// Workers AI · dad joke modeAre Chiapanec people good dancers? They have a step in the right direction.
The Chiapanec or Soctón are an indigenous people of the Central Depression of the Mexican state of Chiapas, especially in Chiapa de Corzo. Today their numbers are very few, owing to assimilation over the centuries. Their language, also referred to as Chiapanec, belonged to the Manguean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family and is now extinct.
The Chiapanec people probably arrived in the Central Depression of Chiapas between the ninth and tenth centuries, taking over the previously Zoque city of Chiapa for which they are named. Oral tradition recorded by Spanish conquerors indicated that they had come from the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, splitting off from their Mangue relatives when the Nicarao people invaded the region.[1] Chiapa became one of the most significant urban centers in what is now Chiapas, and was the capital of a state that came to control most of the Central Depression during the Mesoamerican Postclassic period. The Chiapanec people generally had bad relations with neighboring Zoque, Tzotzil, Tzeltal and Cabil communities, possibly owing to conflict over the trade route to Tehuantepec. Besides Chiapa, other Chiapanec settlements included Acala, Suchiapa, Chiapilla, Villaflores and Villa Corzo,[2] and likely Venustiano Carranza and Totolapa.[3]
Calendar
[edit source]The Chiapanec used a version of the Mesoamerican calendar which consisted of 18 "months" of 20 days each along with five intercalary days called nbu. Two different versions of the month names, one from Chiapa and the other from Suchiapa, were included by Alphonse Pinart in his publishing of Fray Juan de Albornoz's Arte de la Lengua Chiapaneca along with their meanings.[4]
| Starting day | Month name in Chiapa | Hypothesized etymology | Month name in Suchiapa | Hypothesized etymology |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 15 | Tumugûi/Tamugûi | "Chile is sown" | ||
| June 4 | Iatati/Hatati | "The winds begin" | Yucu | |
| June 24 | Ñumbi | "Maguey is sown" | Ñumbi | "Maguey is sown" |
| July 14 | Cutamé | "The weather changes" | Muhu | "Mosquito time" |
| August 3 | Iaumé/Haumé | "Dampness" | Hatati | "The winds begin" |
| August 23 | Mundju | "Chile is sown" | ||
| September 12 | Majua/Mahua | "Cold" | Catani | "The rains cease; maize begins" |
| October 2 | Manga | "Fishing begins" | ||
| October 22 | Haomé | "Rivers fall; fish leave" | ||
| November 11 | Mua | "Camotes are planted" | Mahua | "Cold begins" |
| December 1 | Tupiu | "The dampness increases" | Toho | "No planting done" |
| December 21 | Tuhu/Tujiu | Mua | "Camotes are planted" | |
| January 10 | Muhu/Mu-u | "Mosquito time" | Topia | "The dampness increases" |
| January 30 | Turi | "Ripeness" | Tumuhu | "Nothing is done" |
| February 19 | Manga | "Time for little fishes" | ||
| March 11 | Puri | "The jocote ripens" | Cupamé | "The coyol ripens" |
| March 31 | Cuturi | "The gourd ripens" | Puri | "The jocote ripens" |
| April 20 | Cupané | "The coyol ripens" | Puhuari | |
| May 10 | Turi | "Time of ripening" |
References
[edit source]- ↑ Brinton, Daniel G. “Notes on the Mangue; An Extinct Dialect Formerly Spoken in Nicaragua.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 23, no. 122, 1886, pp. 241–42. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/983235. Accessed 24 Jun. 2026.
- ↑ César Gallardo Vásquez, Julio (2024). Ja mejy jïts ja kojpk: Atlas de la conquista de la región mixe-zoque. p. 40.
- ↑ Campbell, Lyle (1988). The linguistics of Southeast Chiapas, Mexico. New World Archaeological Foundation, Brigham Young University. pp. 267–274.
- ↑ Brinton, Daniel G. “The Native Calendar of Central America and Mexico. A Study in Linguistics and Symbolism.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 31, no. 142, 1893, pp. 302–304. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/982967. Accessed 23 Jun. 2026.