Уамантла: Тласкаланың киелі қаласы және мерекелер мекені

Huamantla (waˈmantla) is a small city in the municipality of the same name in the eastern half of the Mexican state of Tlaxcala. The area has a long indigenous history, but the city itself was not founded until the early colonial period, in the 1530s. It is mostly agricultural but it is best known for its annual homage to an image of the Virgin Mary called Our Lady of Charity. This includes a month of festivities, the best known of which are the “night no one sleeps” when residents create six km of “carpets” on the streets made from colored sawdust, flowers and other materials. The other is the “Huamantlada” a running of the bulls similar to that in Pamplona.

The name comes from various Nahuatl words (cuahuitl (tree), man (next or in line) and tla (abundance)), which together are interpreted as place of aligned trees.

The city of Huamantla is in the east of the state of Tlaxcala, about 45 km from the state capital. The main entrance to the city is marked by the Monumento al Toro (Bull Monument), a bronze sculpture by architect Diódoro Rodríguez Anaya. It is dedicated to the regions’ bull raising and fighting tradition. The city is centered on its main plaza, called Parque Juárez (Juarez Park), which contains gardens and a kiosk from the beginning of the 20th century. The blocks around it conserve many historic buildings from the colonial period up through the Porfirio Diáz era, with simple facades and iron railed balconies. For this reason and the celebrations related to Our Lady of Charity in August, the city has been named a “Pueblo Mágico.” It contains eight main halls containing puppets, sets and other paraphernalia from this family, other puppeteers from Mexico and puppets from other countries such as Germany, Spain, France, Italy, India and Indonesia.

The main cultural event of the year in Huamantla is the Feria de Huamantla (Huamantla Fair) which runs from 31 July to 21 August. Its origin is likely due to the worship of the goddess Xochiquetzal, goddess of love, flowers and arts. After the Conquest, the Spanish encouraged the veneration of the Virgin Mary instead. In the 17th century, the Franciscans built a hermitage to Our Lady of the Assumption. The image found here today has unknown origins but has since become associated with miracles. The feria attracts thousands of visitors from both Mexico and abroad. This image is better known as Our Lady of Charity (Virgen de la Caridad). There are two main events during the months, creation of “carpets” from colored sawdust, flowers and other materials and a running of the bulls called the Huamantlada. The carpets are made constantly in the atrium of this image's basilica and other churches from the 31 to the 15; however, 6 km of carpets are created on “the night no one sleeps,” that of August 14, working all night in preparation for the main procession with the image on August 15. Before the procession begins, the image is dressed in new robes and the image is followed by an entourage with candles and fireworks. The Huamantlada is held on August 19. The running of the bulls is more dangerous as the animals are released into the streets from two directions. This event is the most famous of its kind in Mexico. During this month and other traditional festivals one can see traditional dances such as Ketzalines, Vaqueros, Vasarios and Matlachines danced to bands playing wind instruments, and traditional dress, which is of Otomi origin. For men, it consists of white pants and a shirt, which is embroidered with figures and fretwork. For women it consists of a heavily embroidered colorful skirt, embroidered blouse and rebozo. This was followed by the Texoloc era, with its center of power at Tlalencaleca between 800 and 600 BCE. Architecture included talud tablero pyramids and ceramics which show influence from the west of Mexico and the Gulf coast. The following Tezoquipan era is considered to be the cultural and technological apex of the region reflected by its water system, architecture and trade connections. This era extended from 350 BCE to 100 CE, and at its height included 297 settlements, fourteen of which were major cities. What is now Huamantla was three of these settlements, with pyramids and planned layouts centered on a plaza. The last indigenous consolidation of power in Huamantla was the creation of the Tlaxcallan dominion, from which the state gets its name. This was a Chichimeca political union that formed around 1100 CE, pushed out the Olmeca Xilcalancas and divided the territory into four interdependent dominions. Otomi immigration still continued to the area after this, especially after the fall of Tula in 1168. Huamantla belonged to the dominion of Tecoac, one of the four that made up the Tlaxcallan kingdom. This area was first to have contact with Cortés and his army which made an incursion here in 1519 to be attacked, mostly by Otomi vassals. It was the first time the Spanish used their advanced weaponry and quickly dispersed the native soldiers.

Tlaxcala's role in the Conquest of Mexico allowed indigenous authorities to maintain a number of privileges with Spanish settlers. In 1528, an indigenous delegation went to Spain and one of their tasks was to solicit permission to found the settlement of Huamantla, with the name of San Luis Cuahmanco as the successor to Tzatlán, one of the indigenous power centers. Permission was granted in 1535, but Antonio de Mendoza ignored the royal seal and assigned lands here to Alonso Muñoz Camargo, Francisco Luca García, Eugenio Leal Chocolatzin, Diego Guevara and Juan de Aquino in the center of the new town as founders and outlying lands to forty other families between 1539 and 1543. The following monarch Phillip II disavowed the order. This prompted the Cabildo de Indios (Indian Council) to send an ambassador to Spain, with the Lienzo de Tlaxcala to remind the Crown of its obligations. Huamantla gained municipality status in 1822, but shortly after, there was another effort to unite Tlaxcala with Puebla. Efforts to keep Tlaxcala an independent state were led by the parish priest of Huamantla, Miguel Valentín, which eventually prevailed due to opposition to the empire model and in favor of a federal republic. The state proclaimed in 1846 was reorganized into three divisions, Tlaxcala, Tlaxco and Huamantla. At the first sign of rebellion during the Mexican Revolution, the Porfirian governor of Tlaxcala dispatched troops to Huamantla and other places and was able to suppress early efforts such as that by Juan Cuamatzi, who was executed on February 26, 1911. Soon after the mayor of Huamantla along with others resigned his position. Later, the San Diego del Pinar Hacienda in the municipality was attacked by Zapatistas in 1913 and then later the same year by rebels fleeing the federal army. The second attacked was repelled by the hacienda. In that same year the first revolutionary troops took control of the city. Telephone service was established in 1932. Media channels were also established such as newspapers and radio station XEHT, which still operates. The first flights to the city occurred in 1953. Over half of the municipality's territory is used for farming and grazing but agriculture's role has been diminishing. In 2009, the municipality had 24,424 hectares under cultivation with crops such as corn, beans, wheat, animal feed, peaches and rye. Livestock includes cattle (mostly dairy), pigs, sheep, goats and domestic fowl. There are thirteen major industrial sites mostly producing food products. Other facilities include those making metal products, pharmaceuticals, plastic and leather goods. Traditional crafts include amate paper, mostly done by the Otomis, along with pottery, textiles, masks and dolls make from dried corn husks. The city is the starting point for a tourist route called “Huamantla and the East.”

The municipality has 163 schools from preschool to college level. Most are public schools with 29 being private. College level institutions include the Universidad Tecnológical del Tlaxcala and the Instituto Franciscano de Oriente. There is also a campus of the Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla which provides high school and college level education. The municipality has an illiteracy rate of about eight percent, above the state average of 6.7 percent.