Chichimeca
The Chichimecas (from Nahuatl: chīchīmēkatl 'inhabitant of Chichiman') They were the original inhabitants of the north and low-western part of Mexico, a region known as the Great Chichimeca. These original nations were the caxcanes, tecuexes, guamares, zacatecos, guachichiles, pames and jonaces. The settlements were in the current states of Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí and Querétaro. Chichimeca was the generic name that the Mexica and Nahua peoples of Central-South Mexico had given to these inhabitants of the north and west.
Chichimeca had a meaning comparable to the Roman term "barbarian" to describe the Germanic tribes. The name, with its pejorative sense, was adopted by the Spanish. For the Spanish, in the words of the scholar Charlotte M. Gradie, "the Chichimecas were a wild and nomadic people who lived north of the Valley of Mexico. They had no fixed dwellings, they lived by hunting, they dressed scantily and fiercely resisted foreigners encroaching on their territory, which contained silver mines that the Spanish wanted to exploit".
History
According to a tradition in the sources of the XVI century, there is talk of Chichimec groups that invaded the city of Tollan Xicohcotitlan in the 13th century, from this period it is considered that they began to move north and settle as far as the Valley of Mexico.
The Chichimecas who arrived in the Valley of Mexico were the ones commanded by Xolotl, who would later abandon their nomadism to absorb themselves in the sedentary Mesoamerican culture. The initial interaction between the Chichimecas of Xólotl and two surviving Toltecs, Ecihtin and his wife Axochiatl, was through signs, which would indicate that these Chichimecas did not speak Nahuatl, and were likely speakers of an Ottoman language. from Xólotl became part of the Acolhua group.
Once established, the Castilians designated as "Chichimeca towns" to all the inhabitants to the north and center of Mexico and therefore to all the north above the "Mesoamerican border". At the time of Spanish contact, according to Powell, "the four main Chichimeca nations were the Pame, Guamares, Zacatecos, and Guachichiles," the latter two, unlike the Tecuexe, Caxcanes, Tezol, Cocas, Sauzas, and Guaxabanes, had a degree inferior culture, because the rest had shrines and knew agriculture, although it should be noted that most of the Chichimecas were hunter-gatherers and those who knew agriculture were those who lived near rivers or in areas where there were water sources, springs, rivers etc
Etymology
The name comes from the words chīchītl, meaning "breasts" (in ancient times it would mean "milk") and the locative suffix -mān, therefore, in a metaphorical sense, designates "place of the what a sucker. For his part, the chronicler Ixtlilxóchitl in his book Historia de la nación chichimeca attributes the meaning of & # 34; the eagles & # 34; accepting that it comes from another language, although he also acknowledges that in the 17th century they claimed that it sounded in Mexican as "los que maman".
Geographic distribution
The Chichimecas extended north from Querétaro to Saltillo and from Guanajuato to San Luis Potosí; They lived in communities without fixed boundaries, so they constantly came into conflict with other groups, mainly because of food.
Generally they had a cacique as chief, who was the bravest warrior of the tribe. They did not have gods related to fertility, as in Mesoamerican cultures; commonly they worshiped the sun, the moon and other stars.
Their development in the arts was relatively scarce, probably due to their “nomadicism”, which made their cultural level really poor if we compare it with that of the peoples of Mesoamerica.
However, certain Chichimeca peoples managed to build temple-fortresses, ball courts, developed pottery, painting, petroglyphs, etc., all in an unfavorable environment, in an arid zone where the pluvial precipitations are little and where the climate is changeable according to the altitude.
Chichimeca nations
Caxcanes
They were the most numerous and roamed around El Teúl, Tlaltenango, Juchipila, Teocaltiche, Nochistlán, Aguascalientes and Jalisco within the tribe there was a subgroup called “the tezoles”. It is believed that they descend from the 7 tribes that left Aztlán towards the land promised by Huitzilopochtli; This is known from the Miscellaneous Chronicle of Father Antonio Tello (1567-1653), who says that the Caxcanes have a certain language similarity to that of the Mexicas; He makes reference to the fact that "the people of Caxcanes are people who almost speak the Mexica language and boast of descending from the Mexicas, but they do not speak the Mexica language as cultured and refined as they do."
It is also thought that after the collapse of the Chalchihuites culture there was a “displacement towards the south of some elements of the groups that would later be known as caxcanes””; The meaning of the word caxcan translated into Spanish is “there is none”, and this name stuck to them because «when the Spaniards arrived in this province they asked them for food or other things, to which they responded in his tongue 'where shall I take it from?'”
The Caxcanes were conquerors, because throughout their journey they conquered and founded towns such as Ameca, Tuitlán, Juchipila, El Teul, Nochistlán and Teocaltiche, «a center of warlike tecuexes who were allied with their neighbors the Zacatecos and Guachichiles to resist the invasion. One of his last wars was the one caused "by the commercialization of salt (seasoning) that involved a large area and is known as the regional war of 1513." Later the same caxcanes would intervene in the war against the Spanish, known as the Mixtón war (December 1541).
The caxcanes had "a village-level political-social life system, with a larger village as the head, which had several smaller neighborhoods dependent on it." Unlike other Chichimeca groups, the Caxcanes reached a sedentary lifestyle, due to contact with the Otomi and Tarascans.
Guachichiles
They were the most bellicose, they roamed from Saltillo to San Felipe (Torres Mochas). Their center of operations was the Tunal Grande, which, apart from serving as a refuge, was an important source of food. The name guachichil (from Nahuatl: kwachichil) means 'red [painted] heads'. This name was given to them because they painted their heads and bodies red with dye from herbs or from the prickly pear itself and from the dye mines found in San Luis Potosí. They also adorned their hair with red feathers. There are reports of cannibalism among the Guachichiles; This was made known by the Zacatecos with whom they constantly made war; «they affirm that the others who are guachichiles eat human flesh and when they are arrested in the war they eat them...». However, according to Santamarina (2014) from the Complutense University of Madrid, in his article "Salvajes y chichimecas: mitos de alteridad en las fuentes novohispanas" extreme statements regarding the chichimecas must be taken with caution. reserve since, as a result of his analysis of the chronicles from the perspective of Roger Bartra, he found that most of the chronicles from which history is reconstructed during the conquest, are influenced by the myths of otherness of the European tradition, creating a mythical world to describe the savage. Within the same guachichil tribe there were subgroups, some were called “those from Mazapil”, those from “las Salinas” and those that were simply called “chichimecas”.
Guamares
They were concentrated in the Guanajuato region and made incursions as far as Aguascalientes and Lagos. "They were the bravest, most seasoned, most treacherous and most destructive, as well as the most cunning." They had subgroups, some were the "Comanja de Jaso", the so-called "white chichimecas" (because of the whiteness of their skin or the alkaline whiteness of the lands where they lived), and the "copuces".
Pames and Jonaces
“They were the least warlike of all the Chichimeca nations”, this can be understood because they were near Mexico City and Querétaro; they were influenced by the Otomi in religious and social matters. Some of the characteristics of the pames are: «worship of idols; paper offerings; planting and harvest ceremonies, in which a religious chief sprinkled the milpas with blood from his legs (calf); temples (cues) in the hills...». Gonzalo de las Casas says that the word "pame" means "no" in their language, and they were given that name because they said it very frequently. The Pame would presumably speak an Oto-Manguean language of the Oto-Pame group.
Tecuexes
They were located to the east of present-day Guadalajara, it is believed that they came from the dispersion of groups from Zacatecas, probably from La Quemada; This is supposed because architectural remains have been found in the area they inhabited together with the Caxcans: on the hill of Támara, in Bolón, in Teocaltitán, in Corona, Cerrito and in some other places that are to the southwest of Aguascalientes. Like the caxcán group, the tecuexes reached a sedentary lifestyle, especially those who lived in the southern part of the states of Aguascalientes and Jalisco; These were established on the banks of the rivers, which they used to grow beans, squash, corn, chia seeds, etc. In addition, they were artisans, carpenters, stonemasons and petateros, as Motolinía wrote:
anywhere... everyone knows how to work a stone, make a simple house, twist a cord in a rope, and other crafts that do not demand sotile instruments or much art.
Zacatecos
They stretched from Zacatecas to Durango, "they were brave and intrepid warriors, and famous marksmen". The first conquistadors of Zacatecas refer to the fact that they were naked, but "with half dog leggings", from knee to ankle to defend themselves from the roughness of the vegetation. It is worth mentioning that one of the characteristics of the Chichimecas was nudity, although some covered themselves with skins. The Zacatecos are also classified as "the greatest archers in the world", they were excellent marksmen, "if they aim at the eye and hit the eyebrow, they consider it a bad shot". Spanish chroniclers used to say –albeit exaggeratedly–: “on one occasion I saw an orange shot up, and so many arrows were fired at it, that having kept it in the air for a long time, it finally fell into tiny pieces”. Some consider them more civilized than the guachichiles. Although it is not known for certain, it is believed that their language belonged to the Uto-Aztec linguistic family.
Cokes
In ancient times they inhabited the surroundings of Lake Chapala, they are mentioned by Powell as a minor town since they did not represent a problem for the Spaniards. They founded Chapala, Mezcala, Cocula, among other towns. Currently they survive only in Mezcala. They were great painters.
Social organization
The Chichimeca, Zacateco, and Guachichile groups did not have an agricultural way of life and were mainly nomadic or semi-nomadic. Those who had agricultural settlements and implanted techniques to develop it were the tecuexes, caxcanes, pames and guamares. It is not known precisely when they introduced agriculture, although this could be due to the changes that occurred due to the influence of their neighbors, the Otomi and Tarascans.
To farm, they first cut trees, cleared, planted and weeded. They used utensils such as throat axes and coas, both metal and flint, to grow chili, beans, and corn. Before they introduced agriculture, they subsisted on wild fruits and vegetables, they ate prickly pears (from which they made a kind of liquor), seeds, roots, dates and mesquite «they make certain breads from that fruit that they keep for each year».
Hunting was also part of their food base, as they ate rabbits, frogs, fish, etc. Trade was carried out through barter, in which agricultural surpluses, domestic utensils, hunting, handicrafts and pottery were exchanged. «The operations were carried out on public square days in a place called tianquistli or public square». In Historia general de las cosas de la Nueva España, the friar Bernardino de Sahagún mentions that the groups from the south (caxcanes and tecuexes) bartered with the Otomi, with whom they exchanged weapons for agricultural surpluses.
Militia
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The Chichimecas prepared for war with prayers and dances and dances; in the war dance (the mitote), they locked arms with those of their companions, and everyone whirled vigorously in a circle around a bonfire; it is probable that at the time of the mitote they included music with a drum or with the beating of the bow and arrow. In general, the mitote was made at night, and they consumed peyote (péyotl) or bad mushrooms (nanácatl). About the dances and hallucinogens, Sahagún tells us: and they would gather on a plain after having drunk and eaten it, where they would dance and sing night and day, at their pleasure, and this the first day, because the next day they would cry all a lot, and they said that they wiped and washed their eyes and faces with their tears.
The Chichimeca's main weapon was the bow and arrow, which they had great skill in handling. The Chichimeca bow was about two thirds of the length of a medium body and reached, approximately, from the head to the knee [...] the arrow, about two thirds of the length of the bow, was extremely fine. The arrowhead was usually made of obsidian or they were toasted at the sharpened point. To protect himself from the blow of the bowstring, the warrior wore a leather bracelet. They also had other weapons: axes, flint knives, javelins and macanas, which are sticks with clubs at the end and flint blades. Regarding the way of fighting, Fray Juan de Torquemada tells us: they fight naked, smeared with matrices of different colors, and with bows and arrows with flint tips, weapons that because they are made of cane seem weak, but the combat is incredible. havoc that, placed in their hands, they do to armed men and their horses, even if they come covered.[citation needed]
Politics
The policy of this government of the Chichimecas was the cacicazgo, led by the tlatoani, who held the position of maximum civil chief and supreme priest; he dictated very simple laws. "In the caligüe (callihuey, big house) was where the highest authority lived."
On the other hand, Powell mentions that among the Chichimecas there were caudillos who directed a large number of men and that the succession of these was carried out through "assassination, challenge or election". However, Torquemada says that “they do not have kings or lords, but among themselves they choose great robber chiefs with whom they walk in moving herds, divided into gangs; They have no law or concerted religion.”
Sociology
Their clothing was very simple, but they were generally naked (mainly when they went to war); sometimes the men covered their genitals with branches, the women with skins—squirrel, deer, coyote—from waist to knee; they wore huaraches with leather soles. “The caciques had on their backs a blanket made of the skin of a wild cat or other animals, they also brought plumage ornaments. His wife wore naguas and a shirt made of the same skins, the other women also wore a skirt and a huipil made of skins.
As for their physical appearance, men and women wore waist-length hair, some used to paint their hair red, as well as other parts of their bodies, whenever they did this it was when they went to war; snakes, toads, coyotes and other animals that protected them during combat were painted; they also used ornaments such as bone necklaces, earrings or earmuffs. From chronicler sources it is known that they were strong, robust and hairless, "who barely have hair on their beards and all over their bodies", other chroniclers describe them as "of medium height, dark like gypsies and very hairless"; some “were very light, it seemed that they were flying because of their great lightness”.
Language
Because the term Chichimeca refers to a group of peoples, who, although they had similar cultural traits, did not maintain an ethnic or linguistic unity as such. Presumably the Chichimecas speak Utoaztec (probably: Caxcanes, Tecuexes, Zacatecos and Guachichiles) and Otomanguean (certainly: Pames) languages mainly although it is difficult due to the scarcity of linguistic testimonies from the different groups. Among the groups with unclassified languages would be the Guamares. In addition, within each group there would have been diversity of dialects.
The linguistic fragmentation caused serious problems for the friars in their "spiritual conquest", because there was a large number of languages that sometimes the friars were heard saying: "Who wouldn't be surprised to see that in these provinces there are in every town or almost a different language, so much so that the neighbors do not understand it! And it is true that there are towns around here with fifteen neighbors who speak two or three different languages.”[citation required]
Education and distribution of tasks
Marriage practices were of two types: polygamy characterized the Chichimecas from the north, and monogamy those from the south; sometimes there were intertribal marriages to make peace between two peoples. In the southern groups, the one who committed adultery was shot with arrows along with the woman. In married life, when the woman was pregnant, the husband would heat her back with fire, he would pour water on her and, after she had given birth, the husband would kick her two or three times on the back so that the blood would stop flowing [ offspring, son], done this they took the creature and put it in a huacalejo.
It was customary for men to dedicate themselves to hunting, warfare, agriculture and handicrafts; the woman was in charge of collecting fruits and seeds, as well as carrying water in hollow nopales and gourds.
The children had fun training in the use of the bow and arrow; About their amusements, Fray Bartolomé de las Casas tells us: “they had a ball game that here [in Mexico] they call “batey”, which is a ball, the size of a wind ball, but it is heavy and made of resin very leathery tree, which seems nerve, and jumps a lot and play with the hips and dragging the buttocks on the ground, until they beat each other. He also has another set of beans and quills, which are all known among the Indians of these parts...". Fields similar to the one in La Quemada have been found, one in San Luis Potosí –Río Verde–, and the other in the north of Guanajuato. “In the Caxcan region between the state of Jalisco –according to Beals– there are fields for the game in Teocaltiche, Teuchitlán (open with terminal altars) and Teocaltitlán [...] the largest court is 90 m long and is located at the beginning of a platform in Rancho Nuevo Jalisco”.
Culture
These desert groups did not develop magnificent constructions like the Mesoamerican peoples. They commonly lived in natural or artificial caves, sometimes they made their huts out of grass or palm fronds, some others “were small and one-story, with tepetate walls, or adobe with sock and roofs; They also used other materials such as basalt, maguey fibers, and tepetatl.”
The Chichimecas did not develop any type of sculpture either due to their nomadism. The few paintings – petroglyphs and pictograms – that exist are found in caves, ravines, cliffs, rocks, etc. The signs may well represent their gods, animals or scenes from everyday life, but many of them are abstract and incomprehensible. Some of the paintings are located "east from Aguascalientes to Rinos, Ciénega de Mata and Loreto", many of these paintings were covered or erased by the evangelists, who covered the paintings with lime and put Christian symbols on them, "as happened in the caves of Villa García, Zacatecas”.
Religion
The religion of this society was practiced in civic-religious centers by means of priests, sorcerers or sorcerers “who are called madai lame, which means great sorcerer”; In general, these ceremonial centers or shrines (cues) were located on the slopes of the mountains or in high places. The Caxcanes and Tecuexes used the temples as fortresses in times of war, and there are still some ruins “on the Cerro de la Corona, in Bolón, in Teocaltitán, in Támara and in some other places... The most important ceremonial center of The tecuexes and caxcanes was Teocaltitán, "distant 12 km to the east of Jalostotitlán: Teocaltitán: place where temples or teocallis abound."
According to Powell, they worshiped celestial bodies such as the sun and the moon, they also worshiped some animals. However, the chroniclers had this opinion of their gods: “they believe as they disbelieve and do not adore or even [have] adored a known God, but today a stone that they find or make, and tomorrow another different figure and ordinarily of animals, without remaining in none".
They used to burn their dead and keep their ashes. They also carried out burials, which were usually in the mountains where offerings with food and figurines were placed.
The dances they performed around their enemies had a religious concept. Harvest was associated with religion, because "after dancing many dances, [the chief of the tribe] sits on a bench and pricks his calf with a thorn, and sprinkles the cornfield with the blood that comes out, like of blessing”. In their religious rites they used a lot of drinks (alcohol from tuna or maguey) and hallucinogens (peyote).
As could be seen, some Chichimeca groups were not as uncivilized as is normally assumed, because although it is true that their cultural condition was low, they were not lacking in culture either, which makes them even more remarkable, because despite Despite adverse conditions, they managed to survive, even they were the ones who put up the greatest resistance to both spiritual and material conquest.
Art
The ceramics they developed were few; what is known is from the excavations of tombs, where figurines have been found -as offerings- at most 30 and even 50 cm long, there are those belonging to women that show marks on the body -scarification or painting-, and slanted eyes. These figurines were located in San Luis Potosí (guachichil area); They also found fired clay vessels decorated with very simple curves that could perhaps have been painted red or any type of color that appears red.
The handicrafts they produced were scarce, as they were reduced to simple carpenters, weavers and lapidaries, because they knew and worked the flints and knives for the tips of the arrows.