Song L — Altogether We Go
Song L is the Tlapapal Cuextecayotl — the Colorful Huaxtec Song — manuscript number LIV. It opens with a distinctive drum preamble ("Tiqui tiqui tiqui tiqui totototo") that marks the Huaxtec genre in the Cantares: a style characterized by particular rhythmic patterns associated with the Huaxtec peoples of the northeastern Gulf Coast. The Tlapapal ("colorful" or "painted") modifier suggests a multi-part or ornamented performance.
At only four sections, this is the shortest song in the Chalca sequence and serves as a transitional piece between the Chalcayotl trilogy (Songs XLVII–XLIX: war song, flower song, orphan song) and the Quauhacayotl (Eagle Song) that begins immediately after at section 684. The song names three figures already mourned in the preceding trilogy: Ayoquan, the Chichimec lord; Tlacahuepantzin; and Ixtlilcuechahuac — all names that resonate through the Cantares as warriors, nobles, and departed lords. The doubled opening refrain — "Altogether we go, altogether we go" — echoes the closing of Song XLIX and the great Nahua theme of collective mortality.
Song L occupies folio 36r, sections 680 through 683, positioned between the end of the Ycnocuicatl (LIII) and the Quauhacayotl genre header. Nahuatl source text accessed from the UNAM TEMOA digital platform. The Cantares Mexicanos manuscript is held at the Biblioteca Nacional de Mexico. Translated directly from Classical Nahuatl by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
Tlapapal cuextecayotl.
Tiqui tiqui tiqui tiqui totototo.
[section 680]
Altogether we go,
altogether we go —
to his home.
No one has a place
upon the earth.
Who can say
which it is?
O friends,
come, rejoice!
[section 681]
Let the xiuhquechol-flower
and the tlauhquechol-flower
intertwine —
your heart,
your word,
my noble child.
The Chichimec lord
Ayoquan —
a little while here.
Borrow upon the earth.
[section 682]
I weep —
the good song destroys
our death,
destroys our sorrow.
A little while here.
Borrow upon the earth.
[section 683]
Listen to them —
Tlacahuepantzin,
Ixtlilcuechahuac —
no longer truly
to Ximoayan.
Only here,
upon the earth.
Colophon
Song L of the Cantares Mexicanos, folio 36r, sections 680–683 (four sections). The Tlapapal Cuextecayotl — Colorful Huaxtec Song — manuscript number LIV.
The song's brevity and transitional position between the Chalcayotl trilogy and the Quauhacayotl suggest it may function as a coda or interlude — a compressed farewell before the manuscript shifts to a new genre. The drum preamble (Tiqui tiqui tiqui tiqui totototo) is distinctive to the Huaxtec genre and contrasts with the drum notations of earlier songs.
Named figures: Ayoquan (section 681) — the Chichimec lord mourned throughout Songs XLVII–XLIX. Tlacahuepantzin and Ixtlilcuechahuac (section 683) — warriors named in earlier Cantares songs, including Songs XXXVI and XLI. The closing — "no longer truly to Ximoayan — only here, upon the earth" — directly echoes the revelation of Song XLIX (section 679), reinforcing the Ycnocuicatl's insight that the place of the stripped is the living world.
Translated directly from Classical Nahuatl via the UNAM TEMOA transcription of the Cantares Mexicanos (MS 1628 bis, Biblioteca Nacional de Mexico). Lexical verification via Molina's Vocabulario en Lengua Castellana y Mexicana (1571) and Karttunen's Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (1983). No existing English translation was consulted or followed. This is the first free literary English translation of this song.
Good Works Translation by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Scribed by Cuicani.
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Source Text
Cantares Mexicanos, folio 36r, sections 680–683. Nahuatl text from the UNAM TEMOA digital transcription.
Tlapapal cuextecayotl. Tiqui tiqui tiqui tiqui totototo etcetera.
§680 Cen tiyahui cen tiyahui oncan ye ichan huiya o ayac teca y in tlalticpac o ac yan quittoa ya in catliame ha in tocnihua xonahuiaca etcetera
§681 Ma xiuhquecholxochitl in tlauhquecholxochitl in malinticac o in moyollo motlatol nopiltzin aayahue çan chichimecatl teuctli in tAyoqua huiya cuel achic ye nica xoconmotlanehui in tlalticpac y ohuaya ohuaya ayahui ohuaya
§682 Ahuayia ohuaye ica nichoca ya compoloa tomiquiz compoloa in totlayocol yectlon cuicatl cuel achic ye nica xoconmotlanehui in tlalticpac y ohuaya ohuaya ayahui ohuaya
§683 Xiquincaquican hue in cuechycahuacaya in Tlacahuepantzin Ixtlilcuechahuac o ayoc nelli in cano Ximoaya çayoh ye nican tlalticpac y yaia
Source text from the Cantares Mexicanos (MS 1628 bis), Biblioteca Nacional de Mexico. Digital transcription accessed via UNAM TEMOA (temoa.iib.unam.mx). The text is reproduced from the UNAM transcription with minimal editorial intervention; scribal notations, drum preamble, and vocables are preserved.
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