TRATAMIENTO ELEGIDO A REALIZAR:

The first thing mentioned in this description of a komunidad is its foundation and geographical situation (lines 1-12). Though I had asked Bonifacio before about his village’s origin, he always claimed to know nothing about this. He remarked that he vaguely remembered something his father had told him about the union of two villages, but said he ignored why or when this happened. When he started by saying that he would talk about his community’s foundation, this came as quite a surprise. The reason why he chose this topic must be sought in the status conferred to the place as a community; the history of its foundation made it a legal, independent and full-grown entity. This way, listeners are assured the village is a genuine one and that the following description is that of a real komunidad.

According to the narrator, the community is the result of a union of two settlements. Though he does not say why the two settlements merged, he did comment later that this was due to an external factor: the introduction of electricity sometime in the 70s[50]. Electricity poles were installed in the upper settlement, nearer to the municipality head, and did not reach the houses further down, close to the river. People on the riverside were forced to move up if they wanted to have electricity. They began to build new dwellings next to those of the upper settlement until, after a while, the houses near the river were completely abandoned and demolished.

Division and union of settlements are two common features in today’s Huasteca. People say that during the last forty years, in the municipality of Xochiatipan alone, two communities have disappeared and three new ones have emerged[51]. Next to communities that have been there for ages and are already mentioned in 18th _{century historical documents, or in earlier ones} (cf. Gerhard 1972:244)[52], new ranchos pop up every once in a while because of inner conflicts and demographic pressures that cause them to separate.

Others disappear when their inhabitants go live in neighboring villages in search of better living conditions, usually in relation to land issues. On occasions, land shortage forces landless families of one community to go and find new arable land elsewhere. At first, these new population nuclei are small and the settlers keep cooperating in the original rancho’s communal affairs, under the status of an anexo or annexation, until their settlement is large enough and has certain facilities to function as an independent community.

People recall these stages in the history of their komunidad. The reconstruction of these stages and the final establishment as an independent entity, as expressed by Nahuas, provides a unique valuation of the community concept; it is worthwhile to examine it further. A few years ago, someone in one of the neighboring ranchos gave the following account of the village’s foundation; it provides several elements for the discussion of this concept:

385

390

Uan teipa nopa ueuentsi ya nika san tekitiyaya mila uan moxankaltik. Uan kimachilik uajka para yaui nepa. Teipa ualajki nika

nika mochantiko. Nepa itsto mila

uajka itstoya noponi uan teipa kimachilik para nika kiitak para tlakualka.

Teipa ualajki asta netlaniteko mochantiko nopa ueue tlakatl.

And then this old man here only worked the field and he built a hut.

He felt it far to go there [to his house]. Then he came here

here he settled.

Over there was the cornfield

it was far away [from his home] and then he felt that he saw that it was good here. Then he came from below

the old man settled here.

385

390

395

Uan teipa kipixto se ichpokatl. Ya noponi no kinamijtik.

Sampa seyok se tlakatl, teipa noponi mokauatoya ome

ome elitoya.

And then he had a girl. He let her marry.

So, once again a man, then there came to stay two [the husband of the girl] then there were two.

395

400

405

Nojkí ya nopa uan seyok se ueue tlakatl no ajkopa itsto

ya san ajkopa itsto.

Teipa kiitak, nika mochantijki ne se no ualajki.

Ya no nika mochantiko se lado mochantik.

Eltoya ome ma nopa ueuentsitsi itstoke. Uan moiluia inijuanti ininkoneua no kipixtoke.

Then so was it and another old man also was above

he only was [worked] above.

Then he saw [that it was good], here he settled and also came.

He settled here, at one side [of the other old man’s house] he settled.

Now there were two old men. And it is said that their children also had [children].

400

410

Inijuanti ualajke mochantike noponi. Eltoya se naui makuili kali eltoya.

They [the grandsons] also came to settle.

There were some four or five houses. 410

415

420

Teipa seyok no se ueue tlakatl ualajki no. Noponi ualajki ya nika mochantijki. Pero teipa, komo ya miyake kipixto koneichpokame teipa pejki ualaui montini inikali mokalakijke makuiltin montini. Teipa nopa rancho ya moueyilijtiajki. Teipa ya mokajke ya elito

ikoneua.

Para nama achi miyake elitoya.

Eltoya san apenas se dies o se kinse, pero sekinok ualtiualajke keuak tlenopa siuame monamiktijtiajke.

Teipa ikoneuamonechkauijke san sejko nika

yeka para nama ni rancho ueyi elito.

Then another [second] old man came, too. He came and here he settled.

But then, because many had daughters already, then began to come sons-in-law in their houses came five sons-in-law. So the rancho got bigger.

They [the sons-in-law] stayed and became children.

Now there were already many [people]. There were only some ten or fifteen [houses], but other [people] came since the women got married.

Then their sons [of the women] joined here

that’s why now this rancho has grown big. 415

420

425

430

435

Uan tojuanti no axtitekitiyaya nika tojuanti titekitiyaya faena ne N. Nepa titekitiyaya pero komo malo tijmachilijke pampa ni koneme axkana ueli yaui eskuela.

Uan ya asta nepa eskuela kema tlatemi miyak atl mopano axueli yaui.

Teipa tijchijke nika no se eskuela ma motlali para ke koneme tlen seis años, siete años no uelisa yas eskuela, komo ya axuajka.

Para apenas N. axueli momachtia. Teipa yeka asta nopa mochijke ni eskuela.

And we did not work here

we worked faena in [the rancho of] N. There we worked but we felt bad because the children could not go to school.

Over there [in N.] was a school, but when [the river] rises one passes much water and cannot go.

Then we built here also a school so that children of six or seven years old could go to school as well, while it was no longer far.

But in N. they could not study. Therefore the school was built.

425 430 435 440 445 450

Nama timosentilitiajkejya nama timiyake. Uan nopa ueuentsi ome

ome keuak ualajke sajkiya nopa moijkini moxinachtiajkeya

komo ya mosansejkotilijkeya ni pilatlaltsi Yeka para miyak elitoya

keuak tlen ikoneua atokoneua amotlajtlantiajkeya ipa mastlejko. De na no se nosistat itsto tlen na notata neka ualajki ika Veracruz.

Nama mijki notata nama na nimokauako uan tojuantin tinaui tiiknime.

Now we joined and we are many. And the two old men

as those two came, so they sowed

because they’d already joined in the valley. Therefore they became many

even though their children and our children were not asking to rise [in number].

My grandfather was here, my father came from Veracruz.

Now my father died, now I am left and we are four brothers.

440

445

Uan nama tlen na naí ome notelpokaua nijpixtok

yeka ipan ni ranchos ya mas motlejkotiti.

And now I have two sons

therefore [the number of people in] the

ranchos is increasing.

The narrator, about sixty years old at the time of this recording, recalls a period in which his grandfather settled in an uninhabited place near his plot of farming land. Other settlers came, in-laws arrived and the population grew until it was sufficiently large to provide a separate socio-political entity; the village became independent, a process that lasted three generations. The tale renders an account of how population growth spurs change and how marriage and land constitute two main factors in the komunidad’s foundation. In the first phase of the settlement process the narrator’s grandfather is forced to walk great distances to his mila or field (lines 384-386). Most probably, at the age of eighteen, when he is entitled to have land of his own in his community, the plots in the near surroundings had already been distributed and he is assigned an uncultivated piece of land far from his house. Evidently, population growth exceeds death rates, and the plots that become available do not keep pace with the number of young adults that have to be given theirs so they can make their own living. For a while, the grandfather walks to his field every day, then he decides to build a little hut to stay overnight, and finally he brings his family to reside in the place (lines 386-393). He is the first one to settle there; at the time he is characterized as an “old man”. In a gerontocratic society such as the Nahua, his old age must be read as a symbolic reference to an authoritative factor. If the decision to settle was made by an old man, then this must have been a wise decision that will not be discussed. The village’s foundation has sound roots.

After the grandfather has settled there, other farmers who also face a land shortage are welcomed to join, and when their daughters are ready to marry, no objection is made to the arrival of the sons-in-law (lines 394-424). The narrator alludes to this practice several times and is himself one of its products; he mentions that his grandfather is from “here” and his father from Veracruz (lines 447-448). In this second phase, the tiny settlement could allow a deviation in the current virilocal settlement pattern, for land was available and a bigger establishment represented a desired goal. With land distributions becoming increasingly scarce in the surrounding established villages, marrying girls from this settlement had the advantage of obtaining land in exchange. This second phase is conferred authority when a second old man settles in the area (lines 399-406, 411-412). The relevance of this settlement resides in the symbolic character attributed to the number two. Since pre-colonial times, two signifies union and duality in Nahua thought. The creator deities acted in pairs, who were both opposites and

complements of each other. Their work solely bore fruit when creating together. In the same way, the two men coming together will make the place prosper. Furthermore, one of the grandfathers is said to have come from below (line 392), whereas the other arrived from above (line 400). Their coming together provides a center, a nucleus around which the people will build their new home. As shall be seen throughout this study, duality is one of the key ordering principles in Nahua thought that is all-pervasive in almost every aspect of life.

In the following and last phase, the arrival of the sons-in-law led to a natural population growth that turned the establishment into a solid community, which sought its own facilities and internal organization (lines 413-437). Once they gained land titles and built their own school and church, there was no need anymore to keep on depending on another community, particularly since this implied rendering services such as communal work (in Spanish

faena) for that entity (lines 425-427). People then sought an independent political status. The narrator expresses this desire by explaining the school children’s past situation (lines 427-437). The one-hour-walk to the nearest community that has a primary school is said to be impossible during the rainy season. This reason, in addition to the fact that the parents felt bad because of the long stretch their children had to walk, clearly connotes the aim to establish an independent community.

When the community finally becomes a legally independent one, its main characteristics are the union and number of people living here: “Now we joined and we are many” (line 438). The reflexive verb mosentilia used in this context, indicates not just the concrete gathering of people at one place (to join together) but also “the becoming one” (see Karttunen 1992:31), which suggests the formation of a collective that shares a sense of belonging to the social unit in which they live. Only when the members have a joint feeling of being a collective and their number is high enough, can we speak of a real komunidad. Again, the two elderly men are given credit for its current status, which, in turn, confirms this status: through their union, the people became many and became a community (lines 440-444). The village’s prosperity and right of existence is described by mentioning its ongoing growth (lines 444-454). The history of the villages’ origin is not very well documented for the Huasteca area. Like the narrator in the example above, villagers mostly draw upon oral tradition when depicting their community’s history. These tales of origin are influenced by how Nahuas conceive their position within the municipality, such as a newly obtained status in the example above[53]. In Bonifacio’s reconstruction, the union of the water (represented by the houses near the river) and the hill (represented by the houses situated upwards) metaphorically constitutes the founding of an altepetl (lit. water-hill)

or village, which is the main symbol of a settlement (see Chapter 4). It seems more important to stress this conceptual confirmation of the settlement’s category as a komunidad, rather than the worldlier drive for modernization from those who wanted to be connected to the luz, the light, whose role in this process is not mentioned during the narration.

The two examples analyzed above, one of junction, as told by Bonifacio, and one of division as told by the elderly man in one of the communities, show that the patchwork of old and new settlements in the Huasteca is in constant movement. At the same time, however, the sense of belonging to a particular community is a crucial identity mark among people, as shall be seen further on. A new village creates new identities and stresses the flexibility and changing character of this concept in daily practice in the Huasteca.