THE TAJIN TOTONAC PART 1 KELLY AND PALERM 



27 



god of wind, Ehecatl (Garcia Payon, 1949 b, p. 

 452), who usually is identified with Quetzalcoatl. 

 We may guess that the confusion of Quetzalcoatl 

 with the Spaniards produced as much pleasure and 

 satisfaction among the Totonac as it did despair 

 and bitterness among the Mexicans. Undoubtedly, 

 it favored Cortes' enterprise from the start, in 

 that it disarmed his enemies of the plateau, at the 

 same time that it won him allies in Totonacapan. 



SPANISH-TOTONAC ALLIANCE 



The route followed by Cortes' troops is not diffi- 

 cult to reconstruct along general lines, from the 

 statements of Cortes himself and those of Diaz 

 del Castillo. From the shores of the present Vera- 

 cruz, they followed the coast northward, to the 

 Kio de la Antigua. This stream served, in part, 

 as a boundary between the area dominated directly 

 by the Mexicans and Totonacapan, which latter, 

 although tributary to Moctezuma, preserved some 

 measure of independence. Here, on the river, the 

 Spaniards came upon "some pueblos subject to 

 another great pueblo which is called Cempoal" 

 (Diaz del Castillo 1 : 168) . Crossing the river, the 

 army headed westward, until it met an envoy from 

 the chieftain of "Cempoala," who led them to the 

 city. After a brief stay, the Spaniards continued 

 to "Quiahuixtlan," where they established their 

 base. 



This was the spot where the Spanish-Totonac 

 alliance took form. Here, the principal men of 

 "Cempoala" and "Quiahuixtlan" foregathered; 

 Cortes listened to their long list of grievances 

 against the Mexicans and promised aid. The ar- 

 rival of the tax collectors of Moctezuma almost 

 disrupted plans, for the Totonac leaders lost their 

 recently instilled courage. Nevertheless, the sei- 

 zure of the Mexicans increased Spanish prestige 

 and allowed Cortes to instruct the Totonac to pay 

 no further tribute and to disregard orders from 

 Moctezuma. The realm of the Triple Alliance 

 started to crumble. A large part of the rich and 

 coveted coast, for whose possession Tenochtitlan, 

 Texcoco, and Tacuba had fought since the middle 

 of the preceding century, slid from their grasp 

 without a single battle. The next step was to 

 legalize the alliance by incorporating the Totonac 

 into the Spanish Empire. 61 



Unfortunately, we do not know which pueblos 

 of Totonacapan were included in the pact. Except 

 for "Cempoala," "Quiahuixtlan," and Misantla, 

 the participating towns remain anonymous, al- 

 though it is said that "more than 30 pueblos of 

 the sierras" were involved (Diaz del Castillo 

 1 : 178) ; Cortes (Gayangos, p. 53) raised the num- 

 ber to 50. 



It appears logical to conclude that the allied 

 Totonac zone did not extend north of Nautla, 

 where there was a strong Mexican garrison, or 

 south of the domain of "Cempoala," that is, the 

 Rio de la Antigua. The sierras mentioned in the 

 chronicles do not refer to the great cordillera along 

 the borders of modern Veracruz and Puebla, inas- 

 much as Cortes (Gayangos, p. 53) speaks of the 

 "sierra comarcana a la dicha Villa," which clearly 

 indicates a point near "Cempoala." Presumably, 

 then, the sierras were the mountainous zone which 

 is found between the Rio de la Antigua and the 

 Rio de Nautla and which runs more or less paral- 

 lel to and about 40 km. inland from the Gulf 

 shores. Since Misantla informants in the late 

 sixteenth century stated explicitly that their lead- 

 ers had gone to Veracruz Vieja, to render homage 

 to Cortes (Relacion de Misantla), it may be as- 

 sumed that their pueblo was one of those of the 

 sierra. 



Word of the alliance spread widely, 52 and war 

 broke out, as it had years before, in Cotaxtla, Tux- 

 pan, and other pueblos (Appendix B), with a 

 general massacre of Mexicans. But this time, 

 vengeance was not forthcoming, and Moctezuma 

 was indifferent to offenses which on other occa- 

 sions had brought destruction upon the pueblos 

 and slavery or death to its inhabitants. 



The only military episode to take place before 

 Cortes left for Tenochtitlan was that of "Zim- 

 pancingo" or "Cingapacinga" (Diaz del Castillo 

 1: 181). This pueblo presumably is to be identi- 

 fied with the "Tizapancingo" which appears on the 

 Patiho map (Coleccion Orozco y Berra, No. 57). 

 In any case, there was a Mexican garrison in "Zim- 

 pancingo" and the chieftain of "Cempoala," com- 



" "Entonces prometieron todos aquellos pueblos y caciques a 

 una que serfan con nosotros en todo lo que les quisigsemos mandar, 



893477—52 4 



y juntarfun sus poderes contra Montezuma y todos sus aliados. 

 Y aquf dieron la obediencia a Su Majestad, por ante un Diego de 

 Godoy, el escribano, y todo lo que pas6 lo enviaron a deeir a los 

 mas pueblos de aquella provincia" (Dfaz del Castillo 1 : 178). 



M ". . . corrlo por toda aquella Costa, y SerranJa, se rebelaron 

 mucbos Lugarcs, y Sefiores, y toda aquella Tlerra : No dexaron 

 Recaudador ntnguno de Mexico, y publicaron Guerra abierta 

 contra Alotecuhcuma . . . (Torquemada 1:403). 



