Atzala

Atzala, "in the midst of the water" in Nahuatl, is the seat and practically the whole of the municipality of the same name, which covers just 11.36 km² and 1,512 people in 2020, 1,369 of them in the village itself. It lies at 1,161 m in the Matamoros valley, a hot plain ringed by low hills covered in dry tropical forest. The Nexapa and Atila rivers cross it and an irrigation canal runs along the east side; sugar cane is the main living.

INEGI's historical record of localities says it was founded before the conquest by the Itzocanos, known as the "painted faces", as a lordship subject to Cholula. Under Spanish rule it became Santiago de Atzala. In 1910 revolutionaries set fire to the town hall, and much of the village archive was lost with it. It belonged to the municipality of Chiautla until splitting off in 1921.

On 19 September 2017, during the earthquake, the dome of the 16th-century church of Santiago Apóstol collapsed on people gathered for a baptism, killing twelve. The quake also damaged the library, the cultural centre, the bandstand and at least 50 homes. Two years later INAH had still not set a date to restore the church, and residents were raising money to build a new one.

The feast of Santiago falls on 25 July, there is a fair on the Friday of Sorrows before Holy Week, and at the Day of the Dead there are dances in which men dress in women's clothes. Mole, pipián and chileatole are the staples, with preserves of squash, peach, mango and fig for dessert.