Chiapanec people

The Chiapanec or Soctón are an indigenous people of the Central Depression of the Mexican state of Chiapas, especially in Chiapa de Corzo. Today their numbers are very few, owing to assimilation over the centuries. Their language, also referred to as Chiapanec, belonged to the Manguean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family and is now extinct.

According to Terrence Kaufman, archaeological evidence suggests that Manguean speakers entered Chiapas as early as 200 AD. The Chiapanec people probably arrived in the Central Depression of Chiapas between the ninth and tenth centuries AD, taking over the previously Zoque city of Chiapa for which they are named. Oral tradition recorded by Spanish conquerors indicated that they had come from the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, splitting off from their Mangue relatives when the Nicarao people invaded the region. However, in reality it was likely the Mangue who came from Chiapas rather than the other way around. Chiapa became one of the most significant urban centers in what is now Chiapas, and was the capital of a state that came to control most of the Central Depression during the Mesoamerican Postclassic period. The Chiapanec people generally had bad relations with neighboring Zoque, Tzotzil, Tzeltal and Cabil communities, possibly owing to conflict over the trade route to Tehuantepec. Besides Chiapa, other Chiapanec settlements included Acala, Suchiapa, Chiapilla, Villaflores and Villa Corzo, and likely Venustiano Carranza and Totolapa.

Calendar

The Chiapanec used a version of the Mesoamerican calendar which consisted of 18 "months" of 20 days each along with five intercalary days called nbu. Two different versions of the month names, one from Chiapa and the other from Suchiapa, were included by Alphonse Pinart in his publishing of Fray Juan de Albornoz's Arte de la Lengua Chiapaneca along with their meanings.