Sucilá

Sucilá is a small town in the northeast of Yucatán and the seat of the municipality of the same name. It lies about 140 kilometers east of Mérida, some 16 kilometers north of Espita and 17 kilometers west of Tizimín, on flat ranch country on the road that runs up to Panabá and the coast at San Felipe. The 2020 census counted 3,855 people in the town. The name, pronounced "Sukilá", is usually translated from Maya as "grass water".

Before the Spanish conquest the area belonged to the Cupul chiefdom. In colonial times it was held in encomienda; the records name, among others, Rodrigo de Cisneros in 1549 and Josefa Chacón y Salazar in 1745. After independence it was placed under Tizimín in 1825 and under Espita in 1837, and in 1848 it saw fighting between Maya rebels and government troops during the Caste War, which emptied much of the region. The town later grew on cattle: so many of its ranches turned to milk that Sucilá became known as the dairy basin of Yucatán.

Life centers on the main square, where the town hall with its clock tower faces a paved park. The church of Santiago Apóstol dates from the 17th century and is entered through a white stone gateway of three arches. The big event of the year runs from September 2 to 10, the fiesta for the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, with jarana dancing. Local crafts include furniture made from bojom wood, hammocks woven from hemp cord and machine-embroidered huipiles. The municipality has registered four cenotes: Dzibiak, K'aax Eek', San Pedro III and Sukil-Ha, the last two noted as suitable for swimming.