What is "chajoma"

The Chajoma were a Kaqchikel-speaking Maya people of the Late Postclassic period, with a large kingdom in the highlands of Guatemala. According to the indigenous chronicles of the K'iche' and the Kaqchikel, there were three principal Postclassic highland kingdoms; the K'iche', the Kaqchikel and the Chajoma. In the Annals of the Cakchiquels the Chajoma of Jilotepeque were always referred to as the akajal vinak, in the Popul Vuh these can probably be identified with the akul vinak. Both akajal vinak and akul vinak mean "the bee people" or "the hive people".

Chajoma means "people of ocote" (a type of pine). In colonial times this was rendered into Nahuatl as sacatepēc "Grass mountain" which led to its current Hispanicized name Sacatepéquez. Early records, for example, record the placename San Juan Sacatepéquez as San Juan Chajoma. The Chajoma separated into six divisions, equivalent to the various colonial villages bearing Sacatepéquez in the name.