it was always that way; or, it was always done in this way (see Molina)
Orthographic Variants:
zammochipa iuhcatca
Alonso de Molina:
zammochipa iuhcatca. siempre estuuo assi, o siempre estuuo desta manera. Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 14r. col. 1. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.