Tetepango

The name is Nahuatl: tetl, stone, tepantli, wall, and the place suffix -co, roughly the place of stone walls. Tetepango sits at 2,090 metres in the southern Valle del Mezquital, on plains and low hills draining to the Tula River. According to the INAFED municipal encyclopedia, Otomí and Nahua groups lived in the area before the Spanish founded the town on 13 June 1558. In 2020 it had 9,145 residents, nearly eight in ten of the municipality's population.

Tetepango is known above all for its shrine. The church of San Pedro Apóstol, a parish of the Diocese of Tula, holds the image of the Virgen de las Lágrimas (Our Lady of Tears). Believers say that in 1780 a fire destroyed the church and only an image of the Virgin survived, covered in ash; the townspeople's weeping over the loss gave the devotion its name. Since 1915 an ivory replica known as La Peregrina has travelled to neighbouring Atitalaquia to ask for rain and bless the harvest, and in 2025, on the visit's hundredth anniversary, more than 30,000 people walked the 13-odd kilometres back to the shrine with it.

The town's year is built around her. On the second Sunday of July pilgrimages arrive from across the region, led by Atotonilco de Tula, Atitalaquia and Tlaxcoapan, with brass bands, prayers and dancers. In August the image tours the neighbourhoods, staying with a host family in each who must feed the faithful. The main day is 15 August, with dances, games, livestock shows and a fireworks castillo. The municipality also honours the Señor del Perdón on 26 January, the Sacred Heart on 26 June and the Virgin of Guadalupe on 12 December, with charreadas, jaripeos and bicycle races.

Outside fiesta time Tetepango farms maize, alfalfa and beans, and many residents work in the area's industry. Hand embroidery is made in Tetepango and in Ulapa de Melchor Ocampo, and the festive dish is red mole with chicken, rice and beans. The climate is semi-dry and temperate, averaging about 17 °C, with rain from May to September.