In about 8800 BC, the six clans, which would become the great Mesoamerican nations, were on the run, en guinda. They were camped out at the confluence of the Lempa and Torola Rivers, ready to jump in the water, if necessary to flee from the Xibalba lords, who could not swim. The leaders of the clans knew that the people needed help very quickly if they were to survive. The 8800 BC date is an estimate based on the Mars retrograde long count calendar.
The Popol Vuh describes the three gifts from the gods of Orient - the east of El Salvador - that helped the people survive. These gifts relate to mobility and shelter, sustenance, and warmth. Because they were on the run, the most important item was greater mobility. This came in the form of a raft, which was provided by the god "Auilix". This raft was small - most likely built for only one person. And each person had one in the backpack, according to the Popol Vuh. This would make it appear that it could be folded up. The same raft or multiple rafts, when situated correctly in tree branches could serve as a lean-to shelter. The rafts were especially important for fishing and in allowing the six clans to cross the nearby Lempa River to broaden their search for game and for edible plants.
The second gift related to food. While they most likely had hunting and fishing teams, people were still without enough to eat. Led by the Quiche clan, the people watched the deer and birds eat leaves and flowers and then tried them out for themselves. This may be how the Quiche nation gained the totem of masa (deer), a common name in their lineage. Salvadorans still eat the loroco flower, which may have been one of these first edible flowers. But some of the leaves and flowers were poisonous and surely some people died as a result of testing out the plants. The Popol Vuh speaks of people being sacrificed by the sustenance god, Tohil.
One particular leaf had an almost magical power and that was to quench one's hunger, the tobacco leaf. When the multitude of hungry people from the six clans placed a tobacco leaf under their tongue (Tedlock translates this as 'under the arm'), their hunger was satiated. Tedlock's translation says that they were "suckled". This is similar to the role of the kola nut in West Africa and the coca leaf in the Amazon-Andes foothills. While it saved the people from their hunger at this time, later on the tobacco leaf took a huge toll on the Mesoamerican people in terms of mouth and throat cancer, even leading to death.
The Popol Vuh says that Tohil demanded human sacrifice. While this could be a literal reference, I believe it is symbolic, referring to the deaths that tobacco caused and is still causing. In fact, the symbolic use of the phrase 'human sacrifice' here could actually indicate symbolic usage elsewhere, such as on Classic-era monuments and stellas. This could mean that literal human sacrifice was not a common practice, at least not until the late Classic period. The Popol Vuh states that the Cakchiquel nation was spared the sacrifice, i.e. mouth cancer, since they typically smoked the tobacco rather than chewed it.
Our English words for tobacco come from the Chorti' Maya. Tobacco itself refers to tobacco juice created by chewing the tobacco leaf: ta' is 'plant juice'; bah is 'brown'; and q'ohi is 'chewed'. In the same vein, sic means smoke or incense. The word for the plant tobacco is k'uhtz. Perhaps this is what gave the name to Cuzcatlán, the name of both a department and city in central El Salvador.
The third and final gift of the gods of Oriente was fire, created by obsidian flint stone. This gift was provided by Hacawitz or 'bald mountain', a clear reference to a volcano. Later, in homage, the Mesoamerican nations built pyramids to resemble volcanoes, to honor Hacawitz, the fire-bearer. Fire was especially important - not only because the people were living out in the open, but because this was in the middle of the last mini-Ice Age. Some scientists believe that the last of the mini-Ice Ages started in about 9000 BC and lasted several hundred years. The Popol Vuh states that people suffered from hail and snow and were doubled over from the cold (pg. 154, Tedlock, rev. ed.)
Obsidian flint was the best stone to make fires. While El Salvador has many volcanoes, one has the syllable of 'bald' (sul) embedded in its name - Usulután. It also embeds the word 'flake' - tan, which is how the obsidian appears.
Life for the six clans stabilized somewhat with the raft/shelter, tobacco leaf, and flint stone, but they still had to deal with the Xibalba lords. They needed a place, an island, where they could be safe.
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