Santa Catarina Ticuá

Ticuá is pronounced Tee Kua in Mixtec and translates as "red man": a spot called Shiniticua is where local tradition says the first inhabitant settled. Over time the word came to mean "orange" or "orange-coloured". The village stands at 2,250 metres in a municipality of just 15.3 km2, with a mild climate and summer rain, bordering San Pedro Molinos, Santa María Yosoyúa, San Pablo Tijaltepec and Chalcatongo de Hidalgo.

Mixtec is the adults' language, though most young people have lost interest in keeping it up. Local dances include the torito, the canario, the casamiento and the maromeros, and the best-known crafts are made of palm; people also make nets, tumplines, reed baskets, tenates and embroidered shirts. In the kitchen the stars are mole amarillo, pulque, tepache and fruit such as capulín, apple and quince.

The seat celebrates Santa Catarina Mártir; the outlying hamlets have their own feasts: Candelaria at Fortín Juárez, San Isidro at the hamlet of that name, the Virgen de los Remedios at Paz y Unión and Santa Cecilia at El Chamizal. For shopping there is a municipal market and five grocery shops, and the village picks up Tlaxiaco's radio stations.

The locality's population fell from 1,515 in 1950 to 473 in 1980 through migration and has recovered to 592 in 2020; in 2010 the municipality had 954 inhabitants in six localities. It is a village of maize fields and backyard livestock, not a place with tourist infrastructure.