THE TAJIN TOTONAC PART 1 KELLY AND PALERM 



51 



The itching is severe, and children, scratching with 

 grubby hands, often turn aradores into nasty sores. 

 Ants crawl over the youngsters who sleep on the 

 floor and feed on the sores. The end result is not 

 attractive. 



Chiggers (niguas, stokono) occur in quantity 

 about houses where swine have been kept. Many 

 Totonac go barefoot, and these pests penetrate the 

 feet, especially about the nails. Careful parents 

 inspect their offspring almost daily for ticks, 

 aradores, and chiggers; but one lad, whose family 

 gives the matter little attention, is scarcely able to 

 hobble because of chiggers embedded in his feet. 



PLACE NAMES 



Our impression is that the Tajin Totonac are 

 well adjusted to the local environment and that, in 

 all probability, their residence in this, or nearby 

 terrain, is of long standing. Accordingly, the vir- 

 tual want of Totonac place names is quite remark- 

 able. The few Totonac names we have been able 

 to record for settlements are listed below ; it will 

 be noted that several are derived from trees. 



Coxquihui. This is said to be the Totonac name of a 

 wild cane "thicker than carrizo." It does not occur at 

 Tajin, hence no specimen was available for identification. 



Escolin. Two small settlements, one in the municipal 

 unit of Papantla and one in Coatzintla, derive their names 

 from a monte alto tree, known in Totonac as skolin (Ap- 

 pendix C, No. 338 ; subsequent numbers in parentheses, 

 following the name of a plant, refer to this same ap- 

 pendix). 



Ojital. This community is said to be called kajuksupun 

 (lu gar de muchos ojites). The ojite (No. 9S) is another 

 monte alto tree. We suspect that the native term may be 

 a translation from Spanish and not the reverse ; in conver- 

 sation, Ojital generally is called by its Spanish name. 



Papantla. Among the Tajin Totonac, Papantla is known 

 merely as kattikin (pueblo; chkP, houses). When speak- 

 ing Spanish, a Totonac translates literally, calling Pa- 

 pantla, rather grandly, el pueblo (the town). 



Papantla probably is not a Totonac term (Patino, p. 15), 

 although a sixteenth-century account says that it was 

 founded by a chief for whom the town was named (Rela- 

 tion de Papantla). One commonly hears (cf. Patiiio, p. 

 15) that when the area was forested, there were many 

 birds known as papanes (Appendix D, No. 25) and that 

 as one passed they raised a great clatter. From this, some 

 informants believe that the modern name may be derived. 



There is a further suggestion that the name might 

 come from papdn, an unidentified tree ; and two nine- 

 teenth-century writers (Bausa, p. 380; Anonymous, p. 

 105) translate the term as luna, buena (good moon; the 

 Totonac term for moon is papa). 

 893477—52 5 



Tajin. Concerning the origin of this name, there also, 

 are numerous versions. One informant says that a col- 

 umn of smoke, seen from afar, is called jin, in Totonac. 

 When there are several such columns, the name is tajin. 

 Accordingly, a free translation would be "columns of 

 smoke, seen from afar." It is not difficult to account for 

 columns of smoke, because Totonac religious observances 

 apparently included a perpetual fire (Las Casas, p. 461), 

 and hearths are found adjacent to ancient Totonac reli- 

 gious structures ( Garcia Payon, 1949 c, p. 647). 



A slightly different etymology is suggested by Palerm, 

 who notes that an eighteenth-century document (AGN, 

 No. 5) speaks of "tierras nombradas Catahin." We may 

 assume that "bin" or jin means smoke. Another document 

 (AGN, No. 4) mentions two places, "Catachagni" and 

 "Catapozgatayanque" ; and the same document translates 

 these terms respectively as "lugar aplanado con torta de 

 Gal" and "el Rajadero." It is possible that "cata" may 

 be a prefix indicating place. Accordingly, the translation 

 of "Catahin" would be "place of smoke." In this case, 

 Tajin might be a modern contraction of Totonac 

 "Catahin." 



Moreover, in Totonac legend, 12 old men, known as 

 tajin, live within the ruins of the famous pyramid, and 

 it is they who control the thunder. Some informants 

 would derive the place name from these legendary beings. 

 In any case, the frequently cited translation of rayo or 

 trueno (Gazeta de Mexico, p. 350) probably is inaccurate. 



Talaxca. The little Totonac settlement of this name, 

 north of Papantla, is called after a cultivated tree, talaska 

 (No. 195). 



Tlahuanapa. Both the settlement and the arroyo of 

 Tlahuanapa, immediately south of Tajin, are called 

 sakaskan in Totonac ; we could obtain no translation. 



This exhausts our list of pueblo names, although 

 for several towns in the Sierra de Puebla, Lom- 

 bardo Toledano (p. 14) gives Totonac equivalents. 

 Krickeberg (p. 160) lists four place names which 

 he thinks possibly of Totonac origin : Achichipec, 

 Altapan, Chintapan, and Taxca. For the first, 

 our informant could suggest only a vague resem- 

 blance to sipe (cerro, hill) ; for the second, nakta- 

 pak (cerro o monticulo, hill or rise, either natural 

 or artificial) ; for the third, nothing whatsoever. 

 For the last, he suspects a derivation from taskat' 

 (miel, honey). 



In the Tajin area, the want of Totonac place 

 names is not confined to pueblos. Ordinarily, hills, 

 fields, and other similar spots seem to be equally 

 innocent of names. If one wishes to refer to a 

 certain maize field, he identifies it by the name 

 of the owner or of the planter. This is in marked 

 contrast to western Mexico as a whole, where vir- 

 tually every field, pasture, and hill, however, in- 

 significant, has its individual name. Three local 



