|
La Cruceta
At the time of the Spanish conquest in 1522, the Lord of Totutepec controlled the region. It is thought that the tribe descended from Chichimecs and a spoke a Nahuatl dialect. Their simple life was based on fishing and agriculture. Cotton, corn, beans, squash, chili peppers, chia, and sweet potatoes all thrived in this climate, and salt was mined from seawater. There was also gold. Yzpapalotl, the local religion, involved sacrificial offerings of birds, animals, and human blood and hearts. Enemies killed in battle were often eaten, adding to the strength of the victors. Unfortunately, the circumstances only supplied advancing Spaniards with an excuse to massacre people.
The Huatulco inhabitants were members of the coastal Tututepec tribe. The original Nahuatl name for the place was cuauhtolco (place of the beautiful wood”) - shades of inflection in the language added an element of adoration for the wood as well as recognition of its beauty. This is not surprising since forest was a relatively rare commodity on the arid Pacific Mexican coast. According to an oddly hybrid Nahuatl-Spanish legend the great civilizing god Quetzalcoatl presented the tribal residents of the bay region and port of Santa Cruz with a wooden cross. The community was administrative center for the sophisticated Zapotec culture.
|