A CHINANTEC CALENDAR B y IRMGARD WEITLANER

N January and February, 1935, a six weeks' expedition was undertaken

I by Mr Bernard Bevan, Mr Jack Rickards, and the writer through north-
and southeastern Chinantec territory, for the purpose of obtaining lin-
guistic and ethnological material about this very little known region.
The Chinantec tribe inhabits a portion of northern Oaxaca; their
northeastern boundary closely coinciding with that between the States of
Oaxaca and Vera Cruz. On the west, they are bounded by the Mazatec,

'I
. .. " "
*n..
..
'----=~ausr

FIG.1. Map of Chinantec, Mije, and Zapotec territory in Oaxaca, Mexico.

197
198 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N.s., 38, 1936

on the southwest and south by the Zapotec, and on the southeast by the
Mije.
The expedition entered Chinantec territory by the Valle Nacional via
Tuxtepec, and passed through Chiltepec, Jacatepec, and Ozumazin. From
the Llanos de Ozumazin we entered the southeastern Chinantec area
proper, visiting Tepinapa, Jocotepec, Lachixola, Lacova, and Lalana ;then
returning to Tepinapa, passed through Toabela, Lovani, and Petlapa.
After this we continued into Zapotec territory a t Villa Alta, Comaltepec,
and Choapam; into the Chinantec again a t Teotalcingo; into Mije a t
Totontepec; and finally reached Oaxaca via Yalalag and Mitla.
This southeastern Chinantec area forms a well-defined linguistic terri-
tory, quite distinct from other Chinantec areas such as that of the Valle
Nacional or that of Yolox, and to facilitate the naming of these regions the
actual Chinantec designation’ might be employed, viz. : Wahmi’ for the
southeastern branch, HG mei for the Valle Nacional branch.
THE CALENDAR
Up to the present time, the only known calendars still in use in Central
America are those of certain Maya tribes in Chiapas and in Guatemala.
The fortunate discovery of a calendar still in use amongst a non-Maya
tribe is therefore of some importance.
The Chinantec calendar was first discovered on February 9th in the small
and remote village of Lachixola, whose inhabitants, with the exception of
three or four men, can speak no Spanish.
The calendar was obtained from Pedro Perez, Secretario Municipal,
and due credit must also be given to Mr Bernard Bevan whose clever in-
The system of transcription employed is the French system of I’Institute d’Ethnologie
de I’Universitt? de Paris, as adapted by Prof J. Soustelle to the Otomi.

k palatal without aspiration ! strong compression previous to issuing of

3 j in English “journey” . sound. This important moaning sound
1 lateral sonant 1 with edges of tongue more is somewhat like that in French “onze”
firmly against the alveoles and occurs frequently in Otomi and
h like ch in German “ach” Matlaltzinca
y English y ” short quantity
o German o - long quantity
;L open a, in German “lachen” Li even low tone
e open e, in English “air;” in German 3 even high tone
6 ‘Ahre?1
‘ stress (accent)
Q open 0, English a in “law” ’ glottal stop
* nasalisation Weakly pronounced sounds are printed above
/ nasal aspiration previous to m or A the line.
WEITLANEB] A CHINANTEC CALENDAR 199

terrogation for that particular date initiated the finding of the full list of
months. Later on, two further and almost identical versions of the calendar
were obtained a t Petlapa and Teotalcingo.
The Chinantec calendar consists of eighteen months each of twenty
days, and five extra days or nemontemi. The three versions, apart from
dialectic differences, correspond exactly in nomenclature and in sequence.
They are as follows:
Lachixola Petlapa Teotalcingo
Feb. 9th Feb. 14th March 1st
1. hf !ub’(6) in which we are now hi !ub hi !ub-
2. hi +a- hi 3e hi )e
3. hi ka )a“h hi ko +eh hf ko )eh
4. hi huh hf hu hl hii
5. hi hu hi hou- hi hB
6. hi n6 hi n6 hf no-
7. hi 10 hi 10 hi 1Q”
8. hi kha hi kha’ hi khb
9. hf 10- hi 10 hi la-
10. hi i hi !i hi !Ph
11. hi )ah hf )ah hi ish
12. hi ri- kuih (re kuih) hi ru kiiih hf ru- khih
13. hf /moh hf /mow hf /mQ-
14. hi /mQ&(1) means water hf mGe (a) hf m G P
15. hf nyo- hi nyo- hi nyo
16. hi ta nyi- hf ta nyi’ hi t6 nyi-’
17. hi ta- )a-’ hi t a )a‘ hi t a
18. hi yq hf !i$ hi !i$
- hf !nye-” (Feb. 9th, 1935 was the hi no (5 days) hf nii-
last of these five days. On
Feb. 10th begins the first
day of hl !ub’)
Explanations of the Calendar Given at Teotalcingo
1. Tiempo de sembrar todavia. [Lachixola: tiempo de rozando.] (Planting
season still on.)
2. Tiempo de no sembrar; descanso; limpiar la milpa. (Do not plant.
Rest. Cleaning the fields.)
3. Arozando las milpas; tumbar arboles. (Rooting out fields. Cutting
down trees.)
4. Sembrar. (Sowing-time.)
200 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N.s., 38, 1936

5. Mero tiempo de sembrar. (Actual sowing-time.)

6. Mero tiempo de sembrar. (Actual sowing-time.)
7. Dejar crecer la milpa. (Letting fields grow.)
8. Limpiar milpa. (Cleaning fields.)
9. Limpiar milpa. (Cleaning fields.)
10. Se da frijol en Petlapa y Lalana. (Beans are grown in Petlapa and
Lalana.)
11. Se da frijol en Petlapa y Lalana. (Beans are grown in Petlapa and
Lalana.)
12. Tiempo de piscar. (Time for picking.)
13. Tiempo de sembrar picante y frijol. (Planting of chile and beans.)
14. Tiempo de llovisna; no trabajan. (Rainy season. Field-work sus-
pended.)
15. Primer tiempo de sembrar tonamil.2 (1st season of tonamil.)
16. Segundo tiempo de sembrar tonamil. (2nd season of tonamil.)
17. Tercer tiempo de sembrar tonamil. (3rd season of tonamil.)
18. Se siembra todavia y da planta. (Still planting and plants begin to
grow.)
- Tiempo de sembrar: mes de febrero. (Planting season: month of
February.) ’
At present [March 1, 19351 we are in the season of hi i g .
I n these three towns, the Chinantec year was said to begin on Febru-
ary loth, and the five nemontemi or closing days of the year to end on
February 9th. However, a later investigation revealed that in the Lalana
region nearby, the Chinantec year commences during the latter part of
December (the precise date being variously estimated), with the nemon-
temi falling inside and not a t the end of the year as one would expect.
Although the second table above is not to be taken as a literal transla-
tion of the calendar names, it shows the seasonal occupations. The calendar,
a t the present day, is employed for agricultural purposes only, the names
of the months being time-bearers or indicators for the sowing and reaping
of crops, etc.
The word hi, prefixed to each month, means “period,” “season,” or
“time” (tiempo, estacion) and the veintena or twenty day cycle is named
kyahmuii (gy@/muU) meaning twenty days.
Since this first expedition, a second expedition was made: and seven
Tonarnil, a kind of second crop.
This second expedition, through the good offices of Dr Alfonso Caso and Ing Pedro
Sanchez, was sponsored by the Pan American Institute of Mexico City, which will publish
later all the material so far obtained in the Chinantec region.
AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, N. S., VOI.. 38 [ WEITLAX.ER]PLATE 5

Scenes in Chinantec territory. UPPER,Type of Chinantec church and village, built on

levelled off promontory (Lovani); LOWER,Houses with thatched palm roofs (Lovani).
AMER1C.W ANTIIROPOLOGIST, N. S., VOL, 38 IWEITLANER] PLATE 6

Chinantec women. UPPERLEFT,Showing hairdress: unmarried woman on the left has hair
coiled with red wool, married woman on the right (Petlapa); UPPERRIGHT,Woman fetching
water (Toabela); LOWER, Women with white huipil and red skirts, called chiapaneco (Lalana).
AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, N. S., VOL. 38 [WEITIANER] PLATE 7

Chinantec types. UPPER,Group of Chinantec men with red handkerchiefs; baskets are
made in Teotalcingo (Toabela);LOWER
LEFT,Woman spinning cotton using a wooden spindle
(Toabela); LOWERRIGHT,The man from whom the first calendar was obtained (Lachixola).
(Photograph by J . Sturken.)
WEITLANEB] A CHINANTEC CALENDAR 20 1

further versions of the calendar were obtained in this region, the sequence
of the months being in every case the same.
Unfortunately, our search for the twenty day names constituting each
month was fruitless: no trace or memory of them appears to survive, but
for the first time, the precise meaning of the words in the calendar was
discovered.
To only two of the month names can be attached an ancient astronomi-
cal or mythological background, namely the sixth month, h i na (June) and
the sixteenth month, hi ta nyi’ (end of December). The former means:
“At noon, when the sun is in its zenith, she stands still for a moment,” and
the latter: “A thorn or spike thrusts itself into the face of the sun, prevent-
ing it from further fall.”
With the publication of these ten versions of the calendar together with
the linguistic material collected, a better appreciation of the value of the
Chinantec calendar compared with existing calendars and those known
through historical sources may be expected.
DE MEXICO
UNIVERSIDAD
MEXICO,D. F.