Ch'orti'-Maya Survival in Eastern Guatemala: Indigeneity in Transition

2. History of the Jocotán Parish, 1524–1930

37 C H A P T E R T W O History of the Jocotán Parish, 1524–1930 [N]either commerce nor its profits should be at the cost of the blood, health, and lives of the miserable, innocent Indians, forced against the expressed and repeated provision of the law, against the fatherly, benevolent intentions of the sovereign, and against the interests of the State, the Kingdom, and the Treasury, all of which hold the preservation of the agricultural tribute-bearers in the highest importance. —Royal investigator Piloña, 1812 AGCA7876 “Diligencias instruidas sobre el contagio…” I had set out to find a Ch’orti’ culture and identity opposed to amoral, modern capitalist individualism. What I seemed to find was a destitute, divided group of campesinos ashamed of their indigenous heritage and desperate for any opportunity that came their way. My investigation broadened beyond the hypothesized divide between organized Christian religions and moral economies to the reasons behind the Ch’orti’s’ ethnic shame. Were these even “Ch’orti’s” after all? While they themselves recognized the term, few seemed to use it as their principal means of selfidentification . Some still used the term thatWisdom found most prevalent in the early 1930s, “lenguajero,” which is ironically a local Spanish word for speakers of Ch’orti’. Rarely heard were the more stigmatized terms Chapter Two 38 “Indian” (indio), “indigenous person” (indígena), and “natural.”What had prompted Ch’orti’s, unlike the millions of Mayas in western Guatemala, to slowly abandon their proud, distinctive identity? In the 1930s and 1940s Wisdom and Girard recorded that already a social split was emerging between Ch’orti’s with an affinity to Ladino, nationalist society, and those that were more withdrawn and faithful to traditions. A longer history reveals how this process of ethnic abandonment was indeed nothing new. In this chapter I will review this history by emphasizing the old colonial Jocotán Parish, comprised of the contemporary townships of Jocotán, San Juan Ermita, Camotán, La Unión, and northern Olopa, where roughly twenty-two contiguous rural communities1 (see map 2) continue to speak Ch’orti’ in the home and community and maintain the strongest sense of Ch’orti’ identity. Today, the people of the old Jocotán Parish share collective memories founded generations ago that inform daily practices through mannerisms , habits, settings, symbols, thoughts, and dispositions (seeWatanabe 1992; Bourdieu 1977). The very distinction of Indian and non-Indian, with all the derogatory connotations for the former and privileges for the latter , was established early upon the arrival of the Spanish and has changed little since (Guzmán Böckler and Herbert 1970). Contemporary ethnic demographics in eastern Guatemala, in which towns with a central plaza, church, and town hall are populated by Creoles (American-born Spaniards ) and the surrounding countryside by Indians, were established in the 1500s, immediately upon Spanish settlement (Terga 1980:17; cf. Girón Palacios 2001). Prevailing sentiments and attitudes among Ch’orti’s such as fatalism, inferiority, apathy, fear, suspicion, independence, resentment , and stoicism have precedents in both their history as a Mesoamerican people and as a colonized people, i.e., as “Indians.” This does not mean that they are trapped in a “heritage of conquest” (cf. Tax, ed. 1952) or condemned to live in the past, but history is very relevant to Ch’orti’ and Ladino understandings, routines, spaces, and sentiments. Contemporary Ch’orti’ culture is informed but not restricted by generations-old 1. The aldeas of Tuticopote Arriba, Tuticopote Abajo, Roblarcito, Agua Blanca, Rodeito, Tunucó Arriba, Tunucó Abajo, Ocumblá, Tatutú, Tontoles, La Arada, Pacrén, Oquen, Amatillo, Suchiquer, Pelillo Negro, Guareruche, Las Flores, Guarequiche, Matasano, Tierra Blanca, and Conacaste. One informant reported in 1998 that she found Ch’orti’ speakers in the Chiquimula aldeas of Santa Barbara, La Puerta de la Montaña, San Miguel, San Antonio, and El Sauce. See appendix 4. History of the Jocotán Parish, 1524–1930 39 stories, names, and feelings about their physical landscape (cf. Rosaldo 1980), rhythms and values of subsistence life, house designs and eating habits, linguistic expressions, and ritualized behavior towards Ladinos. “Ch’orti’s” before the Spanish Invasion? We have scant evidence that “the Ch’orti’” existed as “a nation” or ethnic group prior to the Spanish invasion, such that we can only speculate about the linkage between the Ch’orti’ language, cultures, and political affiliation. The archaeological sites...