Mythologies of the Chichimeca Tribes

Chichimeca (Spanish: [tʃitʃiˈmeka] ⁱ) is the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples who were established in present-day Bajío region of Mexico. Chichimeca carried the meaning as the Roman term "barbarian" that described Germanic tribes. The name, with its pejorative sense, was adopted by the Spanish Empire. In the words of scholar Charlotte M. Gradie, "for the Spanish, the Chichimecas were a wild, nomadic people who lived north of the Valley of Mexico. They had no fixed dwelling places, lived by hunting, wore little clothes and fiercely resisted foreign intrusion into their territory, which happened to contain silver mines the Spanish wished to exploit." Gradie noted that Chichimeca was used as a broad and generalizing term by outsiders, writing, "[it] was used by both Spanish and Nahuatl speakers to refer collectively to many different people who exhibited a wide range of cultural development from hunter-gatherers to sedentary agriculturalists with sophisticated political organizations." They practiced animal sacrifice, and they were feared for their expertise and brutality in war. The Chichimeca War (1550-1590) ended with the Spanish making favorable peace terms with the Chichimeca. Spanish/Chichimeca interaction resulted in a "drastic population decline in population of all the peoples known collectively as Chichimecas, and to their eventual disappearance as peoples of all save the Pames of San Luis Potosí and the related Chichimeca-Jonaz of the Sierra Gorda in eastern Guanajuato." In modern times, only one ethnic group is customarily referred to as Chichimecs, namely the Chichimeca Jonaz, a few thousand of whom live in the state of Guanajuato.

It is widely thought that the Aztecs used the name chichimeca as a catch-all term to refer to any nomadic tribe from the north, and that the Mexica lumped them all together as the equivalent of our western term ‘barbarian’. This is not the case. In a lengthy chapter (no. 29) in Book 10 of the Florentine Codex, about the only thing labelled ‘barbarous’ is the language(s) of non-Nahua peoples. In fact, there are several references to the Chichimeca as being civilised descendants and relatives of the great Tolteca, the culture most revered by the Aztecs. Three groupings of Chichimeca are described - the Otomí, the Tamime and the Teochichimeca. Whilst it is true the Otomí are referred to as ‘stupid’, they were still seen as possessors of ‘a civilised way of life’ and the chapter is full of praise for the skills, humanity, fidelity, devoutness, medical knowledge, good health, rulership and hard work of the Chichimeca.

As the Spaniards and their Amerindian allies from the south made their way north into present-day Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato and Zacatecas in the 1520s, they started to encounter large numbers of nomadic Chichimeca Indians. Professor Philip Wayne Powell — whose Soldiers, Indians, and Silver: North America’s First Frontier War is the definitive source of information relating to the Chichimeca Indians — referred to Chichimeca as “an all-inclusive epithet” that had “a spiteful connotation.” Utilizing the Náhuatl terms for dog (chichi) and rope (mecatl), the Mexica had referred to the Chichimecas literally as “of dog lineage.” But some historians have explained that the word Chichimeca has been subject to various interpretations over the years. Although Chichimeca was used as an umbrella term for all of the nomadic hunters and gatherers inhabiting this part of Mexico, the Chichimecs were not a single people sharing a common language, but consisted of several indigenous groups living through the large swathe of territory known to the Spaniards as “La Gran Chichimeca.” The primary tribes occupying this region were the Zacatecos, Guachichiles, Tecuexes, Caxcanes, Otomí, Pames and Guamares.

On many old maps of Mexico there are large areas of land to the north of the Spanish colonies in the former Aztec lands of central Mexico with a sweeping label: La Gran Chichimeca. In the language of the Aztecs, Nahuatl, the words chichimeca or chichimécatl mean, “the inhabitants of the land of Chichiman.” The word “Chichiman” translates to “The Land of Milk,” in English. The Aztecs used this term to describe the modern-day Mexican bajio region located on the northern fringes of their empire and beyond. This area had very few permanent settlements and consisted of rugged mountains and stark deserts. The inhabitants of this largely unexplored and unknown territory were called collectively “Chichimeca” by the Aztecs. The word Chichimeca would soon be associated with the terms, “barbarian” or “uncivilized,” in the Aztec language and later the same with the Spanish. Although claiming a mythical connection to the older civilization of the Toltecs, which had been long gone when the Aztecs arrived in central Mexico, the more “civilized” and sedentary Aztecs admitted reluctantly to their new Spanish overlords that they too were once Chichimeca, as they had lived a mostly nomadic existence in the north just a few centuries earlier. Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortéz was the first European to describe the Chichimecs by name in a letter he sent back to Spain. He wrote that these Indians who were not as civilized to him as the Aztecs and would make good slaves to be used to work the mines of New Spain. In modern-day Mexico, the word “Chichimeca” has survived and is casually thrown around and applied to anyone exhibiting bad behavior. Who were the real Chichimeca of history and do they still exist in present-day Mexico?

In the southern part of the Sierra Madre Occidental a small group of young Chichimec men decided to visit a local hot springs. They were accompanied by a tribal elder, a holy man who liked to go to the healing waters of the springs at least once a year. The holy man, although much older than the young warriors, was tall and stocky and had a majestic and imposing appearance. Near the end of the day, at dusk, the holy man went underneath the water of one of the many pools at the springs and never resurfaced. The young men were not paying attention and when they did not see their esteemed friend after some time they checked the ponds to see if he had drowned. After failing to find his body, they assumed that the holy man had been taken away by the Chalcas, an indigenous group from the Valley of Mexico that was in a constant state of off-and-on war with the Chichimecas. The young men returned to their encampments and told the Chichimec leaders that they had suspected the Chalcas had abducted their venerated elder. The leaders spread the word throughout the territory to prepare for war against the Chalcas.

Utilizing the Náhuatl terms for dog (chichi) and rope (mecatl), the Mexica had referred to the Chichimecas literally as "of dog lineage." But some historians have explained that the word Chichimeca has been subject to various interpretations over the years, including "perros altaneros" (arrogant dogs) and "chupadores de sangre" (blood-suckers). The Spaniards borrowed this designation from their Mexica allies and started to refer to the large stretch Chichimeca territory as La Gran Chichimeca (the Great Chichimeca). Although Chichimeca was used as an umbrella term for all of the nomadic hunters and gatherers inhabiting this part of Mexico, these indigenous peoples were actually divided into several distinct cultures. However, because most of the Chichimeca Indians were rapidly assimilated into the Hispanic culture of Seventeenth Century Mexico, there have been very few historical investigations into their now extinct cultures and languages. Ironically, these indigenous peoples are - in large part - the genetic ancestors of the present-day inhabitants of Guanajuato, Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Aguascalientes. And, as a result, they are thus the ancestors of many Mexican Americans.

The chichemecas or Chichimeca culture were several peoples or warrior tribes that inhabited the desert areas of the central-north region of present-day Mexico, called by the Mexica Chichimecatlalli, which means "land of the Chichimecas." The Chichimeca culture was originally made up of nomadic peoples who invaded the city of Tollan Xicocotitlan from the north in the 13th century, led by the legendary Chichimeca chief Xólotl. From there they were distributed and established throughout the valley of Mexico, where some of them became sedentary peoples. In the so-called Mesoamerica Chichimeca, agricultural groups lived that later became hunter-gatherers. During the time of the Spanish Conquest, the four most important Chichimec nations were the Guamares, the Pames, the Zacatecos, and the Guachichiles.

The Chichimec Tribes were a tribe of Mexico from the Zacatecas region, with their capital at Zacatecas. They were a confederation of the Guachichil and Zacatecos, two northern Mexican tribes. The Chichimeca people were subdued by New Spain from 1550 to 1590, and today the Chichimeca Jonaz people make up 7,501 people of the population of Guanajuato. The Chichimec tribes were a fractured and nomadic people. When they roamed the scrubby deserts to the north of the hated Aztecs, the Chichimeca were prone to vicious infighting and raiding, especially between the two major tribes, the Zacatecos and the Guachichil. A series of events in the early 1500s forced the Chichimeca to put their internal disputes aside. With the Aztecs sending out more and more raiding parties from the south to capture people for their lurid sacrifices, and the rumour of strange new men appearing far to the south, the tribes of the Chichimeca unified and mobilizedfor war. The Chichimec slowly became urbanized with a capital city at Zacatecas and a satellite community at Colotan. These settlements allowed the Chichimeca to develop a more cohesive army and command structure, when compared to even a few years before 1521. The Chichimec themselves were a fierce and hardy people, well-versed in hunting and guerrilla warfare. Many Chichimec warriors ritually painted themselves with red dye before going into battle. The Aztecs were very cautious when launching raids into Chichimec territory, as they were often turned into ambushes by the crafty Chichimec commanders. The Chichimeca fielded many infantry and missile units including the fearsome Guachichil Warriors and Zacatecos Archers.

The Chichimeca Jonaz are indigenous to Mexico. The Chichimeca Jonaz live in the states of, Guanajuato and San Luis Potosi. The Chichimeca Jonaz are descendants of the Pame people, who were apart of the Chichimeca war of the mid to late 1500s. In Guanajuato, the tribe lives in the San Luis de la Paz municipality. The settlement is 2,070 m above sea level, sometimes called Rancho Uza or Mision Chichimeca. The Chichimeca people were a threat to the Spanish nation, and were labeled as “man-eaters”. In order to prevail in the Christian mentality, the Spanish wanted to conceptualize the people. The word cannibal was created to describe these tribes, the Spanish were free to do as they wish to these cannibals. The Origin of the word Chichimeca came from the Nahuatl, which has roughly been translated to: “sons of dogs” “rope suckers” or “eagles”. The Chichimeca had no homes and lived by hunting, they wore no clothing and were extremely territorial. On the Chichimecan territory were silver mines that the Spanish wanted to exploit.