Todos Santos Cuchumatán () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Huehuetenango Huehuetenango () is a city and municipality in the highlands of western Guatemala. It is also the capital of the department of Huehuetenango. The city is situated from Guatemala City, and is the last departmental capital on the Pan-American Highw ...

. It is situated in the

Sierra de los Cuchumatanes The Sierra de los Cuchumatanes is the highest non-volcanic mountain range in Central America. Its elevations range from to over , and it covers a total area of .Lovell 2005:11 With an area of situated above , it is also the most extensive hig ...

at an elevation of 2,500 m (about 8,000 ft). The municipality covers an area of approximately 269 km² and is formed by the town of Todos Santos Cuchumatán, 6 villages, and 69 smaller rural communities, called ''caserios'', ''parajes'', and ''cantones''. The village of San Martin Cuchumatán is the second largest urbanized centre in the municipality of Todos Santos. San Martin is also the agricultural heart of the Cuchumateca valley which produces crops like potatoes, broccoli and large scale cultivation of coffee on the lower mountain slopes of the municipality. The population of Todos Santos is predominantly

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

, of

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

descent, most of whom still speak the

Mayan language Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

of Mam. The town is one of few places in Guatemala where indigenous men still wear their traditional clothing, along with the women. An annual festival is celebrated on October 31–November 2, and is centered on

All Saints' Day All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the church, whether they are know ...

on November 1 ("Todos Santos" translates to "all saints" in English). Festivities include traditional dances,

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

music and the famous horse races. The horse races are often the scene of mayhem and bloodshed due to the riders' penchant to drink alcohol for days leading up to the races even though the mayor banned the selling of hard alcohol in May 2008. In May 2000, a group of tourists from Japan and a bus driver were attacked by a large mob after members of the group took pictures of local children. The Guatemalan bus driver was doused with gasoline and burned to death, and one member of the Japanese tour group was stoned to death. Two other tourists were injured along with two police officers.

References

*Pancorbo, Luis (1989) ""Fiesta en Todos Santos" en "Los viajes del girasol". pp. 141–149. Mondadori, Madrid.

External links

Todos Santos Cuchumatan - photographic essay of the town and its peopleVideos of The "Skach Koyl" or the Todos Santos horse race
* ttp://www.travellog.com/guatemala/todossantoshorserace/ Commentary and history of The "Skach Koyl" or the Todos Santos horse race

Other resources

*''Two Crosses of Todos Santos'' by

Maud Oakes Maud Van Cortlandt Oakes (1903–1990) was an ethnologist, artist and writer who published her research into the cultures of indigenous tribes in the Americas, including the Navajo of the American Southwest and the Mam of Guatemala. She is best ...

, at the

Open Library Open Library is an online project intended to create "one web page for every book ever published". Created by Aaron Swartz, Brewster Kahle, Alexis Rossi, Anand Chitipothu, and Rebecca Malamud, Open Library is a project of the Internet Archive, ...

*''Beyond the Windy Place'' by Maud Oakes, at the Open Library *
Todos Santos Cuchumantan: Report from a Guatemalan Village
' *

'

Image gallery

File:Guatemala todos santos 3145a.jpg, File:Guatemala todos santos 3022a.jpg, File:Guatemala todos santos 3051a.jpg, File:Guateamala todos santos 3018a.jpg, File:Guatemala todos santos 3000a.jpg, File:Guatemala todos santos 3170a.jpg, {{DEFAULTSORT:Todos Santos Cuchumatan Municipalities of the Huehuetenango Department