Telchac Pueblo

Telchac Pueblo is the seat of the municipality of the same name in northern Yucatán, a town of 3,496 people in the 2020 census. It lies about 48 kilometers northeast of Mérida, 12 kilometers from Motul, 4 kilometers from Dzemul and 9 from Sinanché, on flat land only a few meters above sea level. State road 172 runs north to south through the town on its way to the coast, where the beach town of Telchac Puerto sits on the Gulf of Mexico. "Pueblo" is what tells the two apart.

The name is Maya; the official reading is "necessary water or rain", and the popular translation "red rooster" is considered wrong. Telchac became a municipality on 24 June 1867, and at the time the coast belonged to it as a comisaría called Miramar. Political disputes split the two in 1929, and Miramar went on to become Telchac Puerto. The town has always lived from the land: maize and henequen were the main crops, cattle ranching still matters, and the people are known locally as merchants and farmers. The municipality has 11 cenotes, almost all of them open.

The heart of town is the main plaza, the Parque a la Bandera, with the arcaded municipal hall and the parish church of San Francisco de Asís. The church was first dedicated to San Lorenzo and dates from the late 17th century; 1693 is the likely, though unconfirmed, year it was finished. Its patron, Saint Francis, is celebrated from 25 September to 4 October with gremios, nighttime dances, vaquerías and bullfights, and the fair often runs on to 10 October, drawing Telchac families who now live in Cancún, Cozumel and the United States. Local legend says the saint's statue was found on the beach at Miramar, and that sand kept appearing on its feet.