There are extraordinary stories around the world –stories that once were believed to be true –but that today they just remain as part of the cultural richness of a town.
The question is: Are those myths and legends stories that were invented by our ancestors’ minds, or are they based on true events? We will never know. Legends are not easily verifiable, they are usually passed on by word of mouth or, more commonly today, posted on social networks. They frequently start with “I once heard …”, “It is said that …”, “The story tells about …”, or the typical: “Once upon a time …”. That makes it difficult to find the original source of the story virtually impossible to trace back. Unveiling the truth behind urban legends, however, is not as significant as the lesson they teach or as the natural phenomena they are trying to explain before formal science.
While folklorists all have their own definitions on the making of a legend or an urban myth and the importance of these tails in the cultural development of a community, academics have always disagreed on whether these tales are, by definition, too farfetched to be real. Yet, is it not arrogant to accuse our predecessors of being uncivilized and uneducated in one breath, instead of offering them praise and admiration for their legacy in general, for their monuments, art, sculptures, buildings, writings, and societies dated back to ancestral times? What we cannot deny is the magic that one experiments when telling or hearing a legend and the cultural heritage they represent. These narrations usually use such rich language that appeals to our senses that our minds surrender to re-live what is being told. We can almost see, hear, smell, touch and taste what is being described. Then, go to your favorite spot in your home, treat yourself a cup of coffee or your favorite tea, and enjoy the legend that tells how the Lake in Cuitzeo originated.
This legend goes back to prehispanic times, both Alonso (2012) and López (2017) tell the story of a gorgeous, gentle, young princess named Hapunda Tzitziki, who lived lonely and seemed to be submerged in a deep endless sadness in the garden of Mother Nature or Cuerauáperi; the latter was also the name of the tribe to which she belonged. The Goddess (Mother Nature), to entertain the princess, created two crystal clear rivers and gave them to her, but this did not make the princess happy. Despite that, her father made her stay there.
The always sad Hapunda used to spend the day crying. Her tears ran freely to mix with the water of the fountains in the garden as well as with the two rivers she had gotten as a gift from the Goddess. Pulling out tearfulness from the rocks, Hapunda’s tears would not move the Gods’ hearts. Although she pled for her beloved warrior to come back safe and sound, they would not listen to her. Hapunda was deeply sad because her lover had been sent to battle by her father, the King, and she knew that many warriors were killed in battle.
One morning, Tata Huriata (Father Sun) looked majestic over the mountains as hundreds of warriors marched over the lawns of Cuaracurio (where the squirrel is). The noise of cuiringuas (a percussion instrument) and snails scared away a tzintzuni (humming bird), which was being fed honey from Hapunda’s hands.
The princess, who was happily feeding the tzintzuni, with the noise of the crystal waters running in the background of the scene and transmitting the peace that Mother Nature gives; suddenly, became sad as the bird flew away. That reminded her of the departure of her beloved one, whom she thought she would never see again.
With her heart pounding, she made her way in the brushwood running to see if the soldiers approaching were his father’s and hoping to see her love. And indeed, it was them. She quickly asked for her loved one to one of the warriors. He and the rest of them lowered their heads in sorrow as they kept on walking, anticipating the bad news.
She desperately looked for her father and when she was before him, she told him, “My father, bring my loved one back because he left with your army under your command; since you insisted on him coming back victorious from battle to deserve my love”. Everyone kept silent and so did the King. After some seconds of silence, the King, unexpectedly, raised his spear as everyone knelt to listen to him. “My daughter”, he said. “Hapunda, Tzitziki (flower), the arrow of a Chichimeca, among all my warriors has chosen him.” “Tata Huriata wanted his blood”, he continued. “And we have placed his heart at Tata Huriata’s feet as it was the Tata’s desire.” The princess’ eyes opened in terror and filled with tears. She looked for the God Sun with lost, empty eyes. She knew her beloved one’s heart was there, with the sun. She followed the direction of the sun’s light, Tata Huriata’s. The priests of the tribe tried to stop Hapunda from running to the sun, but they were not able to resist Hapunda’s energy. So Hapunda ran down to the valley in search of the heart of his impossible love; heart that had been the loot of the fight between the Cuerauáperi and the Chichimeca.
Once she reached the place where the heart had been placed, she wept inconsolably. After some seconds, her lost eyes looked for a safe place where to keep the bleeding loot which had been the plunder of battle. Since she did not find a proper place, she decided to come back to her town with the heart in her arms. She would appear forceful with whoever tried to get closer to her or tried to take away the recently recovered, still bleeding, organ. She would not listen to her father’s voice or the soldiers’, who called upon her trying to get her recover good sense and take the heart back to where it belonged since offerings were considered sacred.
As the princess would not stop crying, her painful tears flooded all the valley. The following day at sunrise, the King, his warriors and all the rest of the town were in for a big surprise. The valley was no longer there and neither was Hapunda. They had disappeared! Instead, there was a large lagoon that embraced a heart with its waters. This was the origin of the lake which is named Lake of Cuitzeo.
If you are an avid reader of local history, ancient myths and legends, you will find a lot of similarities with other stories that tell how the bodies of water were formed in the Tarasca plateau. This is because, according to González (2006), “Hapunda” means lake or lagoon in ancient P’urépecha, whose corresponding term is “Japunda”. So do not be surprised if you find that the name “Hapunda” (“Japunda”) appears in legends that tell the origins of the Lake of Pátzcuaro or the Lake of Zirahuén. Yet, it is worth to mention that “Hapunda” is the name of the princesses in all the stories, but it is not the name of the bodies of water. In the case of Pátzcuaro it is the princess Hapunda that turns into a heron. As you read, in Cuitzeo, it is the presence of the princess Tzitziki –as beautiful as a flower – which gives origin to the two rivers that subsequently form the lake as she is weeping her lover’s death, who is represented as the humming bird that is scared away and departs from the princess’ hands.
We must conclude then that the term “Hapunda” refers to the lakes or lagoons generically and does not particularly refers to a specific one of them. I hope you have enjoyed this fascinating and haunting story as much as I have enjoyed researching it for you.
REFERENCES:
ALONSO, Elsy. (2012). Lago de Cuitzeo (él no era de su estirpe). Retrieved from: https://mitoleyenda.com/mitos-y-leyendas/lago-de-cuitzeo-569
GONZÁLEZ, Andrés. (2006). Leyendas de agua en México. Retrieved from: http://www.razonypalabra.org.mx/anteriores/n53/agonzalez.html
López, José Manuel. (2017). Lago de Cuitzeo: El ocaso de una leyenda. Retrieved from: https://stquije.com/medio-ambiente/lago-cuitzeo-ocaso-una-leyenda
Diccionario de términos prehispánicos: http://www.esacademic.com/dic.nsf/eswiki/586156
Lic. Maria Guadalupe Guerrero Calderón
Hace 3 años
