomian Chichimecs of Xolotl ; 





