Chichimilá

Chichimilá is the seat of the municipality of the same name in eastern Yucatán, about 7 km south of Valladolid on Highway 295, the road to Felipe Carrillo Puerto. It is a sizeable Maya town of 6,540 people (2020 census), out of 9,406 in the whole municipality, which reaches south to the Quintana Roo border and takes in villages such as Dzitox, Chan X-Cail and San Pedro. The name is Maya; one reading is "hard pesón", while the Cordemex dictionary ties it to the che'chem tree and water, "the water where the che'chem grow", from an older form, Chechemilá.

Before the conquest this was land of the Cupul Maya, and in colonial times it was held in encomienda. Chichimilá has an outsized place in Yucatán's history: its batab (Maya chief) in the 1840s was Manuel Antonio Ay, one of the organizers of the uprising that became the Caste War. In July 1847 a letter from Cecilio Chi was found in his hat in Valladolid; he was tried and hanged there on 26 July 1847, and days later Chi's attack on Tepich opened a war that lasted more than half a century. The town itself was punished by the army after the plot came to light.

The town centre is a broad plaza with a masonry arch and the church of La Asunción, part of a former colonial convent dating to the 16th century, painted ochre yellow. Inside is a long single nave under arches. The landscape around is flat, with milpa, cattle land and scrub forest, and the municipality has about 15 registered cenotes, among them one that carries the town's name. The main festivals are the Holy Cross on 3 May and San Francisco de Asís in October, with processions, gremios (guild processions) and vaquerías.