Czech linguists race to save the stories of El Salvador's Nahuat Pipil as their language disappears
Czech linguists are helping preserve the language of one of Central America's Indigenous peoples. They are racing to record the stories of El Salvador's Nahuat Pipil before they disappear with the last generation of storytellers.
The Nahuat Pipil are an Indigenous people whose ancestors migrated from central Mexico to present-day El Salvador around a thousand years ago. Closely related to the Aztecs, they developed their own distinct culture, history and language.
For centuries, their stories survived only through oral tradition. Today, Czech researchers are working to record them for future generations. One of them is Athena Alchazidu, a Hispanist from the Language Education Centre at Masaryk University, who regularly travels to El Salvador to meet some of the last keepers of these traditions and document their stories.
Among the traditions she has encountered is the use of a conch shell to announce important events.
"This is a conch shell that has been used since Aztec times as a trumpet to announce important events. This custom has also survived in El Salvador among Nahuat Pipil communities," she explains.
Among the people sharing these traditions is 86-year-old Nantzin Fidelina from the village of Santo Domingo de Guzmán. The title "Nantzin" carries special meaning within the community Alchazidu explains:
"Nantzin means grandmother, but also teacher, because since ancient times grandmothers have passed on knowledge, stories and practical skills, how to make, prepare and create things."
In one of the recordings, Nantzin describes her work as a potter, a craft she has practiced throughout her life. Pottery is not only part of her livelihood, but also one of the traditions she continues to pass on to younger generations.
Researchers systematically record stories like hers, preserving not only an endangered language but also myths, memories and traditional knowledge.
According to Alchazidu, the Nahuat Pipil have managed to preserve part of their identity despite centuries of colonisation. Their language, however, has long been overshadowed by Spanish.
"The Nahuat Pipil are one of the few Indigenous groups that survived in what is now El Salvador. Today, they number around 280,000 people. If their language disappears, the entire culture disappears with it. And for cultures based on oral tradition, where everything is passed down by word of mouth, that is an irreparable loss."
The preservation effort extends beyond field recordings. Researchers are also working with the Moravian Library to bring these stories to a wider audience.
The library has previously organised exhibitions and educational programmes and is now preparing a book of Nahuat Pipil myths and legends, says Veronika Fillinger from Masaryk University.
"Researchers visited these communities earlier this year, gathering more stories and traditions. Those accounts are now being compiled into a bilingual book that the library hopes will reach readers far beyond El Salvador."
The publication aims not only to preserve the stories themselves, but also to show how the Nahuat Pipil understand the world around them. One of the myths explains how humans received cocoa from the gods.
"Cocoa beans served as a store of value and were used as a form of currency. They were also considered a medicine and were given, for example, to nursing mothers to help improve milk production."
To help publish the myths and legends of the Nahuat Pipil in Czech for the first time, the Moravian Library has launched a fundraising campaign open to the public.
