San Jerónimo Coyula

Coyula comes from Nahuatl coyolli, rattle or bell, plus the abundance particle tla: the place where rattles are plentiful. The other half of the name belongs to its patron, Saint Jerome of Stridon. With 7,750 residents counted in 2020, it is one of the larger communities in the municipality of Atlixco; it sits at 1,947 m, just 9 km from the city of Atlixco and about 36 km in a straight line from the state capital.

The 293 km² municipality is split by the 2,000 m contour: above it lies the Puebla valley, below it the Atlixco valley, which falls away from the southern skirts of the Sierra Nevada. The ground climbs gently to the northwest as a foothill of Iztaccíhuatl and drops to about 1,700 m in the south. The Nexapa, La Leona and El Cuescomate rivers flow through, all in the Balsas basin. Climates range from temperate to semi-warm, with 10 to 20 °C and 900 to 1,300 mm of rain a year, a mix that explains the area's reputation.

That reputation is agricultural and floral. Seven in ten hectares of the municipality are farmed: maize, wheat, beans, amaranth and peanuts, vegetables such as tomatoes, green chiles and lettuce, and orchards of guava, cherimoya, pomegranate and peach; avocado, native or grafted, is the star. Nurseries grow gladioli, chrysanthemums and orchids. Atlixco cooking means consomé, cecina, cumin tamales and jeripa, a pink sweet of rice flour, milk and egg yolk served in a clay dish with sesame. Craftspeople make plain and painted pottery, candles and embroidered shirts.