Sanctorum

With 35,083 residents in 2020, Sanctorum has more people than many entire municipalities in the state, even though it is officially a community of Cuautlancingo. It spreads across the Puebla plain at about 2,141 metres, some 8 km from downtown Puebla and 7 from Cholula, inside the Puebla–Tlaxcala metropolitan area. From above its double face is clear: to the north, large industrial buildings on a grid; to the south, green plots still survive between the housing blocks. It is one of three communities in the municipality with its own health post, along with La Trinidad Chautenco and San Lorenzo Almecatla.

Cuautlancingo means in the little forest, from cuahuitl, tree, plus suffixes of abundance and smallness. It is a small municipality of 33 km², mostly flat, at an average height of 2,140 metres; it borders Tlaxcala to the north, San Pedro Cholula and Puebla to the south and Coronango to the west. The Atoyac, its main river, crosses it, and the Prieto passes through the far southwest. Average temperatures run from 14 to 18 °C and 800 to 1,000 mm of rain a year. More than 60% of the land is now urban and only a third is farmed. More than half of the working population is employed in industry, since this is home to the Volkswagen assembly plant, surrounded by factories making chemicals, medical equipment, building materials, textiles and furniture.

The municipality's history is far older than its factories. The Codex of Cuautlancingo tells of the meeting between local chiefs and the Spaniards and the help they gave them, for which in 1589 they received a coat of arms and land; recent research holds that the settlement already existed before the Tolteca-Chichimeca arrived around the year 1100. It became a free municipality in 1895. The festive calendar opens on 3 May with the crosses of El Alto, El Bajío, El Perdón and El Calvario, and peaks on 24 June with the fair of Saint John the Baptist, the municipal patron, when mole with rice is traditionally shared. Local workshops make fine pottery, roof tiles and bricks, and among traditional drinks pulque and aguamiel endure, alongside preserves of tejocote, apple and peach.