Totonac culture

The Totonac civilization, Otoneca or Tutunacu (tutu= three, nacu= heart) is an original Mesoamerican people who mainly inhabits the State Veracruz, northern Puebla and the coastal region. Its temporary location refers to the year 100 to 1520 AD. C. in the late classic and the postclassic. Originally, they formed a confederation of cities, but, in later times, it seems that they were organized into three señoríos: Te, Sur, and Serrano. Their economy was agricultural and commercial. They had large urban centers such as: El Tajín (300-1200), maximum exponent of the splendor of the Totonac culture, Papantla (900-1519) and Cempoala (900-1519).

The three centers or three hearts of their culture stand out for their highly varied ceramics, stone sculpture, and monumental clay architecture.'

Toponymy

According to the Dictionary of the Nahuatl or Mexican Language, the term totonaca is the plural of totonacatl and refers to the inhabitants of the province of Totonacapan. Some authors have pointed out that the term "totonac" means "man of hot land". In the Totonac language, this word is made up of the terms tu'tu or a'ktu'tu referring to the number "three" and I was born which means "heart". The Totonacs use this term in the sense that Cempoala, Tajín and Castillo de Teayo are the three representative centers of the group.

History

View of the main square of the ruins of the city of Cempoala, capital of the Totonaca Nation, the first to establish a military alliance with the Castilian hosts to attack the lordships of the Triple Alliance or φxcān Tlahtolōyān.

The ancient Totonacs developed in the central part of Veracruz and towards the Late Classic, their occupational area reached to the south to the Papaloapan river basin, to the west to the municipalities of Acatlán in the state of Oaxaca, Chalchicomula in the state of Puebla, the Valle de Perote, the mountains of Puebla and Papantla and the lowlands of the Cazones River. The most relevant of the Totonac culture was reached during the late classic when they built ceremonial centers such as El Tajín, Yohualichán, Nepatecuhtlán, Las Higueras, Nopiloa and the Zapotal. This area is known as the totonacapan, the Nahuatl suffix -pan (over) refers to "place" or "earth".

In 1519 a meeting took place between 30 Totonac peoples in the City of Cempoala. This would forever seal their future and that of all Mesoamerican nations. It is about the alliance that they established with the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés to march together to conquer Tenochtitlan. The Totonacs voluntarily contributed 1,300 warriors to the power of Cortés, who for his part, at that time was accompanied by about 500 Spaniards. The reasons for the alliance were to free themselves from the Mexica yoke. Once the defeat of the Mexica empire was achieved, the Totonacs, including those of Cempoala, were left in command of the Crown of Castile, and later evangelized and partly acculturated by the viceroyalty authorities first and Mexican later.

They were turned into serfs by the Spanish under the encomienda system, becoming serfs to settlers and indigenous caciques, particularly in the nascent sugarcane crop, during the governorship of Nuño de Guzmán. Shortly thereafter, Cempoala it was uninhabited and its culture extinguished and forgotten. The ancient Totonac culture was rediscovered at the end of the 19th century by the Mexican archaeologist and historian Francisco del Paso y Troncoso.

Apparently, the Totonacs were part of the Tula empire and from 1450 they were conquered by the Nahuas of the Triple Alliance and joined the troops. Currently, they live in 26 municipalities in the north of the State of Puebla and 14 municipalities in the north of the State of Veracruz, in Mexico, and they preserve their language and ancestral customs.

Religion

The Totonacs, like all Mesoamerican civilizations, were polytheistic. The main cult surrendered to the Sun, with human sacrifices; In addition, they worshiped the Maize Goddess, who was the wife of the Sun, their sacrifices were not human, since "She detested them", instead, they offered her animal sacrifices and offerings of herbs and flowers. Another important divinity was & # 34; Old Thunder & # 34;, the & # 34; Owner of all waters, but not rain & # 34;, he wanted to flood the world, because people who drowned became the servants of him.