Degollado

Degollado is the seat of a municipality in eastern Jalisco, in the Ciénega region just south of Los Altos and close to the borders with Michoacán and Guanajuato. It sits at about 1,800 metres, and the 2020 census counted 11,612 people; since 2000 the town has absorbed neighbouring settlements such as Los Cuatro Vientos and El Tecolote. It is a farming town ringed by blue agave fields grown for tequila, and known around the region for its stone carving.

The town is young. It grew on land called Los Encinos owned by Ignacio de la Peña, east of Ayo el Chico (today Ayotlán), where the Ayo priest Clemente Pérez blessed a chapel to San Ignacio de Loyola on 29 July 1856. When it became a ranchería in 1857, with just eight families, it was named San Ignacio de Morelos, also known as San Ignacio de los Encinos. A group of residents led by the engineer Jesús Navarro Castellanos pushed for municipal status, granted by decree on 31 December 1861 along with the present name, honouring the liberal general Santos Degollado; the first town council took office on 2 February 1862. On 24 December 1917 the town was besieged by the bandit J. Inés García Chávez, and in the 1920s the area saw fighting in the Cristero War.

What strikes visitors first is the pink cantera stone. It was used for the Gothic-style Parroquia de la Virgen de Guadalupe, built between 1862 and 1914, its interior covered in gilded plant motifs; the Baroque Santuario de San Miguel from around 1898; the 1904 town hall with its portico and central courtyard; the neoclassical Navarro family house from about 1890; the old Hernán cinema of 1948; and the arcades around the main square, built in 1964. On the square stand the Monument to the Martyrs of 1917 and a statue of Santos Degollado cast from coins collected by townspeople in the early 1960s. The local sculptor Francisco Aguayo made several of the monuments in the centre.

The stone workshops are still busy, selling carved images of the Virgin of Guadalupe, fountains, animal figures and columns. Local crafts also include rustic and glazed pottery, drawn-thread work and embroidery. Typical food is river-fish broth, red pozole, tamales and guasanas (green chickpeas), with leche quemada and candied fruit for dessert.