Tlacolula de Matamoros

The Zapotecs probably arrived in the central valleys of Oaxaca in the 2nd century CE. At that time, much of the Tlacolula area was covered by a lake. Fray Juan de Torquemada thought that the Zapotecs arrived from a region called Panuco and established themselves first at Tule, with the first dominant settlement at Teotitlán del Valle. The early populations eventually drained the lake, and built a number of settlements. The first settlement nearest the modern city is at what is now San Antonio de la Cal, which was established around 1250 Eventually, the Zapotecs dominated most of the central valleys area. Tradition states that the city was first founded in Yagul, now an archeological site. There are two competing stories as to how the modern settlement was established by the Spanish. The first states that it was founded as a way station for Europeans traveling to and from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec at the location between the Salado and Seco Rivers. However, flooding forced the community to move to the present location. The other version has the settlement founded by friars Gonzalo Lucero and Bernardino de Minaya as an evangelization center and monastery, to which the native population eventually drifted. Either way, the settlement was formally established as Santa Maria de la Asuncion Tlacolula in 1560. One of the first major constructions in the Spanish settlement was the Church of La Asunción in 1561. Many of the religious festivals which continue to this day were established around the same time. Since the 2000s, it has been making a comeback, especially in the form of unlicensed CDs and DVDs. Political tensions related to the election of a new municipal president have existed since 2009, with no apparent candidate. Much of the reason for this is the lack of support by the ejidos, or communal farm organizations. This issue for the ejidos is that the candidate must be from Tlacolula, and not candidates chosen by or associated with the state's dominant PRI party. The current president is from the PAN party, but is an ex-PRI member who is accused of blackmail. The members of the ejidos have the right to nominate or support candidates collectively, which is normally done at a meeting called the "Caudillo del Sur." Municipal elections are scheduled to be held in 2010. In the early part of 2010, about 800 people organized into groups calling themselves "14 de junio," "and "1 de mayo," and took over lands legally belonging to Chagoya family. The people claim that they were not in possession of the land illegally and that Roberto Chagoya donated the land to families unable to afford to buy their own. The title of the land is under dispute with Ernesto Chagoya claiming ownership and denouncing the occupation. On 12 April 2010, municipal police forced the people off the land and the organizations have sought help from APPO and other organizations. ==The city==

The city is the commercial and political center of the Tlacolula Valley, which is named after it. This valley is home to over 60,000 people, many of whom are Zapotec speakers. The streets of the city form rectangular grid, which spreads out from the 17th century Church of La Asunción and its adjoining plaza. The main street extends north–south and connects to the Pan American Highway (Federal Highway 190). This main street is lined with permanents shops, which are open on Sundays for the customers that come into town for the weekly market. At Chocolate la Tradición, chocolate is ground and mixed with sugar, spices and other ingredients to make chocolate for drinking or to use in the making of moles. Much of the chocolate sold here is for consumption in the more rural areas. Hot chocolate is a widely consumed beverage in the valley, prepared with either milk or water, and usually eaten with locally made "pan de yema" or egg yolk bread. This market has a large food area that prepares many of the area's local and regional specialties, such as various moles (Colorado, amarillo, verde and chichilo) as well as tlayudas and meats in sauces based on tomatoes and beans. Chapulines (edible grasshoppers) can be found as well. Tlacolula also has an old train station, which no longer hosts trains but does contain businesses such as a those selling bacon, fireworks and other products. The parish church, called the Church of "La Asunción de Nuestra Señora" was founded as a Dominican mission in the mid 16th century. It consists of the main church and the Chapel of the Señor del Tlacolula. The exterior and interior of the church are largely similar to other Dominican churches in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca; A notable feature is the Baroque chapel dedicated to a crucifix called the Señor de Tlacolula, The feast of the Christ of Tlacolula is held on the second Sunday of October, lasting five days, which is celebrated not only with traditional Masses, processions, folk dances and fireworks, but also with the Mixtec version of the Mesoamerican ball game. The "Fiestas de las Cruces" last for two months from May to the early part of July. To promote its principle products, the city hosts the annual Feria de Mezcal, Artesanía y Gastronomía (Mezcal, Crafts and Gastronomy Festival) in October. Despite its city status, one rural indigenous custom which is still practiced is the "tequio." This is a form of communal work which is unpaid and done by community members for the public benefit. It is most often performed for infrastructure services such as laying water mains. Sometimes the tequio also consists of paying for part of the project. Another tradition which can still be found is the use of a "marriage broker" to get families to agree to the event. ==The Sunday market==

The Sunday open air market (or tianguis) of Tlacolula is one of the oldest continuous in Mesoamerica and the largest and busiest in the Central Valley region of Oaxaca. The only market of any type which is larger is the Centro de Abastos (main grocery market selling to retailers) in the city of Oaxaca. This market is part of a tradition of weekly markets which is still found in Oaxaca, where people from rural areas come the local town to buy, sell and socialize, and are a functional feature of pre-modern peasant economies. The market provides a retail outlet for those living in communities too small to support permanent retail establishments. Each Sunday, very early in the morning, officials close the main street for eight blocks between the main plaza and the bus station, near the highway. Paying fees for the right, vendors set up stalls all over these main road and along adjoining parts of the cross streets as well. Most are covered by low hanging colorful tarps which provide protection from sun and rain and almost completely cover the streets from the buildings on one side to those on the other. The most crowded and the most desired locations are those near the plaza and the permanent municipal market buildings. The main church and the municipal palace are both barely visible above all the tarps. Both pedestrian traffic and number of stalls decrease, the further way one gets from this area. The stalls here are set up early in the morning and taken down that night. The number of vendors on any given Sunday varies but the number usually exceeds 1,000. Counts have been as high as 1,400 and 1,600. Stalls divide into three types. The first is a simple cloth on the ground, with the vendor sitting or kneeling behind it and his/her wares all day. This cloth may contain only a few items or it may be full to the edge. The second type is a simple table or stacked boxes. The third is a stall with walls, often constructed of interconnecting metal rods. They type of stall used depends on the economics of the vendors and the types of products they sell. In addition to the stalls, street vendors walk around the market carrying their goods with them, approaching potential customers to ask for a sale. Generally, the Sunday merchants sell everyday household items, agricultural products, prepared foods, farm animals, mezcal, clothing, jewelry, kitchen utensils, audio CDs, tools, pottery for everyday use rather than purely decorative or tourist items such as barro negro pottery. Also not generally sold are heavy, bulky goods, which cannot be carried away by hand. While it is not unusual to see bananas stacked next to blue jeans, next to tools, most vendors of similar items tend to group together in certain zones. This is not done by formal agreement, mostly tradition, social contacts and economy play roles. For example, the sellers of rugs and blankets group together north of the churchyard, across from a grouping of vendors selling expensive handmade vests. This agglomeration has advantages for both buyer and seller. In this way, a wider range of goods can be offered and comparison shopping is somewhat possible. However, not all vendors of the same merchandise choose to sell near their competitors for a number of reasons, they do not want to compete price-wise, the stall space is too expensive or they use loudspeakers to attract customers. Market day is considered a festive day in Oaxacan towns. Ranchers, farmers and other people from rural areas come to the city to sell shop and socialize. Products, especially certain prepared foods, are available here that are generally not anywhere else. One example is tejate, a fermented corn and mamey seed drink. Most of the rural people who come to town on Sunday are indigenous, and seeing women dressed in colorful traditional garb, such as rebozos, embroidered blouses and wool skirts, is more common on this day than even in the municipal market during the week. Many of the indigenous women's home village can be identified by their clothing. It is common to see native women carrying bundles on their backs or on their heads. This is because most sellers are women.(psabor) These women tend to be quite traditional, speaking Zapotec, trading items instead of accepting money and not permitting the taking of their photographs. In the 1960s and 1970s, locals used to jokingly refer to this market as "Tokiolula" since it carried many counterfeit and cheap items from Asia. While the counterfeit goods were mostly eliminated in the 1980s, unauthorized CDs and DVDs, as well as other counterfeit goods have made their way back into the otherwise traditional market. ==The municipality==

Political structure As municipal seat, the city of Tlacolula is the governing authority for sixteen other named localities, the largest of which are San Marcos Tlapazola (pop.1114), San Luis del Rio (pop. 472) and Tanivé (pop. 247). Over 85% of the municipalities population of 16,510 (2005) lives in the city proper,(inegi) with just over 4,000 who speak an indigenous language. For this reason, many residents of the municipality has immigrated to the United States, mostly congregating in the Venice Beach area of southern California. Many Zapotec-speaking peoples from the area work in stalls along the boardwalk or as cooks, waiters and mains in the upscale restaurants and hotels of Santa Monica. So many live in this area that Zapotec is the mother tongue for about thirty percent of school children in certain neighborhoods. Tlacolula Valley Zapotec language In April 2014, linguist Brook Danielle Lillehaugen, along with students from Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges, visited Tlacolula de Matamoros to present an online Tlacolula Valley Zapotec talking dictionary to local leaders. It was estimated that about 100 elderly speakers of this Zapotecan language remain. Archeological sites and culture The best known archeological site within the municipality proper is Yagul, a former city-state associated with the Zapotec civilization. The site was declared one of the country's four Natural Monuments on 13 October 1998. The site is also known locally as Pueblo Viejo (Old Village) and was occupied at the time of the Spanish Conquest. After the Conquest the population was relocated to modern Tlacolula where their descendants still live. Yagul was first occupied around 500–100 BC. Around 500–700 AD, residential, civic and ceremonial structures were built at the site. However, most of the visible remains date to 1250–1521 AD, when the site functioned as the capital of a Postclassic city-state. The site was excavated in the 1950s and 60s by archaeologists Ignacio Bernal and John Paddock. More recently catalogued and recognized are a group of about one hundred caves and rock shelters in the Tlacolula Valley which are found in the Tlacolula and other municipalities. The significance of these caves is that many have pre-historic cave paintings and/or evidence of the transition of humans from hunter/gatherers to sedentary farmers due to the domestication of corn and other plants on the American continent. INAH has worked to recommended these caves to become a World Heritage Site with investigation and documentation ongoing. The site was inscribed onto Mexico's "Lista Indicativa de México" in the 2000s and WHS recognition was received in 2007. ==See also==