Tz'utujil
Encyclopedia
The Tz'utujil are a Native American
people, one of the 21 Maya
ethnic groups that dwell in Guatemala
. Together with the Xinca
, Garífunas (Black Caribs) and the Ladinos, they make up the 24 ethnic groups in this relatively small country. Approximately 100,000 Tz'utujil live in the area around Lake Atitlán
. Their pre-Columbian
capital, near Santiago Atitlán
, was Chuitinamit. In pre-Columbian times, the Tz'utujil nation was a part of the ancient Maya civilization
.
The Tz'utujil are noted for their continuing adherence to traditional cultural and religious practices. Evangelical Protestantism and Roman Catholicism are also practiced among them. They speak the Tz'utujil language
, a member of the Mayan language family
.
, inhabiting the southern watershed of Lake Atitlán, in the Solola region of the Guatemalan highlands.
Today they dwell in the towns of San Juan La Laguna
, San Pablo La Laguna
, San Marcos La Laguna
, San Pedro La Laguna
, Santiago Atitlán
, Panabaj
, Tzanchaj, (believed to have been the inspiration, because of its similar sound, for the name "Santiago") and a very few in San Lucas Tolimán
, although they used to inhabit a much wider region. In 1523 the Spanish conquistador
Pedro de Alvarado
, with the help of the Cakchiquel
Maya, defeated them in a battle close to the town of Panajachel
in which they lost a portion of their lands, and the control of the lake.
Although tourism is now an increasing source of income, many still practice traditional methods of farming of the two main crops in the region, coffee
and maize
(corn). Tourism is benefiting most significantly from the work of talented artists and weavers who are anxious to gain recognition for the notable creativity and uniqueness of what they offer to the world community. San Juan is one of three Tz'utujil communities where artists have adapted the international genre of Arte Naif to express the cultural traditions, beliefs, ceremonies and daily activities of their indigenous culture. This form of art and its most accomplished of the Tz'utjil practitioners have been recognized in the definitive UNESCO-sponsored book on the subject, Arte Naif: Contemporary Guatemalan Mayan Painting, 1998. The weavers of San Juan are among the very few indigenous artisans who make their own dyes for the thread they use. In the case of San Juan weavers, they produce the dyes largely from plants grown locally.
In 2005, several hundred Tz'utujil died in the mudslides caused by Hurricane Stan
. From Panabaj and Tzanchaj, rescuers recovered 160 bodies, while 250 remained missing from both towns.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
people, one of the 21 Maya
Maya peoples
The Maya people constitute a diverse range of the Native American people of southern Mexico and northern Central America. The overarching term "Maya" is a collective designation to include the peoples of the region who share some degree of cultural and linguistic heritage; however, the term...
ethnic groups that dwell in Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
. Together with the Xinca
Xinca people
The Xinca are a non-Mayan indigenous people of Mesoamerica, with communities in the southern portion of Guatemala, near its border with El Salvador, and in the mountainous region to the north....
, Garífunas (Black Caribs) and the Ladinos, they make up the 24 ethnic groups in this relatively small country. Approximately 100,000 Tz'utujil live in the area around Lake Atitlán
Lago de Atitlán
Lake Atitlán is a large endorheic lake in the Guatemalan Highlands. Atitlan is recognized to be the deepest lake in Central America with maximum depth about 340 meters. The lake is shaped by deep escarpments which surround it and by three volcanos on its southern flank...
. Their pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
capital, near Santiago Atitlán
Santiago Atitlán
Santiago Atitlán is a municipality in the Sololá department of Guatemala. The town is situated on Lago de Atitlán, which has an elevation of . The town sits on a bay of Lago Atitlan between two volcanos. Volcan San Pedro rises to west of town; Volcan Toliman rises to southeast of town. Volcan...
, was Chuitinamit. In pre-Columbian times, the Tz'utujil nation was a part of the ancient Maya civilization
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
.
The Tz'utujil are noted for their continuing adherence to traditional cultural and religious practices. Evangelical Protestantism and Roman Catholicism are also practiced among them. They speak the Tz'utujil language
Tz'utujil language
Tz'utujil is a Mayan language spoken by the Tz'utujil people in the region to the south of Lake Atitlán in Guatemala. Tz'utujil is closely related to its larger neighbors, Kaqchikel and K'iche'....
, a member of the Mayan language family
Mayan languages
The Mayan languages form a language family spoken in Mesoamerica and northern Central America. Mayan languages are spoken by at least 6 million indigenous Maya, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize and Honduras...
.
The Tz'utujil people
The Tz'utujil date from the post-classic period (circa 900-1500 ) of the Maya civilizationMaya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
, inhabiting the southern watershed of Lake Atitlán, in the Solola region of the Guatemalan highlands.
Today they dwell in the towns of San Juan La Laguna
San Juan La Laguna
San Juan La Laguna is a municipality on the southern shore of Lago de Atitlán, Sololá, Guatemala. It consists of the village named San Juan La Laguna and three smaller aldeas in the nearby mountain. The population is approximately 95% Tz'utujil...
, San Pablo La Laguna
San Pablo La Laguna
San Pablo La Laguna is a municipality in the Sololá department of Guatemala. It consists of the village that bears the name San Pablo La Laguna which is situated on the shore of Lake Atitlan between the villages of San Juan La Laguna and San Marcos La Laguna....
, San Marcos La Laguna
San Marcos La Laguna
San Marcos La Laguna is a village on the western shore of Lago Atitlán in the Sololá Department of Guatemala. The village is northwest of three volcanos Volcán San Pedro, Volcán Tolimán, and Volcán Atitlán. The village has an outdoor amphitheater and a few hostels. San Marcos connects to other...
, San Pedro La Laguna
San Pedro La Laguna
San Pedro La Laguna is a small town with a population of approximately 13,000 people which is nestled on the Western shore of Lake Atitlan beneath the volcano which also bears its name. It is in the Sololá department of Guatemala. The inhabitants of San Pedro are primarily Tz'utujil Mayan with a...
, Santiago Atitlán
Santiago Atitlán
Santiago Atitlán is a municipality in the Sololá department of Guatemala. The town is situated on Lago de Atitlán, which has an elevation of . The town sits on a bay of Lago Atitlan between two volcanos. Volcan San Pedro rises to west of town; Volcan Toliman rises to southeast of town. Volcan...
, Panabaj
Panabaj
Panabaj, located on the edge of Lake Atitlán in the western highlands of Guatemala, is a small village within the municipality of Santiago Atitlán, bordering the city of Santiago Atitlán proper, in the department of Sololá...
, Tzanchaj, (believed to have been the inspiration, because of its similar sound, for the name "Santiago") and a very few in San Lucas Tolimán
San Lucas Tolimán
San Lucas Tolimán is a municipality in the Sololá department of Guatemala. The town of 17,000 people sits on the southeastern shore of Lago de Atitlán, described by Aldous Huxley as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. The population is 90-95% Highland Maya...
, although they used to inhabit a much wider region. In 1523 the Spanish conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
Pedro de Alvarado
Pedro de Alvarado
Pedro de Alvarado y Contreras was a Spanish conquistador and governor of Guatemala. He participated in the conquest of Cuba, in Juan de Grijalva's exploration of the coasts of Yucatan and the Gulf of Mexico, and in the conquest of Mexico led by Hernan Cortes...
, with the help of the Cakchiquel
Cakchiquel
The Kaqchikel are one of the indigenous Maya peoples of the midwestern highlands in Guatemala. The name was formerly spelled in various other ways, including Cakchiquel, Cakchiquel, Kakchiquel, Caqchikel, and Cachiquel....
Maya, defeated them in a battle close to the town of Panajachel
Panajachel
Panajachel is a town in the southwestern Guatemalan Highlands, in the department of Sololá. It serves as the administrative centre for the surrounding municipality of the same name. The altitude is...
in which they lost a portion of their lands, and the control of the lake.
Although tourism is now an increasing source of income, many still practice traditional methods of farming of the two main crops in the region, coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
and maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
(corn). Tourism is benefiting most significantly from the work of talented artists and weavers who are anxious to gain recognition for the notable creativity and uniqueness of what they offer to the world community. San Juan is one of three Tz'utujil communities where artists have adapted the international genre of Arte Naif to express the cultural traditions, beliefs, ceremonies and daily activities of their indigenous culture. This form of art and its most accomplished of the Tz'utjil practitioners have been recognized in the definitive UNESCO-sponsored book on the subject, Arte Naif: Contemporary Guatemalan Mayan Painting, 1998. The weavers of San Juan are among the very few indigenous artisans who make their own dyes for the thread they use. In the case of San Juan weavers, they produce the dyes largely from plants grown locally.
In 2005, several hundred Tz'utujil died in the mudslides caused by Hurricane Stan
Hurricane Stan
Hurricane Stan was the eighteenth named tropical storm and eleventh hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It was also the sixth of seven tropical cyclones to make landfall in Mexico. Stan was a relatively weak storm that only briefly reached hurricane status...
. From Panabaj and Tzanchaj, rescuers recovered 160 bodies, while 250 remained missing from both towns.
See also
- Martín PrechtelMartín PrechtelMartín Prechtel is an author, painter, musician and educator. Among his writings are Secrets of the Talking Jaguar, an autobiographical account of his initiation as a Mayan Shaman; Long Life, Honey in the Heart, an account of his village life in Santiago Atitlán; Stealing Benefacio's Roses: A...
is an author who writes of his experiences with the Tzutujil people. - Maya mythologyMaya mythologyMayan mythology is part of Mesoamerican mythology and comprises all of the Mayan tales in which personified forces of nature, deities, and the heroes interacting with these play the main roles...
- Maya calendarMaya calendarThe Maya calendar is a system of calendars and almanacs used in the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and in many modern Maya communities in highland Guatemala. and in Chiapas....
- IxchelIxchelIxchel or Ix Chel is the 16th-century name of the aged jaguar goddess of midwifery and medicine in the ancient Maya culture. She corresponds, more or less, to Toci Yoalticitl ‘Our Grandmother the Nocturnal Physician’, an Aztec earth goddess inhabiting the sweatbath, and is related to another...