Tuxpanguillo

Tuxpanguillo is the fourth-largest community in the municipality of Ixtaczoquitlán, with 3,884 people in 2020. It lies at about 797 metres, 8 km south-southeast of the municipal seat, in the valley south of the municipal seat, between Orizaba and Córdoba. It is a Nahua community that still counts Nahuatl as its own language.

The name is an affectionate diminutive of neighbouring Tuxpango, from Tuchpanco, "at the banner of the rabbits"; some locals translate it instead as "village of eels". Around 1831 it was a ranch belonging to the municipality of Santa María Zoquitlán, and an 1832 survey lists it as Tuspanguillo. It has grown ever since: 480 inhabitants in 1900, 2,218 in 1970.

Village life revolves around the church of San Sebastián, one of the most visited in the municipality. The patron feast of Saint Sebastian the Martyr on 20 January turns into a fair, and two days earlier, on the 18th, the Papantla pole flyers (voladores) perform. The calendar continues with the Niño Doctor (20 April), San Isidro (15 May), Santa Cecilia (22 November) and, in December, the Virgin of Juquila on the 8th, with the Moors and Negritos dance, and Guadalupe on the 12th. Local cooking means chilcaldo, mole and tamales, and feast days bring decorations made from cucharilla (desert spoon) leaves and legume seeds. People from here are tuxpanguillenses, and the Tuxpanguillo stream shares the name.