Numerous pre-conquest villages lined the shores of Lake Chapala. They were founded by groups of Nahua Indians who roamed near the clear lake waters, tilling the fertile shores and basking in the warm sunshine. They roved the Lake's northern shores until they came to Cutzalan ("of the many warm springs"). Here they built their black mud huts near the waters. By day, they wandered naked over the countryside, and at night they sat outside their huts around the fires.

Governed by Chief Xitomatl, the Indians thrived in their new home. They built a temple to their god Iztlacateotl. They warred with neighboring tribes. When they were the victors, they sacrificed enemy captives, cut out their hearts and offered them to their god, cooked blood in earthen pots and threw the remains into the Lake. Skeletons found by fishermen in succeeding eras bear out these stories.

It is also said that the Indians made offerings to Machis, the goddess of water, of clay objects spotted with blood from the offerer's earlobes, in hopes of the gift of immortality. These objects are still today being fished out of the Lake by bathers.

The settlement grew so large that the chief sent out groups to colonize the areas where Jocotepec and Ajijic now stand. When Chief Chapalac and his dissident followers appeared in Cutzalan, Xitomatl sent them along the lakeshore to the east to establish Chapala.

 

 

 

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