The Totonac are an
indigenous people of Mexico
Indigenous peoples of Mexico ( es, gente indígena de México, pueblos indígenas de México), Native Mexicans ( es, nativos mexicanos) or Mexican Native Americans ( es, pueblos originarios de México, lit=Original peoples of Mexico), are those ...
who reside in the
states of
Veracruz
Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
,
Puebla
Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...
, and
Hidalgo
Hidalgo may refer to:
People
* Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility
* Hidalgo (surname)
Places
Mexico
* Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico
* Hidalgo, Coahuila, a town in the north Mexican state of Coahuila
* Hidalgo, Nuevo Le ...
. They are one of the possible builders of the
pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...
city of
El Tajín
El Tajín is a pre-Columbian archeological site in southern Mexico and is one of the largest and most important cities of the Mesoamerican chronology, Classic era of Mesoamerica. A part of the Classic Veracruz culture, El Tajín flourished from ...
, and further maintained quarters in
Teotihuacán
Teotihuacan (Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is known today as the ...
(a city which they claim to have built). Until the mid-19th century they were the world's main producers of
vanilla
Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia'').
Pollination is required to make the p ...
.
Etymology
The term "totonac" refers to the people living in Totonacapan. There is no agreement as to the origin of the term. Some authors have translated the term "totonac" as a
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 Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...
word meaning "People of Hot Land".
The translation for this word in the Totonac Language, according to sources, is "toto-nacu" meaning "three hearts" signifying their three cities or cultural centers:
Cempoala
Cempoala or Zempoala (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 Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly ...
,
Tajin and
Teayo. Evidence, however, is inconclusive.
Geography and traditional lifestyle
![Zempoala-06](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Zempoala-06.jpg)
In the 15th century, the Aztecs labeled the region of the Totonac "
Totonacapan
Totonacapan refers to the historical extension where the Totonac people of Mexico dominated, as well as to a region in the modern states of Veracruz and Puebla. The historical territory was much larger than the currently named region, extending fro ...
"; which then extended roughly from
Papantla
Papantla () is a city and municipality located in the north of the state of Veracruz, Mexico, in the Sierra Papanteca range and on the Gulf of Mexico. The city was founded in the 13th century by the Totonacs and has dominated the Totonacapan regio ...
in the north to Cempoala in the south. Totonacapan was largely hot and humid. Along with the normal agricultural crops of maize, manioc, squash, beans, pumpkin and chili peppers, the region was noted for its production of
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
. Even during the disastrous central Mexican famine of 1450-1454, the region remained a reliable agricultural center. At that time, many
Aztecs
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...
were forced to sell themselves or their family members as
slave
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
s to the Totonac in exchange for subsistence maize.
Diet
There is a total absence of
comals,
metate
A metate (or mealing stone) is a type or variety of quern, a ground stone tool used for processing grain and seeds. In traditional Mesoamerican cultures, metates are typically used by women who would grind nixtamalized maize and other organic ma ...
s and
manos meaning the Totonacs did not eat
tortilla
A tortilla (, ) is a thin, circular unleavened flatbread originally made from maize hominy meal, and now also from wheat flour. The Aztecs and other Nahuatl speakers called tortillas ''tlaxcalli'' (). First made by the indigenous peoples of Me ...
s; however, even though corn was grown it did not form a large part of their diet. The Totonacs ate fruit, most notably
zapote
Zapote the fifth district of the San José canton, in the San José province of Costa Rica. It is one of the administrative units surrounding San José downtown (officially composed of the districts of El Carmen, Merced, Hospital and Catedr ...
s, guavas, papayas,
plantain
Plantain may refer to:
Plants and fruits
* Cooking banana, banana cultivars in the genus ''Musa'' whose fruits are generally used in cooking
** True plantains, a group of cultivars of the genus ''Musa''
* ''Plantaginaceae'', a family of flowerin ...
s and avocados. Men hunted and fished shark, turtle, deer, armadillo, opossums, and frogs. Women raised turkeys and dogs. Peasants as well as nobles ate corn porridge in the morning. Lunch was the main meal of the day and consisted of manioc, bean stew or even a rich meat sauce for the nobles. Fish and seafood as well as game was eaten by both nobles and farmers. The agave provided liquor.
Clothing
Totonac women were expert weavers and embroiderers; they dressed grandly and braided their hair with
feather
Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier ...
s. The
Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...
friar
Bernardino de Sahagún
Bernardino de Sahagún, OFM (; – 5 February 1590) was a Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer who participated in the Catholic evangelization of colonial New Spain (now Mexico). Born in Sahagún, Spain, in 1499, he ...
stated that, in all aspects of their appearance, the women were "quite elegant", women wore skirts (embroidered for the nobles) and a small triangular poncho covering the breasts. Noble women wore shell and jade necklaces and earrings and often tattooed their faces with red ink. Married women wore their hair in the
Nahuatl fashion while peasant women wore their hair long. Likewise, the noble men dressed well, adorning themselves with multicolored cloaks, loin cloths, necklaces, arm bands, lip plugs and devices made of the prized
quetzal
Quetzals () are strikingly colored birds in the trogon family. They are found in forests, especially in humid highlands, with the five species from the genus ''Pharomachrus'' being exclusively Neotropical, while a single species, the eared quet ...
feathers. Hair was kept long with a thick tuft of hair on the top tied up with a ribbon.
Housing
Houses were generally thatched and had an overhang. They were rectangular in shape.
History
The region of Totonacapan was subject to Aztec military incursions from the mid-15th century until the Spanish arrival. Despite the establishment of Aztec fortifications throughout the region, rebellion was endemic. Major Totonac centers were
Papantla
Papantla () is a city and municipality located in the north of the state of Veracruz, Mexico, in the Sierra Papanteca range and on the Gulf of Mexico. The city was founded in the 13th century by the Totonacs and has dominated the Totonacapan regio ...
, with an estimated population of 60,000 in 1519,
Xalapa
Xalapa or Jalapa (, ), officially Xalapa-Enríquez (), is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of which ...
(around 120,000), and
Cempoala
Cempoala or Zempoala (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 Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly ...
(around 80,000). Cempoala was the first
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
city state visited by
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (; ; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of w ...
in his march to the Aztec capital of
Tenochtitlán
, ; es, Tenochtitlan also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, ; es, México-Tenochtitlan was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear. The date 13 March 1325 was ...
.
[Diaz, B., 1963, The Conquest of New Spain, London: ]Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.[Tlaxcalan
Tlaxcala (; , ; from nah, Tlaxcallān ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipaliti ...]
Indians, contributed significantly to the Spanish conquest. Totonacapan became incorporated into the Spanish regime with comparatively little violence, but the region was ravaged by epidemic diseases during the 16th century. Today, approximately 90,000 Totonac
The Totonac are an indigenous people of Mexico who reside in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo. They are one of the possible builders of the pre-Columbian city of El Tajín, and further maintained quarters in Teotihuacán (a city wh ...
speakers reside in the region.
Language
The Totonac people traditionally speak Totonac
The Totonac are an indigenous people of Mexico who reside in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo. They are one of the possible builders of the pre-Columbian city of El Tajín, and further maintained quarters in Teotihuacán (a city wh ...
, which, together with Tepehua, form a small language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in hist ...
. This means that Totonacan languages are not related to other Native Mesoamerican languages such as those in the Mayan
Mayan most commonly refers to:
* Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Mayan languages, language family spoken ...
, Oto-Manguean
The Oto-Manguean or Otomanguean languages are a large family comprising several subfamilies of indigenous languages of the Americas. All of the Oto-Manguean languages that are now spoken are indigenous to Mexico, but the Manguean branch of the ...
or Uto-Aztecan
Uto-Aztecan, Uto-Aztekan or (rarely in English) Uto-Nahuatl is a family of indigenous languages of the Americas, consisting of over thirty languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found almost entirely in the Western United States and Mexico. The na ...
families. There are several local varieties of Totonac that are not mutually intelligible. The first grammatical and lexical descriptions of Totonac accessible to Europeans (now lost) were by Fray Andrés de Olmos
Andrés de Olmos (c.1485 – 8 October 1571) was a Spanish Franciscan priest and grammarian and ethno-historian of Mexico's indigenous languages and peoples. He was born in Oña, Burgos, Spain and died in Tampico in New Spain (modern-day T ...
, who also wrote the first such descriptions of 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 Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...
and Huastec Huastec can refer to either:
*Huastec people, an indigenous group of Mexico
*Huastec language (also called "Wasteko" and "Teenek"), spoken by the Huastec people
* Huastec civilization
The Huastec civilization (sometimes spelled Huaxtec or Wastek ...
(Teenek).
The main varieties of Totonac are:
* Papantla Totonac: spoken by some 80,000 speakers in El Escolín, Papantla
Papantla () is a city and municipality located in the north of the state of Veracruz, Mexico, in the Sierra Papanteca range and on the Gulf of Mexico. The city was founded in the 13th century by the Totonacs and has dominated the Totonacapan regio ...
, Cazones, Tajín, Espinal, and other towns along the Gulf Coast of Veracruz.
*North-Central Totonac: spoken roughly between Poza Rica
Poza Rica (), formally: Poza Rica de Hidalgo is a city and its surrounding municipality in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Its name means "rich well/pond". It is often thought that the name came to be because it was a place known for its abundance ...
in Veracruz and Mecapalapa, Pantepec, and Xicotepec de Juárez
Xicotepec (in Nahuatl: xico; tepetl, ' jicote or bumblebee; hill' 'Hill of jicotes'') is one of the 217 municipalities that make up the Mexican state of Puebla in central-eastern Mexico. It is located within the Sierra Norte de Puebla and belon ...
in Puebla.
*South-Central Totonac: spoken mostly in the Sierra Norte de Puebla
The Sierra Norte de Puebla is a rugged mountainous region accounting for the northern third of the state of Puebla, Mexico. It is at the intersection of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and the Sierra Madre Oriental, between the Mexican Plateau ...
, including the towns of Zapotitlán de Méndez
Zapotitlán de Méndez is a town and municipality in Puebla in south-eastern Mexico
Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North Am ...
, Coatepec, and Huehuetla in Puebla.
*Misantla Totonac
Misantla Totonac, also known as Yecuatla Totonac and Southeastern Totonac (Totonac: ''Laakanaachiwíin''), is an indigenous language of Mexico, spoken in central Veracruz in the area between Xalapa and Misantla. It belongs to the Totonacan famil ...
: spoken by fewer than 500 people in Yecuatla
Yecuatla is a municipality located in the north zone in the State of Veracruz, about 40 km from state capital Xalapa. It has a surface of 135.72 km2. It is located at . The name comes from the language Náhuatl, Yec-uauh-tlan; that means ...
and other communities outside the city of Misantla
Misantla is a city in the Mexican state of Veracruz, the administrative seat of the municipality ''(municipio)'' of the same name. The municipality is bordered by Martínez de la Torre, Colipa and Papantla.
Misantla is located in the valley of ...
, Veracruz.
Religion
Most present-day Totonacs are Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
. However, their Christian practice is often mixed with vestiges of their traditional religion, a notable instance being ''la Costumbre'', a survival of an old rite of sacrifice in which various seeds are mixed with earth and the blood of fowls and dispersed over the planting fields.
The traditional religion was described in the early 1960s by the French ethnographer, Alain Ichon. No other major essay on Totonac religion has been found. Mother goddesses played a very important role in Totonac belief, since each person's soul is made by them. If a newly born child dies, its soul "does not go to the west, the place of the dead, but to the east with the Mothers". Ichon has also preserved for posterity an important myth regarding a maize deity, a culture hero
A culture hero is a mythological hero specific to some group ( cultural, ethnic, religious, etc.) who changes the world through invention or discovery. Although many culture heroes help with the creation of the world, most culture heroes are imp ...
with counterparts among most other cultures of the Gulf Coast and possibly also represented by the Classic Maya maize god
Like other Mesoamerican peoples, the traditional Maya civilization, Maya recognize in their staple crop, maize, a vital force with which they strongly identify. This is clearly shown by their mythological traditions. According to the 16th-century P ...
. As to traditional curers, it is believed that they "are born during a storm, under the protection of thunder. They think that a lightning bolt strikes the house of a new-born baby ..., and makes it ... under its possession".
Other known deities include Chichiní (the sun[ ]) and Aktzin
Aktzin (alternate spellings: Aktsin, Aktsini, Aktziní) was the god of rain, thunder and lightning for the Totonac people in ancient Mexico. Variants of this deity were known as Tláloc to the Aztecs and Chaac to the Mayas.
Aktzin was typical ...
.
See also
*Danza de los Voladores de Papantla
The ''Danza de los Voladores'' (; "Dance of the Flyers"), or ''Palo Volador'' (; "flying pole"), is an ancient Mesoamerican ceremony/ritual still performed today, albeit in modified form, in isolated pockets in Mexico. It is believed to have ...
*Maya maize god
Like other Mesoamerican peoples, the traditional Maya civilization, Maya recognize in their staple crop, maize, a vital force with which they strongly identify. This is clearly shown by their mythological traditions. According to the 16th-century P ...
*Aktzin
Aktzin (alternate spellings: Aktsin, Aktsini, Aktziní) was the god of rain, thunder and lightning for the Totonac people in ancient Mexico. Variants of this deity were known as Tláloc to the Aztecs and Chaac to the Mayas.
Aktzin was typical ...
Notes
References
*James Olson, ed. ''Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Empire, 1402-1975'', 1992.
*I. Bernal and E. Dávalos, ''Huastecos y Totonacos'', 1953.
*H.R. Harvey and Isabel Kelly, "The Totonac," in ''Handbook of Middle American Indians'', 1969.
*Isabel Kelly and Ángel Palerm, ''The Tajín Totonac'', 1952.
*Ichon, A. : ''La religión de los totonacas de la sierra''. México : Instituto Nacional Indigenista, 1973.
* ELLISON, Nicolas: Semé sans compter. Appréhension de l'environnement et statut de l'économie en pays totonaque (Sierra de Puebla, Mexique). Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, 2013.
* Ellison, N., 2020.
Altepet / Chuchutsipi: Cosmopolítica territorial totonaca-nahua y patrimonio biocultural en la Sierra Nororiental de Puebla
, Revista TRACE, 78, CEMCA, julio 2020, págs. 88-122, ISSN: 2007-2392.
* LOZADA VÁZQUEZ, Luz María: El papel de Progresa en la reproducción de las unidades domésticas campesinas : Estudio en una comunidad totonaca de Huehuetla, Puebla, Mexico, Universidad nacional autónoma de México, 2002.
* LOZADA VÁZQUEZ, Luz María: « Chaleur et odeurs pour nos morts. La cuisine cérémonielle de la Fête des Morts dans une communauté Totonaque de Puebla, Mexique », in Food and History 6 (2) 2008 : 133-154.
* Ellison, N : « Symbolisme sylvestre et rapports d’altérité dans une danse rituelle totonaque ». Annales de la Fondation Fyssen. n°22, 2007, pp. 83–97.
* Ellison N.: « Au service des Saints : Cultiver la forêt, nourrir la terre, protéger la communauté » in Cahiers d’Anthropologie Sociale, N°3, 2007, pp. 81–96.
* Ellison N. : « Les enjeux locaux de la ‘reconstitution des peuples indiens’ au Mexique. Reconfiguration des rapports entre minorités et pouvoirs publics, le cas totonaque », in Cahiers des Amériques Latines, N°52, (Novembre-Décembre), 2006 ; pp. 5.
* Ellison N. : « Une écologie symbolique totonaque, le municipe de Huehuetla (Mexique) », Journal de la Société des Américanistes, pp. 35-62, Tome 90-2, 2004.
* Ellison N. : « Cambio ecológico y percepción ambiental en la región totonaca de Huehuetla ». Actes du colloque international «Territoires et Migrations » (Zacatecas, Mexique), Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología, Mexico. Version publiée dans la revue électronique Nuevo Mundo, Mundos Nuevos (CNRS/EHESS), 2003, n°3.
External links
Interdisciplinary bibliography of research on the Totonac culture
* Ellison, N.
Semé sans compter. Appréhension de l'environnement et statut de l'économie en pays totonaque
* Ellison, N., 2020.
Altepet / Chuchutsipi: Cosmopolítica territorial totonaca-nahua y patrimonio biocultural en la Sierra Nororiental de Puebla
* Ellison N.
Cambio ecológico y percepción ambiental en la región totonaca
* Ellison, N.
Les Totonaques aujourd’hui, entre crise du développement et nouvelles revendications
* Lozada Vazquez, L.M
Chaleur et odeurs pour nos morts. La cuisine cérémonielle de la Fête des Morts totonaque
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