page_title: San Pablo Villa de Mitla
section_title: Municipality
hierarchical_section_title: San Pablo Villa de Mitla / Municipality
caption_attribution_description: Municipal Palace of San Pablo Villa de Mitla SPANISH: Palacio Municipal Located in: San Pablo Villa de Mitla, Oaxaca, Mexico.
context_page_description: San Pablo de Mitla is a town and municipality in Mexico which is most famous for being the site of the Mitla archeological ruins.
  It is part of the Tlacolula District in the east of the Valles Centrales Region.
  The town is also known for its handcrafted textiles, especially embroidered pieces and mezcal. The town also contains a museum which was closed without explanation in 1995, since when its entire collection of Zapotec and Mixtec cultural items has disappeared. The name “San Pablo” is in honor of Saint Paul, and “Mitla” is a hispanization of the Nahuatl name “Mictlán.” This is the name the Aztecs gave the old pre-Hispanic city before the Spanish arrived and means “land of the dead.” It is located in the Central Valleys regions of Oaxaca, 46 km from the city of Oaxaca, in the District of Tlacolula.
context_section_description: As municipal seat, the town of San Pablo Villa de Mitla has governing jurisdiction over the communities of San José del Paso, San Miguel Albarradas, Unión Zapata (Loma Larga), Xaagá, Santa María Albarradas, Don Pedrillo, El Tequio and El Rosario, which cover a territory of 82.93km2.  The total population of the municipality as of 2005 is 11,219 people, of which 7,829 or about 70% live in the town proper.  3,655 or about a third of the population speaks an indigenous language.  The municipality borders the municipalities of Santo Domingo Albarradas, Villa Díaz Ordaz, Tlacolula de Matamoros, San Lorenzo Albarradas and Santo Domingo Albarradas.
  Most of the territory is made up of rolling hills at the foot of the Sierra del Norte. The most notable elevation is the mountain called Dan Guido or Hill of the Temple. Another elevation is called Dan Belgo or Jar Hill. The only major river to cross here is the Grande River with a number of small streams that feed into it, many of which flow only during the rainy season.  The climate is temperate and fairly dry. The rainy season is from June to September and in the winter it freezes regularly. The higher elevations have pine forests, with plants such as mesquite, maguey and nopal cactus at the lower, drier areas.  The forested areas have small to medium-sized mammals such as wolves, coyotes, deer, wild boar, foxes etc. as well as birds and some poisonous snakes.
  About twenty percent of the population is dedicated to agriculture, with 80% working at crafts and/or tourism-related activities. Handcrafts, especially embroidered cloths and woven wool items are an important source of income.  These include traditional clothing made on hand-operated looms, as well as hammocks, sarapes, rugs, tablecloths and other items. Many of these items are also embroidered. Jewelry made from natural materials is also available. The municipalities has some quarries for pink “cantera” stone used for building.
  To the south of the municipal seat is the Hacianda de Xaga, in which is a cross-shaped tomb decorated with fretwork and conserved its original painting. Another tomb was found at a hill called Guirui as well as the remains of a pre-Hispanic fortification. At a nearby hill called La Forteleza, anthropologists have found 21 skeletons of men, women and children that date back to 500 C.E. Jars, pottery pieces and a jaguar carved in stone have been found as well as corncobs. Excavation of the site was done by Gary Feinman and Linda Nocholas of the Field Museum of Chicago, who consider it one of the most important recent finds of this area.
  There is primitive camping available at a small lake located behind a hill that is behind the archeological site; however, a local guide and good camping gear is strongly recommended.
  Traditional music here is played by bands of wind instruments and marimbas. The chirimía, a reed instrument of Hispanic origin, can also be heard. The region’s cuisine is based on moles such as negro, verde, amarillo and Colorado. Another popular dish is liver with eggs. Local drinks include hot chocolate made with water instead of milk, corn atole, atole with panela cheese or chocolate, “tejate”, pozole (a fermented corn/cacao drink),  a drink made from a fruit called cilacayota and tepache. Mezcal is an important distilled drink here bottled both straight and flavored with additives. The flavored mescals are called “cremas” (crèmes) and come in flavors such as orange, coconut, coffee, lime and others.  In Mitla and the surrounding towns are "palenques", small producers of mezcal where they produce the drink by hand from the heart of the agave plant.  5 km from Mitla is a small village called Matatlán, which, due to the number of palenques, is called the "mezcal capital of the world".
  Day of the Dead is an important celebration here as the area has a history of being a place related to rest and the underworld. Ofrendas, or altars, are set up in homes for deceased loved ones. Celebrations  begin at midday on 31 October with church bells ringing to receive first the visiting deceased child
caption: Municipal Palace
exif: {"Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK DX4530 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "230", "Image YResolution": "230", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2006:03:18 13:19:49", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "8137", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "8823", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5308", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "24/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:03:18 13:19:49", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:03:18 13:19:49", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "10", "EXIF ApertureValue": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "8", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2580", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1932", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "120", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "8687"}