Pre-Invasion Nahuas and the Gulf of Mexico
You may have seen a meme suggesting that we start calling the Gulf of Mexico “Chalchiuhtlicueyecatl,” as that is what Indigenous peoples of the area called it.
Eh, not exactly.
In reality, the Nahua peoples who allegedly used “Chalchiuhtlicueyecatl” wouldn’t have used that name for what’s now the Gulf of Mexico. Instead, the word means “the Fresh Water of Chalchiuhtlicue,” and it may refer to her palace in the paradise of Tlalocan, located in the midst of the cosmic sea, to the east of the sea-ringed world.
I’ll explain.
For the Nahuas (as for most Indigenous peoples on this continent), the Americas were the entire world. In Nahuatl, it was called Cemanahuac, which I translate “the sea-ringed world,” but which literally means “everything beside the waters.”
Before the Spanish invasion, there was only one sea, not two. The only ocean was the cosmic one, at the center of which floated the sea-ringed world, built upon the back of the Earth deity once known as Cipactli.
The Nahuas called that single, unending sea “Teoatl” (wondrous / divine water) or “Ilhuicaatl” (heaven / sky water). They could specify the bit of Teoatl visible at a particular direction, of course. To differentiate between the Pacific and the Atlantic / Gulf, for example, they might say, “in tlahuilcopa teoatl” — the Eastern [part of the] Ocean.
After the Spanish Invasion, it became more common to say “in Hueyi Atl” (the Great Water) to refer to the ocean, especially the Atlantic. Once the Spanish began to call the part of the Atlantic closest to Mesoamerica “el Golfo de México” (after the kingdom of the Mexihca, known as Mexihco), it was possible to refer to that body of water in Nahuatl as “Ayollohco Mexihco” (the Gulf of Mexico). Read my article on the importance of “Mexihco” in that label.
In the midst of it, a deity lived. Chalchiuhtlicue. Her name means “her skirt is jade.” Companion of Tlaloc, she was associated with fresh water, irrigation, the baptism of babies, etc. When she ruled over the fourth age, she was tormented, and her tears flooded the world, ending almost all life.
The Nahuas, speaking of lakes and rivers, said “ca in iaxca, ca itech quiza in teotl, in itoca, Chalchiuhtli icue” — “They are the property of, they flow from the divinity named Chalchiuhtlicue.”
She was also quite connected to the ocean. Her many epithets include:
- Acuecueyotl — Great Wave
- Ahhuic — Forever Back and Forth
- Ahtlacamani — Whirlpool
- Xixiquipilihui — She Swells
The Tlaxcaltecah, great enemies of the Mexica, called her Matlalcueyeh — “Green-skirted One,” which was also the name of a mountain that loomed over their main city-state.
Among those highlanders, the goddess was called upon to bring rain. They considered her to be one of the supernatural mountain guardians worshipped during the month of Atemoliztli to ensure the coming of the rains. To the beat of sacred music, families would prepare cookies of amaranth dough shaped like her before making their plea for her intercession.
I share all the above just to clarify that while I wouldn’t mind calling the Gulf of Mexico “The House of Chalchiuhtlicue,” it’s a bit of a stretch to claim that the Indigenous peoples of North America ever really thought of that as the name of that body of water. In fact, no pre-Invasion or colonial-era Nahuatl texts ever mention that word.
That’s why, if we want a Nahuatl name for the Gulf of Mexico, I’d really prefer Ayollohco Mexihco.
