Morelos Sahuayo

Sahuayo de Morelos is a city in the state of Michoacán de Ocampo, which is located in central-western Mexico. Known by Pedro Infante as "the marrow of the Mexican female", it is the seat of the municipality of Sahuayo. Its name comes from the Nahuatl tzacuatlayotl, which means 'vessel in the shape of a turtle'; Specifically, it comes from the union of the words tzacuatl 'vessel' and ayotl 'turtle'.

It is the hometown of actress and dancer Lilia Prado (1928-2006).

Geography

Sahuayo is located at 20°04' north latitude and 102°43' west longitude, with an elevation above sea level of 1575 meters. It is located 210 km from the state capital, Morelia and 147 km from the city of Guadalajara.

According to the Secretary of Rural Development of the State of Michoacán de Ocampo, Sahuayo borders Venustiano Carranza and Cojumatlán to the north, Villamar to the east, Jiquilpan to the south, and Jiquilpan and Cojumatlán to the west.

Sahuayo is 16 km from the Chapala Lagoon, 20 km from Petatán, a town in Cojumatlán de Régules, and the White Pelican Sanctuary, which the locals call sheep (and the site with petroglyphs in Puerto León, and 70 km from Lake Camécuaro, as well as 45 minutes from Mazamitla).

Its geographical situation is privileged for the development of industry and commerce, as well as for tourism. Its proximity to cities such as Morelia and Guadalajara is reinforced by its proximity to the most important port in the Mexican Pacific, in terms of containerized cargo movement, Manzanillo, as well as cities such as Zamora, La Piedad, Irapuato, León, Guanajuato and Aguascalientes.. It is in the middle of an important highway enclave that connects it with Mexico City.

Demographics

The city of Sahuayo de José María Morelos has, according to data from the XIV General Population and Housing Census of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) in 2020, a population of 70,042 inhabitants, making it the 9th most populous city of Michoacán and the 2nd most populated and important city of the Ciénega Michoacana just below the city of Zamora de Hidalgo.

Graphic of demographic evolution of Sahuayo de Morelos between 1900 and 2020

Population of censuses of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) from 1900 to 2020.

Lake Chapala

The proximity of Sahuayo to the Chapala lagoon gives it many environmental benefits. It is the largest body of water in Mexico; natural reservoir of Jalisco, and the third in Latin America for its size, only after Lake Titicaca in South America and Lake Nicaragua in Central America.

Before the reduction, granted by Porfirio Díaz to Don Manuel Cuesta Gallardo, and with the excuse of opening new lands to the plow, the lagoon measured more than 100 kilometers from east to west, and about 30 km in its widest part. Its extension was approximately 2350 km². Today it reaches 1740 km². Its storage capacity is 8 billion cubic meters of water. It is known that there were many Sahuayenses who worked in the construction and filling of the bordo, which stole hectares of water from the lagoon. The construction of the bordo was called "La Tamada", which was nothing more than the extraction of earth from the bottom of the lake and permanent hauling of stones in carts pulled by oxen, work for which the laborers received two pesos per day, eight times higher than the usual rates in the area and at the time. It should be noted that the bordo freed farmland from flooding, also in Sahuay, making it possible to plant corn, wheat and chickpeas.

Many legends have revolved around those who benefited from La Tamada, and they name Don Tomás Sánchez, Don Amador Amezcua, Don Diego Moreno, and families such as the Arregui, the Ramírez, José Miguel Gálvez A., the Barragán, the García, the Núñez, the Arceo, the Magallón, the Montes, the Pérez and the Espinoza.

The lagoon was called Chimaloacan, the place where the shield or "chimalli" is found, by the Nahuas.

During the Paleozoic era it was part of a fjord coming from the south of what is now the state of Colima and ending in the lands of El Bajío. When the Farallón plate in its derivatives of Cocos, Juan de Fuca, Nazca and Rivera, the lagoon was formed when it separated from the sea.

Historical Timeline

• 1524.- Sahuayo and the neighboring lowlands and suppers of Caroh, Guarachan, Pajacuarán, Chaparaco and Jacona, were given by Hernán Cortés to Juan de Albornoz, but leaving Gonzalo de Sandoval his administration.
• 1526.- Hernán Cortés, on his return from Honduras and having gone wrong, decided to remove Juan de Albornoz's trust.
• 1528.- Acucecarit, before Alonso de Estrada, states that the Sahuayenses were not willing to serve the Spaniards.
• 1530.- Sahuayo Foundation after its conquest by the Spaniards, headed by Nuño de Guzmán.
• 1540.- Sahuayo depended ecclesiastically on the village of Jiquilpan.
• 1545.- The expansion of Spain and the dispossession of indigenous communities, and the carrying of cattle heads, are accentuated.
• 1555.- Sahuayo belongs to Jacona.
• 1567.- The Marquis de Folces distributed the Sahuayo region for cattle ranches in Spanish.
• 1567.- The Lake of Chapala is overflowing and a great tremor of land.
• 1570.- Sahuayo became part of the Ixtlán Parish.
• 1643.- The Zamorano Pedro de Salada legalizes his dispossession of land and legally establishes the Guaracha hacienda.
• 1765.- The priest of Sahuayo included four villages of Indians: Sahuayo, who was the header, San Pedro Caro, Santa María Asunción de Xuquimatlán and San Miguel Guarachita.
• 1831.- December 10, Sahuayo is constituted in Municipality by mandate of Law.
• 1891.- April 13, his head is elevated to the range of Villa with the name of Sahuayo de Porfirio Díaz.
• 1930.- The economic growth of Sahuayo is reported.
• 1952 / 28 November, he was awarded the title of the city.
• 1967 / 28 November, his head was changed the name of Sahuayo de Porfirio Díaz by Sahuayo de Morelos.
• 2005, November 20, the young Catholic martyr José Sánchez del Rio was beatified in Guadalajara, Jal.
• 2016, October 16, the young Catholic martyr José Sánchez del Rio is canonized in Rome.

Arts and culture

On September 14, the guares and gouache festival takes place.

Within the December festivity, the Sahuayense Floral Games are celebrated, the highest recognition of local literature, and the Sahuayo Literature Prize is awarded.

In addition to having a House of Culture where they teach singing, folk dance, guitar, painting with pastel chalk, colors, acrylics, oil, etc.

Tourism

Some points of tourist interest are:

• The Main Square, with a beautiful kiosk, and sculptures by Miguel Hidalgo and a Tlahualil.
• The Parish of James Apostle.
• The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
• The Church of the Sacred Heart.
• Catacomb Network of the Sacred Heart Church. Open only in Holy Week.
• The explanade of Christ the King, where is a Viacrucis of Venetian mosaic produced by the Sahuayense painter Luis Sahagún, and the sculpture of Christ the King, the work of Adolfo Cisneros, who watches from above the Cienega de Chapala.
• Sahuayo's viewpoint located in the Güirio community.
• The pictorial mural of Calle Constitución, where the history and traditions of Sahuayo and the region are graphically expressed. Mural designed by Arquitecta Andrea Zepeda.

Just 25 minutes away is the sanctuary of the white pelican, on the island of Petatán, and at one of its ends the town of Rincón de San Andrés, a place of recreation.

Festivities

In July, the celebration of the Apostle Santiago begins in Sahuayo, known as "El Patron Santiago". A celebration in which the Tlahualiles ("defeated warriors"), Nahua warriors with large colorful masks, are represented, which run through most of the streets of the city, along with the statue of Apostle Santiago.

The dance of the Tlahualiles is a representation of the massacre that occurred thanks to the evangelization of the area headed by Nuño de Guzmán using the image of Santiago el Mayor as an icon, dating from 1530 (but as tradition the oldest date datable is from March 14, 1717) which has been passed from generation to generation through its representations. According to the content indicated by some researchers and the sentiment of the interviewed tlahualiles, the dance has misrepresented its original symbolism, transforming itself into a joyous carnival that ignores the bloody background of the origin of the festivity. However, the people who participate still consider faith and tradition as the main support for their participation. Which, at present, have crossed borders bringing this municipality to the knowledge of many surrounding communities.

The tlahualiles groups are groups made up of families, friends or even neighbors. That they continue with the tradition of accompanying the Apostle Santiago each year, generation after generation, passing the baton to the little ones, who in the future will be the leaders of the group in which they are now initiated. And each group has its name, giving this a change towards the expected projection.

Twinnings

The city of Sahuayo de Morelos is twinned with the following cities:

• Lancaster, United States.
• Havana del Este, Cuba (2003)
• Santa Ana, United States.
• Santa Clara, Cuba.