{"id":2171,"date":"2017-05-26T17:13:42","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T17:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.americanlinguistics.org\/?page_id=2171"},"modified":"2024-10-17T20:10:38","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T20:10:38","slug":"chicahuaxtla-triqui-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.americanlinguistics.org\/?page_id=2171","title":{"rendered":"Chicahuaxtla Triqui"},"content":{"rendered":"
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[IJAL Texts Online, vol. 2, number 1, May 2017]<\/div>\n
In the Hole of White Dirt\u00b9<\/a><\/div>\n
told by Felipe Santiago Rojas<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

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A. Raymond Elliott<\/div>\n
University of Texas at Arlington<\/div>\n
The text documented here recounts a popular Triqui legend written and recited by Felipe Santiago Rojas, a native speaker of TRS. The legend was originally told to him by his father, Jos\u00e9 Venancio Santiago who was born and raised in San Andr\u00e9s Chicahuaxtla. The text was recorded in an area called La Ca\u00f1ada Tejocote located on the outskirts of San Andr\u00e9s Chicahuaxtla in July, 2011 at the home of Felipe Santiago Rojas. The legend is titled, \u201cIn the Hole of White Dirt\u201d and features the \u201cplumed serpent\u201d\u2014a mythological creature that is half-serpent and half-bird. Neil Baldwin (1998) states that the plumed serpent is one of the most pervasive symbols in all of Mexican history and has existed from primordial times to the present. He adds that the serpent symbolizes the passing of time while the bird represents the four elements\u2014earth, wind, fire and water. The plumed serpent thus symbolizes creation.<\/div>\n
According to this Triqui legend, the Hole of White Dirt used to be a lake where the plumed serpent once lived. The legend describes the area as rainy with gushing brooks, pine trees, green foliage and pristine waters. During the day, the plumed serpent would come out to rest in order to soak up the heat of the sun\u2019s rays. The villagers, however, avoided walking near the lake for fear that the plumed serpent would swallow them. As time passed, the plumed serpent became annoyed with the overpopulation of the village and mankind\u2019s destruction of the environment. Consequently, the plumed serpent abandoned the lake to seek out a better place to live. Once the plumed serpent left, the rains no longer returned so the lake dried up leaving in its wake what is now known as the Hole of White Dirt.<\/div>\n
The text was recorded with Audacity 1.3.9 using a Zoom H4n portable digital recorder connected to a MacBook Pro computer at a sampling rate of 44.1 KHz and a quantization of 16 bits\u2014CD quality.<\/div>\n
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