Acuamanala

Acuamanala is the seat of the municipality of Acuamanala de Miguel Hidalgo, on the slopes of La Malinche in southern Tlaxcala, within the Puebla metropolitan zone. It sits at about 2,300 metres and at the 2020 census the locality had 1,911 inhabitants; the whole municipality totals 6,432, shared with Concepción Chimalpa, Guadalupe Hidalgo and Olextla. According to Wikipedia the name comes from Nahuatl and means vessel or place of good water storage. The municipality has no permanent rivers, only seasonal streams.

The main sight is the parish of San Antonio de Padua, from the 18th century, built with river stone and with a white lime-plaster facade picked out in yellow, a barrel vault and a tiled dome. The atrium keeps its pinnacled wall and a stone cross dated 1602. Inside are Baroque and neoclassical altarpieces and an original organ. In Ayometitla stands the Señor Santiago chapel, and in La Concepción Chimalpa the Concepción chapel on the Camino Real; of the Rancho Espíritu Santo, from the 18th and 19th centuries, adobe and stone ruins remain.

The main feast is 13 June for San Antonio de Padua, and on 17 January San Antonio Abad is celebrated. At carnival charros and chivarrudos dance in velvet costumes and carved wooden masks. Artisans make rockets, castillos, toritos and balloons, and the kitchen is known for mole prieto with blue and white tortillas, tlatlapas, pulque and pipián. The municipality is part of the Tlaxcala and its Señoríos route, built around Cacaxtla-Xochitécatl.