Volcanoes in Nicaragua

Erected like true natural pyramids over vast plains, the volcanoes of the region were sacred sites for worship and human sacrifices. They were also used as observatories to determine the rising and setting of the sun, moon, and other celestial bodies, setting the important calendar dates that marked certain agricultural tasks or religious festivals, especially those related to the maize cycle.

Volcanoes and towns, in fact, have been in contact since the most remote times in Central America. In 1580, the chronicler Juan de Torquemada recorded from the indigenous people the story of an ancient migration that took place between Mexico and Nicaragua. According to tradition, several groups that once lived in what is now Mexico were oppressed by the so-called Olmeca Xicalancas, to whom they paid heavy tribute. Determined to break free from their yoke, they fled in a great exodus towards Central America, where they founded several towns and became known as the Chorotegas and Pipiles. The last to leave Mexican land were the Nicaraos, who began their journey southward, guided by a prophecy that encouraged them to search for a new land in a place where there was a "sweet sea" and— as a clear sign— an island in the middle, with two volcanoes.

After many misdirections, the emigrants arrived at the shores of present-day Lake Nicaragua and saw the end of their journey: the island of Ometepe ("two hills" in Nahuatl), with a pair of tall volcanoes in the center: Omeyatecihua and Omeyateyte, the cosmogonic tutelary couple, rain-bringers, creators of well-being. Since then, Ometepe has been a kind of sanctuary island, often hidden behind the misty veil of clouds that the lake spreads over it. Archaeologically, it is still the richest and most attractive island of Cocibolca.

Just as the Nicaraos of the Rivas Isthmus worshipped the volcanoes of Ometepe, other towns also venerated the volcanic hills nearby: the Dirianes with Masaya, the Nagrandanos with Momotombo, the Maribios with Telica, and the Nahuatlatos of Tzoatega with what is now called San Cristóbal. The latter is the tallest volcano in Nicaragua (1,750 meters above sea level) and the only one that had a pine forest at its summit, from whose twigs or ocote the indigenous people used to light their homes and start fires.

The Nicaraguan etymologist Alejandro Dávila Bolaños claims that the San Cristóbal volcano was dedicated to the sun; the Great Twin or Coatpol (the great serpent), one of the many representations of Quetzalcóatl, from which another of its indigenous names derives: Coapólcan or Cubulcan. At the end of the Mexican century, every 52 years, the chiefs of Tzoatega ascended to the summit to "light the new fire," a ceremony that signified the renewal of the world for the people of Mexican descent. The "new fire" was then distributed in ocote twigs and carried down to all the plazas of the chiefdom.

Dávila Bolaños confirms our assumption—he writes—that the Catholic name of San Cristóbal, "the one who carries Christ," "the fire" in a mythical sense, was given to the volcano, which is exactly what the Nahuas of Tezoatega believed about the gigantic volcano.

The Masaya volcano was also a special object of indigenous veneration, due to its constant lava activity and fumaroles, as is known from a tradition that the chief of Nindirí shared with the chronicler Oviedo. The indigenous priests would throw young boys and girls from the edge of the wide crater in acts of propitiation, offering food to a sorceress goddess who supposedly appeared amid the lava. In times of crisis, the chiefs would descend to the bottom to seek the deity’s advice. The Spanish friars considered her to be a demonic entity; Father Francisco Bobadilla, in 1529, ordered a cross to be planted next to the crater to exorcise it, calling the hollow the "mouth of hell."

A very popular practice during the early years of the conquest was the baptismal ceremony of volcanoes carried out by the friars, with the aim of driving away the superstitions of the indigenous people. Dressed in their habits, the cross in one hand and a gourd of holy water in the other, the friars would climb those mountains whose lava seemed to them to be infernal fire. After sprinkling it with water to exorcise it, they would plant a cross at the smoky summit; they would change the indigenous name of the volcano to a more appropriate one, taken from the Christian saints. In this way, they believed they could replace the beliefs and rites of the indigenous people regarding volcanoes and ward off feared telluric manifestations.

When the monks attempted to sanctify the "colossus of Nagrando," the volcano rumbled. Terrified, the friars tumbled down the steep slopes and fell into the ravines, never to be heard from again. It seemed as though the cyclopean volcano was expressing its disagreement. Since then, no one has dared to change its victorious and onomatopoeic name: Momotombo.