Tacopan

In 2020, 5,251 people lived in Tacopan, more than in many municipal seats in the Sierra Norte. Its name comes from the Nahuatl tlacotl, jarilla, a local shrub, and pan, on: "on the jarillas". It sits at about 2,050 m on the slope between Atempan and Tlatlauquitepec, some 7 km away.

The photo shows Tacopan's Nueva Generación troupe performing the Quetzal Dance, the one with the great round, multicoloured headdresses. Atempan is one of the places where those quetzal crowns are made, along with embroidered shawls, woollens and carved wood. Before the Conquest there were Otomí and Totonac settlements here; the Aztec Triple Alliance subdued the area in the 15th century and the Spanish in 1522.

The municipality, barely 34 km², has a mild, humid climate with heavy summer rain and averages of 12 to 16 °C. Its volcanic soils grow apples, pears, avocados, plums, peaches, chayote, manzano chillies and the walnuts used in chiles en nogada. Atempan's Holy Week fair lasts more than a week, with pilgrimages to the Santo Entierro, sorbet with sponge fingers and turkey mole, and festivals feature firework bulls chased through the streets in the encamizadas.