Nicachi Songs: Zapotec Ritual Texts and Postclassic Ritual Knowledge in Colonial Oaxaca

Ancestors and deity complexes in the Villa Alta songs

Four founding ancestors named in Booklets 100 and 101

The following section provides a preliminary discussion of four calendrical and personal names mentioned in Booklets 100 and 101 which may refer to known founding ancestors of various Villa Alta Zapotec communities. There are several other names in this corpus that refer to other founding ancestors, but I am limiting my remarks here to four personal names that have been conclusively identified.

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Coque Yagchila (Lord 1 Cayman)

As noted by Michel Oudijk (2000, 2003), several colonial Zapotec genealogical narratives list a Lord 1 Cayman as a founding ancestor. In the Genealogy of San Lucas Quiaviní, a town located in the Valley of Oaxaca, the founder of a genealogy (which Oudijk labels "Genealogy 2") is called Coque Quiechilla, or Lord 1 Cayman, with Quiechilla being the Valley Zapotec equivalent of the Sierra Zapotec day name Yagchila, "1 Cayman." Figure 3, shown above, displays a section from the Quiaviní genealogy, in which 1 Cayman (Quiechilla) is drawn facing another ancestor, Lord 6 Death Great Eagle (Cogui Quielana Piçia Tao); the accompanying text identifies 1 Cayman with the Zapotec title pichana, and associates him with two place names, Guia Cachi and Guia Pini. ⁴   This document also states that Lord 1 Cayman was issued from a mythohistorical place of origin called bille gaa billehe gache g[ue]la tini, which Oudijk translates as "Cave Nine, Cave Seven, the Lake of Blood." Furthermore, the Título Primordial de Tabáa lists a Yaxila Veqini (1 Cayman Bird) as the ancestor (xotao) of the people of Juquila, and another Yagchila as the consort of Nelao, and Frame 14 of the Lienzo de Tabáa lists a ruling couple composed by Coque Yagchila and Bixeag Lachi.

In Booklet 100, Coque Yagchila is mentioned in seven of the 12 stanzas that compose Song 5.  It is possible that the song refers to the founding ancestor mentioned in the Genealogy of Quiaviní, the Título Primordial de Tabáa, and the Lienzo de Tabáa. This possibility is supported by the fact that the name Bixeag Lachi, which corresponds to that of Coque Yagchila's wife according to the Lienzo de Tabáa, appears in Stanza 8 of Song 5.  On the other hand, Song 5 stresses the divine origin of Lord 1 Cayman. In Stanza 2 (AGI México 882, 190v) records the formidable origin of Lord 1 Cayman in the following manner:

Two separate criteria render this statement remarkable. First, the statement identifies a date by giving both the name of the 365-day year (called biye in the Villa Alta calendars) and the name of the day (lani) in the 260-day cycle. According to Javier Urcid (personal communication, 2005), very few known Pre-Columbian Zapotec hieroglyphic texts designate a date by referring both to the year and the day name. Second, the epithet Nixee Tao Lopa (Great Beginning 8/11 Dew), mentioned several times in Songs 3 and 5 of Booklet 100, may designate a creator deity that was also known as Cozàana, as discussed below (Deity complexes).

Bicia Tao (Great Eagle)

The personal name Bicia Tao (Great Eagle) is a component in the name of several named ancestors in a number of colonial Zapotec sources. As noted below, the Genealogy of Quiaviní (Figure 3), portrays a Lord 6 Death Great Eagle (Cogui Quielana Piçia Tao) seated before Lord 1 Cayman; it should be noted that both lords are shown occupying high-backed chairs that indicate their status as legitimate lords from a founding lineage. This document also mentions a Coqui Picia Tao Quequeche, Lord Great Eagle (of the Town?), which shares a personal name with the aforementioned 6 Death Great Eagle. Furthermore, the Lienzo de Tabáa mentions two more ancestors who share this common personal name: Lord Yeagela Great Eagle (Coque Yeagela Besia dao), married to Lady 1 Knot (Xonaxi Yegtela) in Frame 6, and Lord Yezina Great Eagle (Coque Yezina Beziadao), married to Lady (9 Wind/Reed?) (Xonaxi Yoela) in Frame 20.  Moreover, the family of pictorial genealogies known as Lienzo de Guevea/Lienzo de Petapa depicts an ancestor with a pictorial name glyph, which is glossed in some versions of this genealogy as Old? Great Eagle (Biciya Tuo Rigula) (Whitecotton 1990, Oudijk and Jansen 1999).

On the other hand, the personal name Bicia Tao occurs once in each of the Songs 5, 7, and 12 of Booklet 100, and once again in Song 5 of Booklet 101.  While it may be the case that these songs refer to one of the ancestors mentioned in the genealogical records listed above, the existing evidence does not allow me yet to propose an unambiguous identification. Unlike the naming pattern noted above, which combines Bicia Tao with a title and with either a personal or a calendrical name, it appears that Bicia Tao is not associated with another calendrical or personal name in the Villa Alta songs. The personal name Biquini Xila does appear next to Bicia Tao in Stanza 2, Song 5 of Booklet 101; however, since Biquini Xila has an independent pattern of occurrence, it can be proposed that two distinct entities are being named in this stanza, rather than a single entity.

Bilatela Tao (Great 4/11 Knot)

As noted by Oudijk (2000, 2003), Bilatela Tao is the personal name of a founding ancestor in Villa Alta, and one of the seven "brothers" which various northern Zapotec sources identify as founding ancestors who are said to have been baptized by the Spanish in the 1520's. The Título Primordial de Tabáa calls Biladela Dao the "father of Tabáa;" Frame 26 of the Lienzo de Tabáa identifies Coque Biladela Dao as the son of Great 8 Earthquake (Xo Dao) and the husband of Lady Guiha Lepilapag; moreover, a will from Solaga dated in 1789 and transcribed by Oudijk (2003) lists Bilatela Dao as the third founding "brother" in a list of seven founders of northern Zapotec communities, which include Bilapag Laguiag Xobego (1^st), Belaxila Yalaxila Yaxila (2^nd), Don Juan de Velasco Diadela (4^th), Balachila (5^th), Tiolana (6^th), and Yaalao Lachixoza (7^th).

In the Villa Alta Songs, Bilatela Tao is mentioned in Songs 2 and 6 of Booklet 101.  In Stanza 3, Song 6, a verse that mentions a Xoo Dao is followed by a second verse that mentions a Bilatela Tao and refers to the latter xini colaa (elder son). This pattern of association does suggest that Song 6 refers to a Bilatela Tao that was regarded as the son of Great 8 Earthquake (Xoo Dao), a kinship statement that mirrors a similar statement in Frame 26 of the Lienzo de Tabáa. Nevertheless, Xotao is a somewhat ambiguous designation, since xodao or xotao (literally, Great or Holy Earthquake, if not read as a calendrical name) is a very common term used to refer to ancestors in the Zapotec mundane and ritual literature, as in the recurring sentence xoci xotao neto ("our fathers and ancestors"), glossed as "our fathers and grandfathers" in Spanish translations of Zapotec wills. Hence, if one reads Xodao or Xoodao as the calendrical name "Great 8 Earthquake," then it may be argued that both Frame 26 of the Lienzo de Tabáa and Song 6 of Booklet 101 refer to the same individual: one named Great 4/11 Knot (Bilatela Tao), who is the son of Great 8 Earthquake (Xo Dao).

Biquini Xila (Bird of Cotton/Feather)

As noted by Romero Frizzi and Vásquez (2003), the Memoria of Juquila–a historical account that addresses the foundation of Juquila and narrates a lengthy journey made by the legitimate authorities of this community shortly after becoming Christian subjects of the Spanish crown–mentions a certain Bigini Xila as a Juquila nobleman who takes the name of Don Melchor Martín and the title of governor after the arrival of the Spanish to the region. Furthermore, two sources from Tabáa note the existence of an individual who is designated by the personal name Bird (Biquini) and the calendrical name 1 Cayman. The Título Primordial de Tabáa names a 1 Cayman? Bird (Yaxila Veqini) who is the ancestor (xotao) of Juquila, and Frame 4 of the Lienzo de Tabáa refers to a Lord 1 Cayman Bird (Coque Guiagxila Biquini), who was married to Lady 6 Cayman (Xonaxi Cuachila). It should be noted that the naming pattern associated with this Juquila ancestor is not consistent; while the Tabáa sources seem to refer to a 1 Cayman Bird (Yagxila Biquini), the Juquila source mentions a Bird of Cotton/Feather (Biquini Xila). Furthermore, three noblewomen depicted in the Genealogía de Macuilxochitl bear Biquini Xila as a personal name: a woman called Bird of Cotton/Feather 6 Death? (Piquini Xila Gualana) in Band IX, and two more women called Bird of Cotton/Feather 6 Lizard (Piquinj Xila Gualachi) in Band VII, and Bird of Cotton/Feather (Piquini Xila) in Band VI (Whitecotton 1990, Oudijk 2000).

Bird of Cotton/Feather (Biquini or Biquinni Xila) is mentioned with relative frequency in the Villa Alta songs: this name appears in Songs 5, 6, and 7 of Booklet 100, and in Songs 3, 4, and 7 of Booklet 101.  Since the name seems to appear in a diversity of contexts and in association with other poorly understood entities, it cannot be determined at this time whether these songs do indeed refer to the eponymous Juquila founding ancestor, or to any of the other ancestors named in the Genealogía de Macuilxochitl. The relative flexibility of the designations–a Biquini Xila is also called "bird of the community" (biquini lahui) in Stanza 3 of Song 4 in Booklet 101, and the name Great Bird (Biquini Dao) surfaces in every stanza (1, 2, and 3) of Song 6 in Booklet 101–suggests that there may be in fact two entities mentioned in these songs: a Bird of Cotton/Feather (Biquini Xila), which may or may not correspond to the Juquila ancestor, and a Great Bird (Biquini dao), who may well bear an association with the well-known figure of the Principal Bird in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cosmologies.

Deity complexes

Table 3 proposes a number of comparisons between the Pan-Zapotec deities named in Booklets 100 and 101 and the two most detailed colonial sources regarding the identification of Zapotec deities/deity complexes: 1) entries from the 1578 Spanish-Zapotec dictionary compiled from the testimony of Valley Zapotec linguistic informants collected by the Dominican grammarian Juan de Córdova, and glossed and analyzed by Smith-Stark (1999); 2) the list of the "thirteen gods" provided by ritual specialist Diego Luis to Gonzalo de Balsalobre in 1635 and in 1654 during a series of idolatry trials in the jurisdiction of San Miguel Sola. Diego Luis was an old "teacher of idolatries" who was investigated by the priest Gonzalo de Balsalobre in 1635 and again in 1654.  In this latter trial, Diego Luis revealed the names of more than 100 clients and ritual specialists in the area, along with the names of thirteen Zapotec gods (Berlin 1988, Tavárez 1999). Since the only known systematic ordering of deity names provided by a colonial Zapotec ritual specialist is Diego Luis' list of 13 deity names, this order has been chosen as the main positional criterion in Table 3. It should be noted, however, that Smith-Stark's 1998 thoughtful proposal regarding a reconstructed order of deity names has also been noted in the column devoted to the 1578 Córdova entries, where the number in the list proposed by Smith-Stark precedes the name of the deity as recorded by Córdova. This table is also an attempt to revise a similar comparison of sources published by Alcina Franch (1993).

In addition to these two sources, a recent iconographic analysis and two other independent sources have been added to Table 3: 1) a correlation of the deities mentioned by Córdova and Diego Luis with an exhaustive analysis of iconographic elements in Zapotec urns recently proposed by Adam Sellen (2002); 2) a Loxicha calendar analyzed by Robert Weitlaner (1958), and 3), a calendar from San Antonio Huitepec that may have been produced in colonial times, and which has been analyzed by Ron Van Meer (2000). It should be noted that both the Loxicha and the Huitepec calendars are characterized by a list of nine calendrical names which are repeated cyclically, and that these two lists are included in this comparison primarily to highlight positional criteria–the relative placement of deity names in slots one to nine, as compared to Diego Luis' list of 13 gods. However, further phonological and morphophonemic change data for Loxicha and Huitepec Zapotec is required in order to establish which of these name variants are etymologically related to the names of deities attested in colonial Valley, Sola, and Cajonos Zapotec.

Hence, Table 3 shows that at least seven deities or deity complexes were either known or worshipped by traditional Zapotec ritual practitioners in Sola, the Valley of Oaxaca, and Villa Alta between the mid 16^th century and the first decade of the 18^th century:

1. Quitzino/Chino/Ichinoo/Queechino, a deity characterized by Diego Luis as "God Number Thirteen," and, in all likelihood, an entity that presided over all other deities (Smith-Stark 1999).

2. Licuicha (Niyoa, Coquieta)/Cobicha, a solar deity which Diego Luis associated with hunters and hunting events, and whose name contains a Solteco word (licuicha) and a Cajonos Zapotec word (cobicha), which seem to be derived from ko-kwitza, the reconstructed Proto-Zapotecan term for "sun" or "day" (Kaufman 2004).

3. Cozòbi/Loçucui/Gozobi Tao, a maize deity that Córdova portrayed as a "god of harvests," and Diego Luis as the "god of maize and all foodstuffs."

4. Pezèelào/Huila/Becelao Dao, a deity who presided over the Zapotec underworld and was its "main devil," according to both Córdova and Diego Luis.

5. Huichàana (Dao)/Nohuichana, Córdova's deity of children and procreation, and a goddess associated with birth-giving, fish and rivers, according to Diego Luis.

6. Cocijo/Loçio/Gocio, perhaps the best-known Zapotec deity, associated with thunder and rainfall. It should be noted that, in colonial northern Zapotec documents, gocio may also refer to the ritual time count, as in the phrase "the counting of the gocio" (AVA).

7. Cozàana/Nosana/Coxana, a deity associated with the creation, and, according to Diego Luis, with deer and fish.

1. Coqui Xee/Ni Xee/Nixee Tao Lopa. As Smith-Stark (1999) has suggested, this may be an epithet for the main creator deity, Cozàana. All three of these variants of the epithet contain the element xee, which may be tentatively glossed as "beginning," based on two of Córdova's (1572: 140v, 141r) glosses: "Infinite god with no beginning, they called him, without knowing who he was. Coqui xèe, coqui cílla, xèe tao […]. To be a god who has no beginning. Tàca-xèe- taca cilla-tào-a." As noted above, Song 5 in Booklet 100 identifies a deity called Ni Xee Tao Lopa (Great Beginning 8/11 Dew) as the father of Lord 1 Cayman.

Endnote

4. Oudijk (2000: 149) tentatively identifies the grapheme beguichipe in this text as a place name, but the proper parsing of this item is still unclear. For a full discussion of the structure of the Genealogía de Quiaviní, see Oudijk 2000: 141-152.

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