Pipil
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The Pipil are a loose confederation of Nahuatl speaking indigenous people, known for prehistoric migrations, that currently live in El Salvador. Placenames associated with the Pipil are also in Nahautl. The mythology of the Pipil, while not unrelated to the Toltec/Aztec, more closely approximates the mythology related by the Maya people who are their near neighbors.
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History
The prehistoric and modern Pipil are from at least three separate cultural and language groups that were loosely joined by conquest and later by culture. The earliest, a subgroup of a nomadic people known as the Nahua, migrated into Central America about 3000 B.C. The Nahua later came under the influence of Mayan culture, perhaps through immigration and conquest. Ruins of limestone pyramids built by Mayans between A.D. 100 and 1000 are found in western El Salvador. Mayan culture and language dominated this area of Mesoamerica until the ninth century A.D. Nahua/Mayan civilization did not achieve the complexity found in the Mayan heartland in Mexico and Guatemala, but appears to have been vital on a smaller scale.
A third group, designated as the Izalco Pipil, are believed to have migrated into the region late in the tenth century, occupying lands west of the Lempa River during the 1000's. Legend and archaeological research suggest these migrants were refugees from conflict within the Toltec empire to the north. These people were ethnically and culturally related to the Toltecs, as well as to the earlier Nahua and the later Aztecs, and spoke a closely related Nahuatl language, today called Pipil.
Most of the migrant Pipil settled in what is now El Salvador. The Pipil's only significant Guatemalan settlement was Escuintla. The Pipil found a population of mostly Mayan culture and/or ethnicity, and a country that had many natural resources. The Pipil organized a nation known as Cuzcatlán, with at least two centralized city/states that may have been subdivided into smaller principalities. They enveloped some groups of the Mayan speaking people, sometimes through conquest, but often through cooperation and trade. Other Mayan speaking peoples remained independant. The Pipil introduced the cults of Tlaloc, the god of rain, and Xipe Totec who expected human sacrifice. The Pipil were also competent workers in cotton textiles, and developed a wide ranging trade network for woven goods as well as agricultural products.
By the time the Spanish arrived, the Pipil controlled almost all of western El Salvador, and a large portion of the central area up to the banks of the river Lempa. There were four important branches of the Pipil:
- The Cuzcatlecos, who were a leading community in El Salvador, had their capital in Cuzcatlán (now the town of Old Cuzcatlán in greater San Salvador).
- The Izalcos, who were very wealthy due to their great cocoa production.
- The Nonualcos, of the central region, who were renowned for their love of war.
- The Mazuahas, who were dedicated to raising the White Tailed Deer (now nearly extinct).
Although they were primarily an agricultural people, some Pipil urban centers developed into present-day cities, such as Sonsonate and Ahuachapan. The Pipil communities of Cuzcatlán and Tecpan Izalco in El Salvador were founded in approximately A.D. 1050. The ruins of Cihiuatan, those in Aguilares, and those close to the Guazapa volcano are considered among the most notable remains of Pipil civilization.
Migration and legend
The word 'pipil' means "Noble" or "Lord" in Nahua, and may refer to a branch of the Toltec civilization, which was responsible for much of the splendor of ancient Mexico. The most spectacular ruins dating from the time of the Toltec are Teotihuacan, very close to Mexico City, and Tula in the state of Hidalgo. Tradition, mythology and archaeology strongly suggest these people arrived in El Salvador around the year A.D. 1000 as a result of the collapse of the Tala. The Tala, apparently a Toltec subgroup or family line, gained power or influence in the Toltec civilization at the fall of Teotihuacan. This group was ultimately defeated in a bloody civil war over succession to the throne of Tula, the Toltec's capitol city. The defeated group had little choice but to leave Mexico and emigrate to Central America.
The faction that lost the war was led by the celebrated hero Topiltzin, son of Mixcoatl. His followers thought he was a reincarnation of the god Quetzalcoatl. According to tradition, Topiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl founded a sanctuary to the god Nuictlan in the region of 'Guija Lake'. Later, he arrived at the now ruined Mayan site of Copan in Honduras, and subsequently went to Nicaragua where he established the people known as 'Nicarao'.
Spanish conquest
In the early sixteenth century, the Spanish conquistadores ventured into Central America from Mexico, then known as the Spanish colony of New Spain. Spanish efforts to extend their dominion to the area that would be known as El Salvador were firmly resisted by the Pipil and their remaining Mayan speaking neighbors. Pedro de Alvarado, a lieutenant of Hernan Cortes, led the first effort by Spanish forces in June 1524. Led by a war leader tradition calls Atlacatl, the indigenous people defeated the Spaniards and forced them to withdraw to Guatemala. Two subsequent expeditions were required --the first in 1525, followed by a smaller group in 1528-- to bring the Pipil under Spanish control.
Modern Pipil
The Pipil have had a strong influence on the current culture of El Salvador, with a large portion of the population claiming ancestry from the indiginous group. More than ninety percent of today's Salvadorans are mestizos (people of mixed native and European descent), with only five percent of unmixed European ancestry. Most of the remaining people are pure-blooded Indians descended from the Pipil and Mayan groups. A few Pipil still speak the ancient Nahuatl language and follow traditional ways of life. The traditional groups live mainly in the southwestern highlands near the Guatemalan border.
Reference
- Bierhorst, John. The Mythology of Mexico and Central America. William Morrow, New York, NY, 1990. ISBN 0-688-11280-3.
- Carrasco, David, Editor in chief. The Oxford encyclopedia of Mesoamerican cultures: the civilizations of Mexico and Central America, in four volumes. Oxford University Press, New York., 2001. ISBN 0-19-510815-9 (set).