San Francisco Atexcatzinco

San Francisco Atexcatzinco is a locality in the municipality of Tetla de la Solidaridad, in northern Tlaxcala, at about 2,509 metres above sea level. The name is Nahuatl and means "in the little mirror of water": atl (water), tezcatl (mirror), the diminutive tzin and the locative co. Its patron is St Francis of Assisi. The 2020 census counted 6,860 residents, up from 5,087 in 2010, growth of more than a third in ten years. The state municipal encyclopedia, using data from the late 1990s, already listed it as a place whose main activity was manufacturing, which fits the nearby Ciudad Industrial Xicohténcatl inside the same municipality.

The landscape around it is dry highland: maguey, prickly pear and grass, with hills such as Santa Margarita (2,689 m) and Ahuatepec (2,616 m) in view. The village church is a chapel dedicated to St Francis that a tourism article describes as colonial, from the 17th century, with thick stone walls and a vaulted roof.

At carnival the village dances with the camada In Tlanextli Atexcatzinco ("the splendour of Atexcatzinco"), about 48 pairs strong, which chose to break from the traditional costume with prehispanic-style masks and headdresses of pheasant and rooster feathers, made by the members themselves. It performed at the 2018 Carnaval Tetla gathering. In autumn a flower sanctuary in the village runs walks through marigold and pumpkin fields for Day of the Dead; in 2025 these were on 4 and 5 October. There is no lodging in the village; the nearest motels are about 5 km away.