Tlamanca de Hernández

Few villages in Puebla have such a recent and well-documented history. Tlamanca began around 1940 as a hamlet of 20 to 25 people who came from Xaltatempan, all of the Hernández family, who built palm-thatched houses, raised pigs and chickens and grew rain-fed maize, beans and broad beans. It depended on San Simón Chicometepec, "place among seven hills", until on 10 June 1946, before a state deputy, an envoy of the governor and more than 300 residents, the assembly asked for it to be raised to a pueblo. It was named Tlamanca de Hernández in honour of Daniel Hernández, brother of the founder, Rafael Hernández Quintero. In 2020 it had 2,062 residents and belongs to the municipality of Tepetzintla.

The name is explained as tlamantl, different, and ca, place: "different place", for its terrain, unlike that of its surroundings. The village covers about 1,100 hectares between 1,250 and 1,450 m; the 1,350 m reference was taken in the church courtyard. Progress came step by step: the Monday market, on land donated by Rafael Hernández, opened on 10 March 1947; the church was built between 1948 and 1952 on a plot given by Manuel Portillo; its own civil registry arrived in 1954, a full primary school in 1968, the telesecundaria in 1981, electricity in February 1982, the health centre in 1996 and the high school in 2002. Today it is split into neighbourhoods such as Plan de las Hayas, Hueyatlaco, Tlalchimal, Xaltepec, Ixcoyo and the El Milagro ejido.

About 70% of the people speak Nahuatl, though very few still wear the traditional white clothing. Farming remains the livelihood, with maize, beans, chile, squash, coffee, oranges, sweet limes and limes, plus some cattle; falling prices have pushed many young people to migrate to the cities or abroad. Patches of pine-oak and cloud forest survive on the edges. Tepetzintla, in the Tecolutla basin, averages 14 to 20 °C with 1,100 to 1,600 mm of rain; palm and cane are woven there, along with wool textiles, wood carving and pottery, and people drink coffee, chocolate and fruit wines. Tlamanca marks its founding in February with a basketball tournament that draws neighbouring villages, and on 24 October honours its patron, Saint Raphael the Archangel.