Santiago Huajolotitlán

Huajolotitlán sits in the Mixteca Baja of Oaxaca at about 1,620 metres, and its daily life is tied to the city of Huajuapan de León, with which it shares its closest economic and cultural links. The town has roughly 4,100 residents and is the seat of the municipality of the same name.

The first settlers were the Ñuiñe, Mixtec speakers who, by local tradition, arrived around 350 BCE; later the place belonged to the kingdom of Coixtlahuaca. Dominican friars came to evangelise the region in the mid-1500s, and the parish was probably founded around 1774. In 1916, during the Revolution, a Zapatista column came through and its leader demanded cattle and corn; when some residents refused, his men burned the tithe house and several homes, and the town, led by Irineo Ramírez González, drove them out.

The church of Santiago Apóstol was begun in 1770 and finished in 1840. Inside are altarpieces in neoclassical, neo-Gothic and baroque styles and a gold-leaf pulpit. The town also venerates a figure of Santiago on horseback, the "Caballerito", possibly 18th century and made of cane paste.

The hills around town include Cerro del Tecolote, Cerro de la Campana and Cerro Verde, and the Río Mixteco runs through the community with pools where locals swim. The biggest festival is Santiago Apóstol on 25 July, with a procession along the main streets; the town also marks the Virgen de Juquila, the Señor del Calvario, Holy Week and the Virgen de Guadalupe.