Santa María del Tule, Oaxaca
Encyclopedia
Santa María del Tule is a town and a municipality in the Mexican state of Oaxaca
.
It is part of the Centro District
in the Valles Centrales region
.
It is located 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) SE of the city of Oaxaca on Highway 190, passing the city and ruins of Mitla
. The town and municipality are named for the patron saint of the place, the Virgin Mary and “Tule” comes from the Náhuatl
word “tulle” or “tullin” which means bulrush
.
The town’s claim to fame is as the home of a 2,000 year old Montezuma cypress
tree, known as the El Árbol del Tule, which is one of the oldest, largest and widest trees in the world. Its gnarled trunk and branches are filled with shapes that have been given names such as “the elephant,” “the pineapple” and even one called “Carlos Salinas’ ears.”
for sale in the city of Oaxaca. In 1926, much of the municipality was made ejido
land, and much of the population became farmers, growing corn, beans, chickpeas and alfalfa
, mostly during the rainy season in the summer.
Over the centuries, the area has dried with the lake and marshes gone. More recently, increased urbanization and irrigated farming has put pressure on aquifers here. During the dry season, the water table decreases more than six meters. This drop in water tables threatens the survival of the remaining cypress trees in the area.
The town’s Baroque
-style church is called El Templo de Santa María de la Asunción (Temple of the Virgin Mary of the Assumption
) and dates from the 18th century. It was built of stone over an ancient pagan shrine, and is surrounded by other buildings and areas belonging to the parish. A large walled plaza lies in front of the church.
Major celebrations here include Candelaria on 2 February, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary on 15 August and the Festival of the Tule Tree on the second Monday of October.
) trees that grow in the town. This particular tree is found in the town’s center growing in both the town’s main plaza and the atrium of the church of Santa María de la Asunción.
The tree is one of the oldest and largest in the world and has the widest girth. It has an age of at least 2,000 years, with its existence chronicled by both the Aztecs and the Spanish that founded the city of Oaxaca. It has a height of forty meters, a volume of between 700 and 800m3, an estimated weight of 630 tons and a diameter of about forty meters. The trunk is so wide that thirty people with arms extended joining hands are needed to encircle it. The tree dwarfs the town’s main church and its taller than its spires, and it is still growing.
To the indigenous peoples of this area, the tree was sacred. According to Mixtec
myth, people originated from cypress tress, which were considered sacred and a genus. This particular tree was the site of a ritual which included the sacrifice of a dove and was realized for the last time in 1834. According to Mixe
myth, the origin of this particular tree is the walking stick of a god or a king by the name of Conday, who stuck his walking stick, supposedly weighting 62 kilos, into the ground which he rested. From that point on, the tree began to grow, and according to the king version of the story, the king died the same day the tree began to grow. The tree has gnarled branches and trunk, and various local legends relate to what appear to be animals and other shapes growing in the tree. Today, these forms have names such as “the elephant,” “the lion,” “the Three Kings,” “the deer”, “the pineapple,” “the fish,” “the squirrel’s tail” and “Carlos Salinas’ears.” Local guides point out the shapes using pocket mirrors to reflect the sun.
This kind of cypress is known in Spanish as a sabino, in Nahuatl as an ahuehuete and in Zapotec as Yagaguichiciña, and it is Mexico’s national tree. This particular tree was photographed for the first time by Désiré Charney in 1856 and was described and measured by José Acosta in “Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias” in 1856. The tree has been nominated by SEMARNAP as the most notable tree in Oaxaca, and is listed with the Lista Indicative del Patrimonio de Mexico (Indicative List of the Patrimony of Mexico).
The tree was in danger of drying out in the late 19th century but since then it has been regularly watered.
, Rojas de Cuauhtémoc
, San Francisco Lachigoló
, Teotitlán del Valle
and Santa Cruz Amilpas
. The main river here is the Atoyac and the area has a mild climate with little seasonal variation in temperatures. Vegetation is principally mesquite
and leucaena as well as the famous cypress trees in the municipal seat. Animal life is mostly small mammals such as the red squirrel, field mouse and opossum and birds such as the buzzard and duck.
The main economic base is tourism based on the Tule tree, employing nearly 75% of the municipality’s population. The main agriculture product today is the guava
fruit, with some corn and beans still grown, but this employs only nine percent of the population. Some processing of the guava fruit occurs here, as well as crafts such as pottery.
Oaxaca
Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...
.
It is part of the Centro District
Centro District, Oaxaca
Centro District is located in the Valles Centrales Region of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. The district includes the state capital Oaxaca and satellite towns.The district has an average elevation of 1,550 meters....
in the Valles Centrales region
Valles Centrales de Oaxaca
The Valles Centrales is a region in the heart of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico.It includes the districts of Etla, Centro, Zaachila, Zimatlán, Ocotlán, Tlacolula and Ejutla...
.
It is located 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) SE of the city of Oaxaca on Highway 190, passing the city and ruins of Mitla
Mitla
Mitla is the second most important archeological site in the state of Oaxaca in Mexico, and the most important of the Zapotec culture. The site is located 44 km from the city of Oaxaca. in the upper end of the Tlacolula Valley, one of the three that form the Central Valleys Region of the...
. The town and municipality are named for the patron saint of the place, the Virgin Mary and “Tule” comes from the Náhuatl
Nahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
word “tulle” or “tullin” which means bulrush
Schoenoplectus
Schoenoplectus is a genus of about 80 species of sedges with a cosmopolitan distribution. Note that the name bulrush is also applied to species in the unrelated genus Typha...
.
The town’s claim to fame is as the home of a 2,000 year old Montezuma cypress
Taxodium mucronatum
Taxodium mucronatum, also known as Montezuma Cypress, Sabino, or Ahuehuete is a species of Taxodium native to much of Mexico , and also the Rio Grande Valley in southernmost Texas, USA as well as Huehuetenango Department in Guatemala...
tree, known as the El Árbol del Tule, which is one of the oldest, largest and widest trees in the world. Its gnarled trunk and branches are filled with shapes that have been given names such as “the elephant,” “the pineapple” and even one called “Carlos Salinas’ ears.”
History
The municipality of Santa María del Tule use to be a lake surrounded by marshes which included cypress trees. This marsh was also filled with bulrushes which accounts for part of the town’s name. The population of Tule had made their living since pre-Hispanic times extracting and processing lime (calcium oxide)Calcium oxide
Calcium oxide , commonly known as quicklime or burnt lime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic, alkaline crystalline solid at room temperature....
for sale in the city of Oaxaca. In 1926, much of the municipality was made ejido
Ejido
The ejido system is a process whereby the government promotes the use of communal land shared by the people of the community. This use of community land was a common practice during the time of Aztec rule in Mexico...
land, and much of the population became farmers, growing corn, beans, chickpeas and alfalfa
Alfalfa
Alfalfa is a flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae cultivated as an important forage crop in the US, Canada, Argentina, France, Australia, the Middle East, South Africa, and many other countries. It is known as lucerne in the UK, France, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, and known as...
, mostly during the rainy season in the summer.
Over the centuries, the area has dried with the lake and marshes gone. More recently, increased urbanization and irrigated farming has put pressure on aquifers here. During the dry season, the water table decreases more than six meters. This drop in water tables threatens the survival of the remaining cypress trees in the area.
The town
The small town of Santa María del Tule appears to be built around one particularly large cypress tree with its crafts market, church and town plaza all next to it. The La Guadalupana Market serves traditional Oaxacan dishes of the area including barbacoa and empanadas de Amarillo. The area is also noted for its ice cream which includes flavors such as cactus fruit, leche quemada (literally burnt milk) as well as specialties known as Beso de Angel (angel kiss) and Beso Oaxaqueño (Oaxacan kiss).The town’s Baroque
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
-style church is called El Templo de Santa María de la Asunción (Temple of the Virgin Mary of the Assumption
Assumption of Mary
According to the belief of Christians of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and parts of the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglicanism, the Assumption of Mary was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her life...
) and dates from the 18th century. It was built of stone over an ancient pagan shrine, and is surrounded by other buildings and areas belonging to the parish. A large walled plaza lies in front of the church.
Major celebrations here include Candelaria on 2 February, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary on 15 August and the Festival of the Tule Tree on the second Monday of October.
The Tule Tree
This tree is one of a number of old Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatumTaxodium mucronatum
Taxodium mucronatum, also known as Montezuma Cypress, Sabino, or Ahuehuete is a species of Taxodium native to much of Mexico , and also the Rio Grande Valley in southernmost Texas, USA as well as Huehuetenango Department in Guatemala...
) trees that grow in the town. This particular tree is found in the town’s center growing in both the town’s main plaza and the atrium of the church of Santa María de la Asunción.
The tree is one of the oldest and largest in the world and has the widest girth. It has an age of at least 2,000 years, with its existence chronicled by both the Aztecs and the Spanish that founded the city of Oaxaca. It has a height of forty meters, a volume of between 700 and 800m3, an estimated weight of 630 tons and a diameter of about forty meters. The trunk is so wide that thirty people with arms extended joining hands are needed to encircle it. The tree dwarfs the town’s main church and its taller than its spires, and it is still growing.
To the indigenous peoples of this area, the tree was sacred. According to Mixtec
Mixtec
The Mixtec are indigenous Mesoamerican peoples inhabiting the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Guerrero and Puebla in a region known as La Mixteca. The Mixtecan languages form an important branch of the Otomanguean language family....
myth, people originated from cypress tress, which were considered sacred and a genus. This particular tree was the site of a ritual which included the sacrifice of a dove and was realized for the last time in 1834. According to Mixe
Mixe
The Mixe or Mije is an indigenous group inhabiting the eastern highlands of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. They speak the Mixe languages which are classified in the Mixe–Zoque family, and are more culturally conservative than other indigenous groups of the region, maintaining their language to this...
myth, the origin of this particular tree is the walking stick of a god or a king by the name of Conday, who stuck his walking stick, supposedly weighting 62 kilos, into the ground which he rested. From that point on, the tree began to grow, and according to the king version of the story, the king died the same day the tree began to grow. The tree has gnarled branches and trunk, and various local legends relate to what appear to be animals and other shapes growing in the tree. Today, these forms have names such as “the elephant,” “the lion,” “the Three Kings,” “the deer”, “the pineapple,” “the fish,” “the squirrel’s tail” and “Carlos Salinas’ears.” Local guides point out the shapes using pocket mirrors to reflect the sun.
This kind of cypress is known in Spanish as a sabino, in Nahuatl as an ahuehuete and in Zapotec as Yagaguichiciña, and it is Mexico’s national tree. This particular tree was photographed for the first time by Désiré Charney in 1856 and was described and measured by José Acosta in “Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias” in 1856. The tree has been nominated by SEMARNAP as the most notable tree in Oaxaca, and is listed with the Lista Indicative del Patrimonio de Mexico (Indicative List of the Patrimony of Mexico).
The tree was in danger of drying out in the late 19th century but since then it has been regularly watered.
The municipality
As municipal seat, Tule has governing authority over the following communities: Güendulain, Kilómetro Dieciséis Punto Cinco, and Paraje el Corralito, which cover an area of 25.2km2. The total population of the municipality is 8,259, of which 7,831 or 95% live in the town proper. The municipality borders the municipalities of Tlalixtac de CabreraTlalixtac de Cabrera
Tlalixtac de Cabrera is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico. The municipality covers an area of km².It is part of the Centro District in the Valles Centrales region.As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of .-References:...
, Rojas de Cuauhtémoc
Rojas de Cuauhtémoc
Rojas de Cuauhtémoc is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 25.52 km².It is part of the Tlacolula District in the east of the Valles Centrales Region....
, San Francisco Lachigoló
San Francisco Lachigolo
San Francisco Lachigolo is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 31.9 km².It is part of the Tlacolula District in the east of the Valles Centrales Region....
, Teotitlán del Valle
Teotitlán del Valle
Teotitlán del Valle is a small village and municipality located in the Tlacolula District in the east of the Valles Centrales Region, 31 km from the city of Oaxaca in the foothills of the Sierra Juárez mountains. It is part of the Tlacolula Valley district...
and Santa Cruz Amilpas
Santa Cruz Amilpas
Santa Cruz Amilpas is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico. The municipality covers an area of km².It is part of the Centro District in the Valles Centrales region.As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of .-References:...
. The main river here is the Atoyac and the area has a mild climate with little seasonal variation in temperatures. Vegetation is principally mesquite
Mesquite
Mesquite is a leguminous plant of the Prosopis genus found in northern Mexico through the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Deserts, and up into the Southwestern United States as far north as southern Kansas, west to the Colorado Desert in California,and east to the eastern fifth of Texas, where...
and leucaena as well as the famous cypress trees in the municipal seat. Animal life is mostly small mammals such as the red squirrel, field mouse and opossum and birds such as the buzzard and duck.
The main economic base is tourism based on the Tule tree, employing nearly 75% of the municipality’s population. The main agriculture product today is the guava
Guava
Guavas are plants in the myrtle family genus Psidium , which contains about 100 species of tropical shrubs and small trees. They are native to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America...
fruit, with some corn and beans still grown, but this employs only nine percent of the population. Some processing of the guava fruit occurs here, as well as crafts such as pottery.