Nochistlán () is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

in the Mexican state of

Zacatecas , image_map = Zacatecas in Mexico (location map scheme).svg , map_caption = State of Zacatecas within Mexico , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type ...

Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán (Spanish) or ( Catalan) is a masculine given name of Latin origin (, , , and so on). Its Portuguese form is . Its patronymic is (). Already in the Middle Ages the name was being confused with the similar but distinct name Munio. The meaning of ...

, on December 3, 1531, hired

Cristóbal de Oñate Cristóbal de Oñate (1504, Spain—October 6, 1567, Pánuco, Zacatecas) was a Spanish Basque explorer, conquistador and colonial official in New Spain. He is considered the founder of the contemporary city of Guadalajara in 1531, as well as o ...

to establish a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

in Nochistlán; the village would be named Guadalajara to honor Guzmán for having been born in Guadalajara. Guadalajara was founded in Nochistlán on January 5, 1532. Its first officials were Cristóbal de Oñate, Sancho Ortiz de Zúñiga, Juan de Albornoz and Miguel de Ibarra. They worked at this project for only 16 months and created the first layout of Guadalajara. The first news that we have regarding the natives of these lands points to the

Tecuexe The Tecuexe were an indigenous peoples of Mexico, who lived in the eastern part of present-day Guadalajara. History It is believed that the Tecuexe derived from the dispersion of Zacateco groups from La Quemada. Like the Zacatecos, the Tecuexe ...

. These people established settlements around 1000. Later in the 12th century a new group of people moved in, these people were called

Caxcan The Caxcan were a partly nomadic indigenous people of Mexico. Under their leader, Tenamaztle, the Caxcan were allied with the Zacatecos against the Spaniards during the Mixtón Rebellion in 1540-42. During the rebellion, they were described as ...

and they were from the valley in Tuitlán, which is now found in the municipality of Villanueva, Zacatecas. The Caxcan established Nochistlán by driving out the Tecuexe by force.

Pueblo Magico

After its 841st anniversary of foundation, Nochistlan was named or 'magic town' by the

Secretary of Tourism (Mexico) The Mexican Secretary of Tourism ( es, Secretaría de Turismo, ''SECTUR'') is the government department in charge of the nation's tourism promotion and development. The Secretary is appointed by the President of the Republic and is a member of th ...

Gloria Guevara Manzo Gloria Guevara Manzo (born September 1, 1967) is a business executive with experience in the private and public sectors. She was Secretary of Tourism for Mexico from March 10, 2010 to November 30, 2012. Guevara began her professional career at ...

. Nochistlán was the fifth town to be named in the state of Zacatecas. To be nominated for this category, a town must have symbolic attributions, legends, history, significant cultural traditions, and attract tourists. Nochistlán met all of these requirements, which made it eligible to be taken into further consideration.

Music

Nochistlán is known for its traditions as well as its music. It is also often referred to as, ('the land of musicians'). Nochistlán has been given this nickname because within the town there is always music playing. In fact, Nochistlán's music is one of the main reasons tourists visit so much, aside from the beautiful architecture.

Economic activities

There are 3 main activities that contribute to the economy:

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...

, and

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

Transportation

Nochistlán is a very rural place. Transportation is mostly on foot, since everything is within walking distance. Cars, buses, trucks, as well as horses are also used. "Combi vans" and motorcycles are especially popular modes of transport. Most Nochistlan inhabitants live by nature. That is, most of their resources are native, making Nochistlan seem somewhat old-fashioned. In recent years the town has been modernizing its way of living.

Traditions

El Papaqui

The oldest tradition in Nochistlán is or translated, 'the party of el Papaqui'. This is celebrated every year from January 12 to January 20. El Papaqui is a celebration in which the whole town honors and venerates St. Sebastian. He is a very important figure to those who live or are from Nochistlán. During these eight days, everyone walking in the plaza has their face covered with flour, and people crack colored eggs filled with confetti over others' heads; they also throw oranges. These actions symbolize what was going on during the war between the Natives and Spanish. The flour symbolizes the dirt people would put on their faces to create a more savage look. The fiesta is not solely or predominantly about war; its main objective is to celebrate San Sebastián, the saint most admired in that pueblo.

El Jardín

Another tradition Nochistlán is famous for is their tradition of every Sunday night. Every Sunday night, people gather in the plaza or, of Nochistlán for ('the serenade'). The men of the town form a circle around the plaza while women walk inside the circle. As the women walk inside the circle, if a man finds a woman attractive, in the original tradition, he would give her a Gardenia flower. In most recent, modern tradition, a man puts confetti over the woman's hair, or hollowed- out eggs with confetti inside, instead. A further circle is formed within the inner circle, for children and married women, where they too may go to partake in having the confetti strewn over them. In this way it is made clear to the men which women are married or in a relationship. The Gardenia flower (recent tradition, modern tradition, the colorful confetti) symbolizes the beauty of the woman just as flowers (recent tradition, modern tradition, colors) are beautiful. This tradition originally began to honor women and moreover, to make them feel appreciated by men.

Las Fiestas de Octubre

The Virgin of Toyahua is a respected figure in Nochistlán because she is known to grant miracles. Most of the residents of Nochistlán pray to her when they are in need of a marvel. Although Nochistlán is small in size, it is big in religion. The feast of October are religious parties to honor St. Francis of Assisi that are celebrated on the second and third weekend of October and the first weekend of November. During these parties, people gather in the plaza to enjoy music from many bands and mariachi groups. Aside from the music, even though the feast is meant for religious events, it's just a big party with very famous bandas come and perform the parties will last from early 8:00 p.m. and sometimes carry on until 5:00 a.m. all the women in the town come together to make food for those participating in the celebration. The festivities also consist of authentic dances, horse races, and rooster tournaments.

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Nochistlán is twinned with: * Guadalajara, Mexico

Notable people

Jesús González, Business Owner, Financial Planner, Writer and Composer* Bernabé Meléndrez, action film star *

Perro Aguayo Pedro Aguayo Damián (18 January 1946 — 3 July 2019) better known as "(El) Perro Aguayo" (Aguayo the dog) and El Can de Nochistlan (The Nochistlan Dog) was a Mexican wrestler through the 1970s to the 1990s. Aguayo was the first person ever ...

, professional wrestler

References

Location

*Population 67,369 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nochistlan Populated places in Zacatecas Pueblos Mágicos Populated places established in 1532