Atlahuilco

The name comes from Nahuatl and is usually translated as "in the clear" or "lit-up water". The local explanation is down to earth: the first settlers had no water nearby and had to fetch it from caves, lighting the way with pine torches or oil lamps. Atlahuilco is the seat of a small municipality of 62 km² in the foothills of the Sierra de Zongolica; the village, with 1,241 people in 2020, stands at 1,760 metres on the banks of the Manzinga river, ringed by peaks above 2,000 metres. This is Nahua country and Nahuatl is the everyday language.

In the 16th century the area was dominated by three towns, Zacamilulan (now Zacamilola), Quechulinco and Atlihuayan; San Martín Atlahuilco only appears in the records from the mid-18th century. By 1831 it was a municipality with a church and a chapel, in 1846 it gained its own lands, and in 1937 its boundary with Los Reyes was fixed. The climate is temperate with cold winters, and people raise pigs, sheep, goats and turkeys and grow maize, with some beans and fruit such as peaches, plums and apples.

The big date is the feast of Saint Martin (San Martín Caballero), 10 to 12 November, which draws people from neighbouring municipalities. Dancers perform the Tocotines, Moors and Christians and, at the steward's request, the Xochicolohke, also called negritos or panaderos, to sones played on guitar, violin, vihuela and double bass. When the flowers for the festive arch are carried in, musicians beat the ayotsi, a turtle shell used as a drum. The Holy Cross is celebrated on 3 May.