Cinco de Mayo

Few villages carry their history in their name like this one. Cinco de Mayo, the seat of Xochiapulco, was founded on 30 November 1855 on land of the old La Manzanilla hacienda and the Xochiapulco ranch, owned by the Salgado family of Zacapoaxtla. On 5 May 1862, 26 local men, the 6th "Única" Company of the Xochiapulco National Guard under Captain Juan Francisco Lucas, fought in the Battle of Puebla as part of the state's 6th National Guard Battalion. In 1864 Governor Fernando María Ortega legalised the land they had held since 1855, recognised the municipality and made the village a town under the name Cinco de Mayo.

Xochiapulco, "flower of the Apulco", is named for the river along the municipality's edge, one of the region's mightiest, and for a yellow-flowered herb that grew on the plateau east of the river, according to the story of the Chichimec migrants who arrived in the 12th century. After 1862 the Xochiapulco militia kept fighting on the liberal side against the Empire, and in 1870 the municipality moved from the Zacapoaxtla district to Tetela de Ocampo. At Tequextecoyan there are rocks carved with a human figure and concentric circles that have yet to be studied.

The town had 1,004 people in 2020 and stands at about 2,040 m. Almost three quarters of the municipality is forest, with a temperate, humid climate and heavy summer rain. The parish church of San Martín Caballero dates from the 16th century. Local music is played on violin and guitar, with pieces such as "Romance a Xochiapulco" and "Flor de Apulco", and people drink coffee, chocolate and yolixpa liqueur.