The Tzʼutujil (Tzutujil, Tzutuhil, Sutujil) are an Indigenous people, one of the 22 Maya ethnic groups that live in Guatemala. Together with the Xinca, Garífunas (Black Caribs) and the Ladinos, they make up the 25 ethnic groups in the country. Approximately 100,000 Tzʼutujil live in the area around Lake Atitlán. Their pre-Columbian capital, near Santiago Atitlán, was Chuitinamit. The leadership in Chiaa consisted of the supreme lord, the Ahtz'iquinahay and a lesser supreme lord, the Tz’utujil, who named the group after himself. These organizations are dedicated to specific Catholic saints and also served as a way for the Spanish to collect revenue from the Mayan people. Geographer Dr. W. George Lovell suspects that the population decline is linked to an outbreak of either smallpox, measles, influenza, pneumonic plague, or exanthematic typhus originating from an outbreak amongst the Kachiquel Maya. In June 1980, the guerrilla group, Organization of People in Arms, recruited citizens in the region., the guerilla violence was reduced in the region. It is believed to be a body that carries water and grows trees, flowers, and food. Jal is change that happens to an individual as they progress through their lives. The production of weavings is seen as a birthing process.

  • Martín Prechtel, New Age author who writes of his experiences with the Tzutujil people.

References

  • Website of Santiago Atitlán
  • Chuitinamit History and description
  • Anthropologist's Blog about learning Tzʼutujil in San Pedro La Laguna
  • Vocabulary and Basic Phrases between Tzʼutujil, Spanish, and English
  • Interactive Mayan language map of Guatemala
  • Maya Tz'utujil Initiative