The Legend of the Hill of the Roosters

After the enormous Chichimeca catastrophe, in which they were almost completely exterminated, the Nahuatlaca giant, a defender of the weak who was considered an invincible god due to his heroic deeds, began to abuse his strength and power. He turned into a ruthless tyrant, demanding tribute from the inhabitants of this region, whose lands barely produced enough to meet his demands.

The Nahuatlaca giant, in an effort to instill fear among those indigenous people who failed to pay the taxes, crushed them under the terrible weight of his club.

This behavior became so disastrous that it led to the formation of groups conspiring against their former savior to end this desperate situation.

The first conspirators paid with their lives for their rebellion. Despite this, discontent against Nahuatlaca grew. He was well aware of his subjects’ activities, which aimed solely at his death. Fearing for his life and desperate to end the unrest, he implored the protection of Natlazahuatl to annihilate all the region’s inhabitants. Obediently, Natlazahuatl began his destructive work among the settlers. His method was to inflict severe headaches and fever on them, raising their body temperature to between 40 and 41 degrees, leading to their death within three, five, or seven days.

Despite this, those who were never intimidated came together again. The Roosters, robust in constitution, swore to offer their lives until their desires were fulfilled.

When the giant learned of what these strong men were doing, he directed his fury against them once again. However, they fled their village and headed south, searching for an elevated area where they could observe his movements and plan their attacks.

Feeling insecure, the giant retreated north but was overcome by sleep and fell into a deep slumber. The Roosters seized this opportunity, using large shovels of earth to bury him alive. Realizing what was happening, the giant made a supreme effort to free himself, but had it not been for the Roosters being aided by an invincible and mysterious hand wielding a great chiquihuite (basket) of rocks to trap the monster forever, their fate would have been dire.

Since then, the elevated terrain where those brave men watched the giant has been called Hill of the Roosters, and the rocky area where the giant was buried became known as El Chiquihuite.

Legend has it that despite the passing of time, Nahuatlaca will one day escape his prison and destroy the now prosperous and happy city of Aguascalientes.

Municipal Historical Archive of Aguascalientes