The Indigenous History of El Salvador

Visit of Lenca Leader, Antonio Chevez

The Lenca are one of the oldest First Nations in the Americas. They have lived continuously in eastern El Salvador since about 8,500 BCE and are a sister people of the Maya. Following the collapse of Copan in the 9th century, the visiting Lenca royalty returned to eastern El Salvador and re-formed the Lenca nation. This royalty, led by Princess Antu Silan Ulap, initiated the resistance against the Spanish conquistadores in 1526, continued by Lempira.

We were fortunate to have a member of the Lenca royalty visiting the San Francisco region early last week, Antonio Chevez. Antonio currently lives in Australia, having been forced into exile soon after El Salvador's civil war ended in 1992. While staying close to his spiritual roots, Antonio takes a modernizing position for indigenous, saying that the Maya and Lenca were at the cutting edge of technology for thousands of years so why shouldn't they continue to accept and develop new technologies. In addition, the Lenca were always known for their ability with language, collectively speaking most languages in the Americas, so modern Lenca should be speaking the world's major languages. The Lenca were also among the primary traders in the Americas, bridging the gap between North and South American products.

The Lenca people and especially the royalty have maintained the traditions through oral history. Antonio was raised by his grandmother and heard many oral traditions and histories growing up, including the creation story. He assumed they were the stories everyone heard.

One of those stories is the Moloilu, a sacred reading, done in a group, which leads to enlightenment, attaining duality. We read the Moloilu with Antonio. It speaks of the 13 levels of heaven and Akú, the provider god. In Ch'orti' Maya, Moloilu (morohiroh) means "open-eyed gathering."

Antonio described the Lenca story of the creation of humans. The creation grandmother had atol (corn paste) and cacao paste, but these were not sufficient to create humans, so she called on her animal friends:

• First came the armadillo which gave a spine and structure to humans
• Then the rabbit gave sexual organs to humans, as well as joy, laugh, and dance
• Next the jaguar gave its belly to humans, as well as speed and a beautiful spotted pelt
• The fourth animal to help creation grandmother was the turtle which gave humans its heart as well as love
• Then the monkey came to give its fingers and toes, writing, math, and wisdom
• Finally the eagle flew in and made a nest on the head of human-in-formation. He left strings inside the head which are the dreams, deep thoughts, and angst that humans have.

Ideally humans are born which each of these six animal spirits. Typically people are strong in two of the six, and these combinations make up the personality types. If a child is too strong in one, the parents and elders will take actions to diminish it. And if a child is weak in one area, parents and elders plan activities that will strengthen that animal, including contact with the actual animal.

Finally, Antonio spoke of the human sacrifice cult in Mexico from about 1300 CE to 1525 CE. This was a cult of the Aztecs and their predessors, including the Tapanec and Mexica. In my own research I have identified the Tapanec and Mexica as coming from the northwest coast area of Nayarit and Mazatlan, Mexico ("Mazatlan" later became "Aztlan"), and were an ancient Quiche Maya remnant who lost some of the Quiche ways over the years.

As the Tapanec and Mexica came to power they enforced the human sacrifice cult. Many neighboring groups suffered great losses and many fled, causing a flow of Nahuat refugees to Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. In El Salvador the Nahuat were called Pipil and settled in the west of the country while the Lenca remained in the east.

Orioles and Suchitoto

One of the last places where the indigenous of El Salvador resisted the Spanish occupiers was in Suchitoto, a large municipality northeast of San Salvador along the banks of the Lempa River. According to the town's wikipedia entry, the Potón Lenca were finally suppressed there in 1537 at the summit of Zinacatlán hill. I can not locate this hill on any map, so any help from readers in locating it would be appreciated.

1537 was also the year that Lempira was defeated in Honduras. Is it possible that the Lencas fighting in southern Honduras were coordinating with the Lencas fighting in the hills around Arcatao and Suchitoto? We know the name of Lempira but we do not know the name or names of the Lenca heroes who fell resisting the Spanish in Suchitoto. There is no monument to their leader.

The Spanish considered Suchitoto to be one of the most important places in the country, locating their first capital in La Bermuda about ten kilometers south of Suchitoto. They wanted their capital to be close to one of the major indigenous trade centers but also knew as occupiers that they could not be too close. Their first attempt in 1525 was short-lived. They faced so much resistance from the local Lenca that they retreated to Guatemala the next year. They returned in 1528 and the capital remained there for 17 years, growing into a small city with a significant indigenous population, as modern excavations have found. The site was abandoned because of a lack of fresh water and the capital was moved to the present location of San Salvador. When I visited the site in 1992 it was clear that it's main attribute was a defensive location. Fortunately for Salvadorans, the 16th Century Spanish recognized its limit.

When the Spanish began their occupation it was likely that Suchitoto was a multi-cultural city, much like its nearby predecessor from the 9th century, Cihuatán. The name Suchitoto is likely Pipil, the dominant group in western El Salvador from the 11th to the 16th century: it seems to be a nahuat name for a yellow bird, also called costototl or oriole. Both the Baltimore and Bullock's orioles migrate to Central America during the winter. But many of the nearby place names are Lenca, including Guazapa, Copapayo, Cinquera, and Aguacayo, while others are Chorti Maya, including Pepeishtenango, Ichanqueso, and Milingo. 

Just as La Bermuda was a symbol of both raw power and resistance in the 16th century, it repeated that role in the 20th century. It was at the Hacienda La Bermuda that human rights leader Marienela García Vilas was killed on March 14, 1983, investigating the use of white phosphorous against civilian populations by the Salvadoran armed forces in the country's conflict. She is one of the heroines of the 20th century for progressive Latin Americans.

Now, Suchitoto is the seat of Progreso, one of the five regional organizations of CRIPDES. In the spirit of the Lenca warriors who were the last to fight the Spanish in 1537, a major protest against the privatization of water took place on July 2, 2007, in Suchitoto. There was major repression against the march and even before it began, 14 people were detained, mistreated, and charged with terrorism, in a new law forced in as part of the global wave of the so-called 'war on terrorism'. Eventually they were released. The spirit of the people and the seasonal migrations of the orioles continue forward.

[PostScript note: 'Suchitoto' does not mean oriole. More to come on the real meaning. Jan. 25, 2010]

Indigenous Peoples of El Salvador

Many Salvadorans think that Pipil is the main indigenous root of the Salvadoran people. Pipiles may have been the largest group at the time of the Spanish conquest and might be the only group that maintained an explicitly indigenous identity beyond the matanza of the 1930s, but El Salvador has many different groups of indigenous within its history. In fact, the Pipiles did not even arrive on the scene from central Mexico until about 610 A.D.

Prior to the Pipiles, the primary people of El Salvador were the Chorti Maya and the Lenca. The Chorti extended throughout western and central El Salvador as well as north into western Honduras, including Copan, and eastern Guatemala, in the area of Escuintla and Quirigua in the Motagua Valley. The Lenca extended from the east-central portion of El Salvador from the coast north into central and western Honduras. The Chorti and Lenca have lived side-by-side for thousands of years without a history of aggression or conflict. Today, traditional Chorti Maya live in the upper reaches of the Motagua watershed in both eastern Guatemala and western Honduras, while the Lenca are centered in the Intibuca province of southwestern Honduras.

East of the Lenca were the Mangues along the Gulfo de Fonseca and the Uluas in present day northern La Union. In addition, the Cacaoperas lived in present day Morazan. The Cacaoperas were most likely a Lenca-related people but also seem to have roots with the Chontales of Nicaragua. In any case, the Cacaoperas were the main trading link between El Salvador and the indigenous of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.

In far west El Salvador were the Pokomam Mayans, in the area of present day northern Ahuachapan, centered around Itiquizaya. The larger Pokomam population is based in present day eastern Guatemala. The Pokomams are more closely related to the Quiches in western Guatemala than to the Chortis, possibly indicating a migration toward El Salvador in the early classic period, possibly at the time that the Chortis abandoned most of El Salvador following the Ilopango eruption in about 210 A.D. The Chortis began to repopulate the valleys of the Salvadoran volcanic range in about 400 A.D.

The Pipiles arrived from central Mexico in about 600 A.D., most likely driven out by the dominant Toltecs. Given the similarity of place names, it is believed that the Pipiles originated in the current state of Puebla. The Pipiles are Nahuat-speaking people and some settled in coastal Guatemala and Nicaragua, as well as El Salvador. Some also settled in Honduras. Settled is a polite way of saying invaded – they were not welcomed by the Chortis and Lencas and entered by force. The Pipiles were the dominant political force in El Salvador for at least 400 years and took over the old Mayan ceremonial centers, adding a few monuments of their own. This lasted until about 1050 A.D., when a Quiche – Putun (Chol) – Aztec – Chorti coalition defeated the Pipiles and re-established Mayan control over the ceremonial centers. The Pipiles then concentrated themselves in Sonsonate around Izalco and in Nonualco, south of Lago Ilopango, with other Pipil villages spread throughout the country.

Originally posted Nov. 28, 2009 on BlogBox

Chorti Maya, Lenca, and Pipil

I have been wanting to write about the history of El Salvador’s indigenous people for a long time. It is a story about the Lencas, the Chorti Maya, and the Pipiles, who came later. I will talk about different sites which are not well known, but more than that I want to talk about how the indigenous history and way of life informed and continues to inform the struggles of the people to create a just society. I also want to talk about some of the very little know history of the origins of civilization in the Americas. I believe that one of the beginning places is El Salvador. I hope that you can join me.

Originally posted Nov. 26, 2009 on BlogBox