Chuwi' Meq'ena'

Chuwi' Meq'ena' es uno de los varios pueblos, incluyendo los de Saquelewab, Xelaju, Chuwa Tz'aq, and Tz'oloj Che', que son enemigos del líder Kikab'. Cuando no pueden vencerlo, los de Chuwi' Meq'ena' forman una alianza con el líder y ayudan a defender el territorio, junto con los pueblos de Maq'a, Xayab'aj, Saqkabaja, Siyaja y Xelaju, entre otros. Cabe notar que cuando el pueblo aparece en la primera lista de los enemigos de Kikab', se llama Chuwi' Meq'ena; en la segunda lista de las naciones aliadas con el señalado líder, los autores k'iche' escriben Meq'ena. En la traducción española, el padre dominico Francisco de Ximénez escribe "tutunícapa" y "los de tutunícapa" en los dos idiomas, borrando así el cambio de alianza política que se preserva en k'iche'. El lingüista k'iche' Sam Colop (2008: 200n346) observa que "Esto es Totonicapán y literalmente Chuwi' Meq'ena' quiere decir 'sobre el agua caliente."

Anthropologist Allen J. Christenson (2007: n782) defines Chuwi' Miq'ina' as "Above Hot Water" and notes that this town, one of several listed as enemies of Kikab', along with Saquelewab, Xelaju, Chuwa Tz'aq, and Tz'oloj Che', "is likely the site known locally as Chuitinamit, located 700 meters above a series of hot water springs near present-day Totonicapán (Recinos 1950, 221; Fox 1978, 161). This and the next three settlements in the list were all heavily populated Quiché communities at the time of the Spanish conquest, attesting the effectiveness of Quicab’s military campaigns. They continue to be occupied by Quiché speakers today." When the towns could not defeat Kikab', they regroup and form an alliance with him. In this second mention, Chuwi' Meq'ena becomes, as the K'iche' authors of the Popol Wuj write, "Meq'ena." In his Spanish translation, father Francisco de Ximénez uses the same name both times, "tutunícapa" and "los de tutunícapa," providing evidence of another moment of divergence between the K'iche' text and his Spanish colonial version.