Despite a debate over his historical reality,Tecún Umán is considered a national hero of Guatemala for his bravery and dignity when he fought to protect his land and his people against the Spanish Conquistadors. The day was celebrated with another parade. This parade was of the children in traditional dress. Although many of the children wear what we thought was traditional dress most days, they do not like this celebration. Apparently, many of the clothes that are worn everyday are not the full traditional dress. I think it is similar to church dress versus regular dress.
Tecum Umam was the last ruler and king of the K'iche' Maya People. They lived in the highlands of present day Guatemala. According Kaqchikel history, Tecum was slain by Don Pedro de Alvarado, the Spanish Conquitador, on February 20, 1524. He was declared a national hero March 22, 1960 and is celebrated on the anniversay of his death February 20th.
The Spanish conquistadors were on a mission to conquer the lands south of Mexico. The K'iche' were the most powerful at the time. Alvarado allied himself with the Kaqchikel who were bitter enemies with K'iche'. After the K'iche' refused to submit to the Spainards peacefully, they prepared for battle. The K'iche' appointed Tecun Uman as their commander.
Legend says that Tecun Uman had his nahual(animal spirit guide...everyone has a different one) with him during the battle. Tecun's animal spirit guide was a quetzal bird. Tecun and Alvarado had a face off. Alvarado was wearing armor and mounted on a warhorse. Since horsed were not native to the area, Tecun had never seen a horse. One version says that Tecun thought the horse and Alvarado were one being. Therefore, by killing the horse, he had killed Alvarado. Another verson says Tecun attacked the horse to knock Alvarado down. Either way, after realizing his mistake, he turned for a second attack but was killed when Alvarado's spear pierced his heart.
The nagual, the quetzal, landed on Tecun's chest. Its chest feathers were stained red from the blood. From then on, all the male quetzal had red chests and their songs had not been heard. Also, if one is put in captivity, it will die. Therefore the quetzal is a symbol of liberty.
The true existence of a historical Tecún Umán is an ongoing debate. A letter written by Alvarado states that one of the four chiefs who was the captain and general of the city was killed. He, however, did not mention the name of the K'iche' general or who killed him.
*(The rest of this is quoting a wickipedia article.) *
Several other indigenous documents describe the arrival of Alvarado in what would become Guatemala, including the Título K'oyoi which describes the battle in terms similar to the modern legend. This document also contains the earliest known reference to the K'iche' leader as "Tecum Umam".[7]
The Popol Vuh[8] confirms the observations of Bartolomé de las Casas and the Título de Totonicapan, which record that four lords ruled the K'iche' at the time of the Spanish conquest. The first-born son of the Keeper of the Mat (the most powerful of the lords) was expected to prove himself by leading the K'iche' army and was given the title "nima rajpop achij," the same title given to Tecún Umán in the Título K'oyoi. This is all tied together by the genealogy of the K'iche' lords that is given near the end of the Popul Vuh and a section of the Título de Totonicapan, which both refer to the son of the Keeper of the Mat as "Tecum" at the time of Alvarado's arrival.[7]
A second explanation for the absence of greater detail in Alvarado's letter is that Tecún Umán actually did battle with one of Alvarado's subordinates, by the name of Argueta. This suggestion is based on the claim of Argueta's descendants that the lance they keep as an heirloom of their predecessor is stained with the blood of the K'iche' hero.[4]
Name
It is believed that "Tecún Umán" was more than likely not the ruler's name at all but may have functioned as a sort of title. The earliest recorded appearance of the name is in the Título K'oyoi in which he is referred to as "nima rajpop achij adelantado Tecum umam rey k'iche' don k'iq'ab'." Translated, this phrase means: "great captain-general Tecum, grandson of the K'iche' king Don K'iqab'." Therefore the word "uman" or "umam" simply means "grandson of" and is not part of Tecún's name at all. It has been suggested that "umam" may have been a reference to his genealogy, or the name may have originally been derived from another title given to the hero, "q'uq'umam," meaning "ancient one of quetzal feathers", or it might have come from the indigenous name for a prominent local volcano: "Teyocuman."[4]
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