San Dionisio Ocotepec

San Dionisio Ocotepec is a town in the Tlacolula district, on the eastern side of Oaxaca's Central Valleys, at about 1,680 m and roughly 56 km by road southeast of Oaxaca City. The town had about 6,000 residents in 2020, and its municipality covers some 226 km² of dry hills. Its name joins the patron saint, Dionysius the Areopagite, with the Nahuatl Ocotepec, "hill of ocote pines", after the resinous pines that grow on the slopes. Records date the settlement's founding to 1610 and its land titles to 1712. Zapotec is still the first language of many residents.

Ocotepec lies in the heart of mezcal country, south of Santiago Matatlán, and the town is dotted with small family palenques. Many are tiny operations with one earth oven, a stone wheel turned by a mule and a single still, where espadín is distilled alongside wild agaves such as tepeztate and tobalá. Several brands sold abroad are made here: Del Maguey bottles a San Dionisio Ocotepec mezcal from a ranch above the town, and the Santiago Méndez family's Los Ocotales combines tradition with replanting, setting out at least 20 agaves for every one they harvest and running a nursery to restore the ocote pines.

The centre is compact, with the parish church, the municipal palace, a market and a small park around the main square. A hill above the town, the Cerro de la Cruz, is topped by a pine whose branches form a cross, and on New Year's Day local Catholics walk up to it to ask for their wishes. The town's festivals bring calendas, processions to the Calvario hill, mayordomías and brass bands, and during the Day of the Dead many families welcome visitors with a small meal.