POPOL VUH


The god called Hacavitz was carried by Mahucutah; and Iqui-Balam carried the one called Nicahtacah.[270]

And together with the people of the Quiché, they also received those of Tamub. And in the same way Tohil was the name of the god of the Tamub who received the grandfather and father of the Lords of Tamub, whom we know today.

In the third place were those of Ilocab. Tohil was also the name of the god who was received by the grandfathers and the fathers of the lords, whom we also know today.

In this way, the three Quiché [families] were given their names and they did not separate, because they had a god of the same name, Tohil of the Quiché, Tohil of the Tamub and [Tohil] of the Ilocab; one only was the name of the god,[271] and therefore the three Quiché [families] did not separate.

Great indeed was the virtue of the three, Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz.

Then all the people arrived, those from Rabinal, the Cakchiquel, those from Tziquinahá, and the people who now are called the Yaqui. And there it was that the speech of the tribes changed; their tongues became different. They could no longer understand each other clearly after arriving at Tulán. There also they separated, there were some who had to go to the East,[272] but many came here.

And their clothing was only the skins of animals; they had no good clothes to put on, the skins of animals were their only dress. They were poor, they possessed nothing, but they had the nature of extraordinary men.

When they arrived at Tulán-Zuivá, Vucub-Pec, Vucub-Zivan, the old traditions say that they had traveled far in order to arrive there.



[270] Tohil gets his name from toh, "rain," according to Ximénez. The people of Rabinal called him Huntoh, 1 Toh, which is a day of the calendar. Farther on, the author writes that Tohil and Quetzalcoatl were the same being. The Cakchiquel Manuscript calls Tohohil the principal god of the Quiché. There is no satisfactory etymology for the names of Avilix and Hacavitz. Nicahtacah, literally "in the middle of the plain," does not appear again in the narration, probably because Iqui-Balam had a very secondary part, and did not leave descendants. Explaining the origin of the name Tohohil, the Cakchiquel Manuscript says that when the tribes were in the region of the Laguna de Términos, before going southward into the mountains of Guatemala, the Quiché said: Xaqui tohoh quihilil xibe chi cah, or "thus like it thundered and resounded in the sky," and adds, "in truth in the sky is our salvation. Thus they said and for that reason they were called those of Tohohil." The name Tohil, is, in effect, associated with the idea of rain and thunder, as stated at the beginning of this note.

[271] Xahun u bi u cabauil, in the original.

[272] To Yucatán.

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