Nahualá () is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
in the
Sololá department __NOTOC__
Sololá is a city in Guatemala. It is the capital of the department of Sololá and the administrative seat of Sololá municipality. It is located close to Lake Atitlan.
The name is a Hispanicized form of its pre-Columbian name, one sp ...
of
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
. The town is sometimes known as Santa Catalina Nahualá in honor of the town's
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...
,
Saint Catherine of Alexandria
Catherine of Alexandria, also spelled Katherine, was, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess a ...
, but the official name is just "Nahualá". Formerly, the town's name was written Nagualá, and earlier transcriptions of the name in colonial documents include Nauala, Niguala, Niuala, and Navala.
Nahualá or
Nawala' is also the
Kʼicheʼ (Quiché) language name for the
Nahualate River
The Río Nahualate () is a river in southwest Guatemala, originating in the Sierra Madre range, in the vicinity of Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán and Nahualá (Sololá). From there it flows southwards through the coastal lowlands of Suchitepéquez ...
, which is called ''
Niwala''' in the local
Nahualá
Nahualá () is a Municipalities of Guatemala, municipality in the Sololá Department, Sololá department of Guatemala. The town is sometimes known as Santa Catalina Nahualá in honor of the town's patron saint, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, but ...
dialect. The river has its source in the north of the township of Nahualá, and flows through the center of the town's ''
cabecera'' ("head-town").
Nahualá is the location of radio station
Nawal Estereo, the Internet-accessible modern successor to the station
La Voz de Nahualá, which was founded in Nahualá with the assistance of Roman Catholic clerics from the Diocese of Helena Montana in the 1960s. Nowadays, the station broadcasts primarily in the Kʼicheʼ language, with some broadcasts also done in
Kaqchikel and Spanish.
Meaning of the name
Local residents translate the name Nahualá roughly as "enchanted waters," "water of the spirits," and "magical water(s)," and they often object to the common Spanish translation of the name as ''agua de los brujos'' ("water of the shamans"). Scholars have typically argued that the name Nahualá derives from a compound of the
Nahuatl
Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...
term ''
nagual
In Mesoamerican and Toltec spiritual traditions, a Nagual (from the Nahuatl word nāhualli) refers to a human being who can access spiritual power through transformation or deep connection with their tonal counterpart. This ability is not merely ...
'' or ''nahual'' (pronounced NA-wal), meaning "magician"(and related to terms for clear or powerful speech) and the Kʼicheʼ root ''
ja''', meaning "water". However, the loanword ''nawal,'' which entered the Mayan languages about a thousand years ago, came to denote "spirit
or "divine co-essence
, as well as "
shaman
Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...
in Kʼicheʼ. Some Maya linguists have argued apocryphally that the "true" name should be Nawalja' or Nawal-ja', disregarding that the word ja' is regularly apocopated at the ends of words — especially
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...
s — not only in Kʼicheʼ, but also in related Mayan languages. Those who promote the neologisms Nawalja' and Nawal-ja' also ignore that the pronunciation of the
neologism
In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...
s is inconsistent with the pronunciation in
sixteenth-century Kʼicheʼ — and Kaqchikel-Mayan recorded in several early colonial manuscripts written in Latin orthography by members of the native
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...
.
For example, the sixteenth-century
Título Yax mentions a Late Post-classic Period site called "navala" (or "nauala"), located due south of the Yax territory in
San Miguel Totonicapan. Although a few scholars formerly argued that a similarly-named site mentioned in the sixteenth-century
Annals of the Kaqchikel corresponds to the modern community of Nahualá and numerous texts by development, tourism, and political organizations repeat that claim, it may actually correspond to a pre-colonial Nahua-, Kʼicheʼ- and
Tz'utujil-speaking community located some 20 kilometers to the south: San Juan Nahualá or San Juan Nagualapan (later annexed as a ward of the departmental capital of
San Antonio Suchitepéquez San Antonio Suchitepéquez () is a town, with a population of 13,666 (2018 census), and a municipality in the Suchitepéquez department of Guatemala. The municipality is located at an elevation of 300 metres to 500 metres above sea level
Mean s ...
). Nonetheless, the Kaqchikel Annals do mention numerous sites around and within the township, including the hill, Chwi' Raxon, located in the center of the modern cabecera. One of the earliest mentions of Nahualá as a place in the highlands occurs in one of the sixteenth-century Kaqchikel-language
Xpantzay Títulos, which mentions a site called, "chohohche niguala" which is a modern canton of the cabecera of Nahualá: Chojojche' (''
Chojo'j Chee''' = "Dry/Rattling Trees";''
Cho Joj Chee''' = "Before
heCrow Tree").
Several other sixteenth and early seventeenth-century titles in Spanish and Kʼicheʼ mention Nahualá either directly (as "navala" or "nauala") or obliquely, in terms of the landmarks of the community. The
Título de Totonicapán
The ''Título de Totonicapán'' (Spanish for "Title of Totonicapán"), sometimes referred to as the ''Título de los Señores de Totonicapán'' ("Title of the Lords of Totonicapán") is the name given to a Kʼicheʼ language document written around ...
mentions Siija (a Late Post-Classic fortress settlement located atop a hill of the same name, 12 kilometers west of the central plaza of Nahualá) and Pa Raxk'im ("in the green bunchgrass/thatch", the name of the mountain chain that envelops most of the township's highland territory, as well as a Nahualeño canton and village of the same name that is the second most distant canton from the central plaza), for example. Other Nahualeño sites mentioned in that text and other early colonial chronicles include Chi Q'al
'al ("at the throne" a site located near Siija and Chwi'/Cho Poop Ab'aj ("Above/At
heReed-mat Stone
" sites located northeast of the main town, along the pre-colonial road that became part of El
Camino Real during the Spanish period), both of which are mentioned in the
Anales de los Cakchiqueles). Other local sites mentioned in títulos include Chwi' Raxon or Pa Raxon ("above/at the cotinga/verdure/green feathers/wealth," the mountain in the center of the township's head town), Xajil Juyub', Pa Tz'itee', Chwi' Patan, and others.
History
Despite early references to the community, foreign scholars and many Mayas themselves have ironically tended to claim that the community was only founded in the second half of the nineteenth century, promoting particularly apocryphal interpretations of local legends.
Nahualá was settled at least as early as the
Pre-Classic Period. Archaeologist
John Fox, who conducted archaeological surveys in the area during the 1970s, identified structures from the Pre-Classic,
Classic
A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of Masterpiece, lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or Literary merit, highest quality, class, or rank – something that Exemplification, exemplifies its ...
, and
Post-Classic
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE –  ...
Periods.
Grinding stone
Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, used for triturating, crushing or, more specifically, grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones.
Millstones come in pairs: a s ...
s dated to as early as 500 BCE found in archaeological sites around
Quetzaltenango
Quetzaltenango (, also known by its Maya name Xelajú or Xela ) is a municipality and namesake department in western Guatemala. The city is located in a mountain valley at an elevation of above sea level at its lowest part. It may reach above ...
were likely manufactured near the cabecera of Nahualá, where residents still mine volcanic
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
and carve grinding stones that are sold throughout Guatemala's
western highlands.
Population
Nearly the entire population of the municipality is made up of ethnic Kʼicheʼ Maya who speak the Kʼicheʼ language.
The population of the township is estimated to be between 50,000 and 85,000 individuals, about 10% of whom live in the head-town. Statistics vary widely because much of the township's territory and several large villages are also claimed by Nahualá' sister township,
Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán.
Land conflict
Officially, according to the 1779 título of Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán, Nahualá and Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán share their territory according to ancient custom (''mancomunado''). Today, the vast territory of the two municipios covers 218 square kilometers, about 2/3 of which is under the control of Nahualeños (or AjNawala'iib'), the "people of Nahualá". Disputes between the two towns have been common, especially since 1999, when the government of Guatemala arranged for the cabecera of Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán to be moved to the site of Chwi' Patan (nicknamed "Alaska" by a North American Catholic priest who worked in Nahualá during the 1960s) within Nahualá's territory, after the original cabecera of Ixtahuacán in a remote piedmont site was damaged by
Hurricane Mitch
Hurricane Mitch was an extremely deadly and catastrophic Atlantic hurricane, which became the second-deadliest tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin on record. Mitch caused 11,374 fatalities in Central America in 1998, including approximately ...
in 1998.
Officials of the national government negotiated a treaty between the mayors of Nahualá and Ixtahuacán to allow for the re-location of Ixtahuacán's cabecera. However, residents of Ixtahuacán occupied the land in question early, before the treaty was completely negotiated, before the land had been surveyed, and before any compensation had been paid to the town of Nahualá and to the private owners of land in the area. Several Nahualeños were killed and injured by Ixtahuacanecos during conflicts that resulted from Ixtahuacán's precipitous occupation of the Chwi' Patan, which many Nahualeños consider a theft. The national government and the elected local governments or Nahualá and Ixtahuacán subsequently agreed to a modification of the original agreement, but compensation has still not been paid completely. Many Nahualeños refuse to accept the agreement, arguing that neither the general population nor Nahualá's local elders (known as ''principales'' in Spanish and as ''
ri'j'laab''' in Kʼicheʼ) have been given an opportunity to approve the treaty, even though both traditionally hold a higher authority than the elected local officials (such as the town mayor). Nahualeños insist that Ixtahuacanecos have been increasing the size of Nueva Ixtahuacán by illegally seizing farmland from Nahualeños living near the settlement. They also report that Ixtahuacanecos have repeatedly harassed Nahualeño farmers, blocked their access to fields, and destroyed their crops and sheds in the area of Chwi' Pataan.
Since 1999, the government of the Republic of
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
has repeatedly attempted to resolve the conflict between the communities by fixing a border between their respective territories, but its efforts have been thwarted not only by continuing confrontations and land-invasions, but also by a misunderstanding of the complexity of indigenous systems of land-use and property.
Linguistic Affiliation
The principal language of the town is Kʼicheʼ. Although a growing portion of the township is bilingual in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
or castellano, potentially 30% of adults do not speak this national language of Guatemala. Inability to speak Spanish does not always mean that residents are "monolingual." Many local residents, particularly those engaged in trade and those living in the far west and in the far south of the township also speak the closely related
Kaqchikel and
Tz'utijil languages. In addition, a sizeable proportion of the township communicates in an indigenous natural
sign language
Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with #Non-manual elements, no ...
, though many deny linguistic competence. Locals consider the local sign language to be a variety of a widespread (and apparently ancient) language complex that they call ''Meemul Ch'aab'al'' or ''Meemul Tziij,'' literally "mute language(s)." The incidence of congenital or early-onset
deafness
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is writte ...
within the township is very high. The incidence within the cabecera is over 10 times higher than the average worldwide incidence.
Since the 1970s, numerous linguists have produced studies of the Kʼicheʼ dialect of Nahualá, believing that it was a particularly conservative dialect in terms of
phonology
Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often pre ...
and
lexicon
A lexicon (plural: lexicons, rarely lexica) is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word () ...
. Some indigenous Mayas trained linguists have even advocated that the official Kʼicheʼ alphabet used by the
Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala The Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala, or ALMG (English: ''Guatemalan Academy of Mayan Languages'') is a Guatemalan organisation that regulates the use of the 22 Mayan languages spoken within the borders of the republic. It has expended partic ...
(ALMG) should reflect the phonology of the Nahualá. The dialect of Nahualá preserves sounds that have been lost in other Kʼicheʼ communities, including the Kʼicheʼ towns that are most associated with the administration of the pre-colonial
Kʼicheʼ kingdom, such as
Q'uma'rka'aaj (now
Santa Cruz del Quiché
Santa Cruz del Quiché is a city, with a population of 78,279 (2018 census), in Guatemala. It serves as the capital of the El Quiché department and the municipal seat of Santa Cruz del Quiché municipality. The city is located at , at an elevati ...
) and Chwi' Meq'ina' (
San Miguel Totonicapán). Nahualá's local dialect preserves an ancient
Proto-Mayan
Proto-Mayan is the hypothetical common ancestor of the 30 living Mayan languages, as well as the Classic Maya language documented in the Maya inscriptions. While there has been some controversy with Mayan subgrouping, there has been a general ag ...
distinction between five long vowels (aa, ee, ii, oo, uu) and five short vowels (a, e, i, o, u). It is for this conservative linguistic feature that Guatemalan and foreign linguists have actively sought to have the language called "Kʼicheeʼ," rather than Kʼicheʼ or Quiché.
Unlike the most prominent Kʼicheʼ dialects, the Nahualá dialect of Kʼicheʼ also has a phoneme and a phoneme , both of which occur only at the ends of words. Linguists have established firmly that the is a reflex of a proto-Mayan */h/. Linguists have not thoroughly investigated the origin of the phoneme, which occurs only in a small number of words, and therefore is not believed to have enough "phonemic weight" to deserve official recognition.
Notes
References
*
*
External links
Municipal site(in Spanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nahuala
Municipalities of the Sololá Department