Cuetzalan

History

This part of the sierra belonged to the Totonacapan, the homeland of the Totonac people, who are said to have settled it around 200 BCE. The ceremonial center of Yohualichan, a few kilometers from town, is the clearest evidence of their presence.

The Spanish subdued the area in 1522, and Franciscan friars took charge of evangelizing it. By 1547 the settlement was considered an important center of social, economic and commercial activity, and it was given the name San Francisco Cuetzalan. That year is usually taken as the town's founding.

For most of the colonial period and the 19th century Cuetzalan belonged to the district of Zacapoaxtla. In 1895 it became a free municipality with its seat in the villa of Cuetzalan del Progreso, and the town was formally named Ciudad de Cuetzalan on October 4, 1986.

Its isolation in the mountains helped Nahua and Totonac communities keep their languages, dress, dances and Sunday market, and a community radio station here broadcasts in both languages. Those living traditions, more than any single monument, are what made Cuetzalan one of the first Pueblos Mágicos in 2002. A festival dedicated to yolixpa, once a bitter medicinal drink made with more than twenty herbs, has been held since 2014.