Cocotitlán

Cocotitlán lies on the southern edge of the Chalco valley, on the México–Cuautla highway, about 40 km from Mexico City at roughly 2,310 m. It is the seat of a small municipality almost wrapped by Chalco, Tlalmanalco and Temamatla, and had 10,290 residents in 2020. The Nahuatl name, from cocotli, turtle dove, means "place of doves".

People have lived here a long time: archaeologist Jaime Noyola, quoted by the federal municipal encyclopedia, places large villages at Cocotitlán and neighbouring Metla a century or two before the Common Era, and platforms, pottery and a tomb have been found. In colonial times the town, then San José Cocotitlán, was a mission station of the Franciscans at Tlalmanalco. It became a municipality on 13 May 1868, together with San Andrés Metla, whose authorities keep a codex dated 1674. The Revolution swept back and forth through it: followers of Félix Díaz held it in 1912, by the end of that year General Everardo González's Zapatistas had made it their headquarters, from which they attacked Chalco in September 1913, and the town changed hands again in 1915 and 1916.

The visit centres on the parish church of the Purísima Concepción. A stone plaque beside its arches records that it was finished on 9 April 1700. It is built as a Latin cross, and its treasure is its Baroque altarpieces: the main one is dedicated to Saint Joseph, the town's patron, flanked by a Passion altarpiece and one of Nuestro Padre Jesús, while paintings of the twelve apostles line the nave. The 2017 earthquake damaged the tower, and a full restoration took nearly eight years. The same encyclopedia mentions a chapitel, a small late 16th-century oratory, and a chapel set among boulders carved with petroglyphs.

The days to come are 19 March, Saint Joseph's day, and 8 December, with the Segadores, Serranos and Pastoras dances and the Aztec dance locals call "Los Apaches". August brings the corn fair, and on the night of 1 November the Marotas dance through the streets around bonfires lit in front of each house. Rainy-season cooking means chileatole, a corn and epazote drink, and in October and November shacualote, squash candied with piloncillo.