THE TAJIN TOTONAC 



Part 1. History, Subsistence, Shelter, and Technology 



By Isabel Kelly and Angel Palerm 



TOTONAC AND TOTONACAPAN 



Early recognized as one of the major ethnic 

 groups of Mexico, the Totonac are mentioned, al- 

 though not in detail, by virtually all the early 

 chroniclers. 



The etymology of the name is unknown. That 

 suggested by Patino, 4 "three hearts" or "three bee- 

 hives," seems somewhat artificial, although it is 

 not impossible that his less literal translation of 

 "three centers" may coincide with the modern 

 dialectic areas (Aschmann, p. 34). Our inform- 

 ants agree readily to his translation of the com- 

 ponent parts of the term but are unable to offer 

 a translation of "Totonac" as such. 



Slightly less studied is a late sixteenth-century 

 explanation offered by residents of the Totonac 

 pueblo of Jonotla, 5 who claim that the name ap- 

 plied to the "people and all this province and cor- 

 dillera" is derived from that of an idol called Toto- 

 nac. However, the 1581 informants from the 

 Tetela region of the Sierra de Puebla state that 

 the name means "people who come from where the 

 sun rises" (Paso y Troncoso 5 : 152, 168) . 



4 "Totonaco. Palabra compuesta de toto, tres y de naco, 

 coraz6n 6 panal que forman unas avispas negras, significando por 

 lo mismo, 'tres corazones 6 tres panales' (totonaco del rumbo de 

 Chieonquiaco y del antiguo Zempoala) ; aquf en Papantla, tres en 

 totonaco se dice 'Tutu' y corazfln 'Nacu. En senido figurado 

 podrfa traducirse por 'tres centros,' (porque asi como el corazdn 

 es el centro de la circulacidn de la sangre, puede eonsiderarse el 

 panal como un centro donde reside 6 afluye un pueblo de avejas ; 

 en cuya acepci6n, en mi concepto, la aplicaron los primitivos 

 totonacos para significar, quiza, que su territorio se componia de 

 tres Estados 6 Cacicazgos en cuyas capitales 6 centros residfan 

 los Caciques Soberanos" (PatiBo, p. 5). 



5 "... y que tenian vn ydolo a quien sacriflcaban llamado 

 TOTONAC, y que no savian ques la causa de llamarle deste 

 uonbre, y que por este ydolo les llamauan los comarcanos a ellos 

 Totonacas, y que asi oy en dia se an quedado con este nonbre este 

 pueblo y toda esta prouingia y cordillera . . ." (Paso y Troncoso 

 5: 128). 



Sahagun offers still another explanation. Ac- 

 cording to him, Totonac, together with certain 

 other ethnic designations, are derogatory terms 

 indicating, presumably in Nahuatl, little capacity 

 or ability; however, his chief charge seems to be 

 that the people of the lowlands are "too dressed up, 

 and with flowers (roses) in their hands, and were 

 very timid and rustic, or dull." G 



Eegardless of etymology, the term "Totonac" 

 is well established in the literature. It is not clear 

 how soon after the Discovery the Spaniards asso- 

 ciated it with the people who later bore that name. 

 The first Totonac known definitely to have had 

 contact with the Spaniards was a delegation of 

 five, sent from "Cempoala" to inspect Cortes' en- 

 tourage. Diaz del Castillo ( 1 : 160 ) calls their lan- 

 guage "totonaque," but since he wrote some 40 

 years after the incident, he may have projected 

 a subsequent association into the past. Cortes 

 himself does not mention the Totonac by name, nor 

 does Oviedo, who, by his own statement, relied 

 heavily upon the letters of Cortes. Gomara 



a "Estos vocablos ya dichos, tlalhuicatl, totonac, toueyo, denotan 

 en si poca capacidad o habilidad, y asi al que es inhabil o tosco 

 le llaman de tlalhuicatl, o totonac, o cuexticatl, o toueyo . . . 

 Sus defectos que tiene son que andan demasiadamente ataviados, y 

 con rosas en las nianos, y eran muy timidos y toscos o torpes" 

 (Sahagun 3: 132). 



Moreover, a sixteenth-century source from Jalisco gives Totonac 

 as the equivalent of rustic : "La otra lengua es totonac, que 

 quiere decir en nuestra lengua 'los rudos' " (Relaci6n de Ameca, 

 p. 252). 



Evidently Totonac, like a number of other terms, may be ap- 

 plied to linguistically diverse groups which are considered rude or 

 rustic. Perhaps for this reason, there are occasional references 

 to Totonac in various parts of the country, well removed from 

 the area we associate with them. One report, for example, has 

 Totonac in the jurisdiction of old "Antequera" (Epistolario 

 2: 90). 



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