Jojutla

The area that is Jojutla today was covered by the internal Sea of Plancarte in the Paleozoic Era. The first inhabitants are believed to have arrived 22,000 years ago.[4] Although fragments of obsidian, ceramic, and pottery have been found in the atriums of the chapels of Teocalzingo, Guadalupe, and Tlatenchi, no serious archaeological studies have been undertaken in the area. The Codex Mendoza tells us that people lived in Jojutla from 1425-1436 CE, when they were conquered by the troops of Izcóatl and Nezahualcóyotl, and submitted to the Calpixca Acolhua of Tlaquiltenango and the lordship of Cuauhnáhuac.[1]

The exact date when the Spanish arrived is unclear, but the establishment of the town of San Miguel Xoxutla suggests they arrived on September 29 of 1522 or 1523, considering that in 1524 they inaugurated the bridge and dam of Cuernavaquita in Tlaquiltenango under orders from Hernan Cortes.[1] The area was governed by Tlaquiltenango, particularly after the arrival of the religious orders in 1549 and 1604.[1]

The area around Xoxutla was quite swampy, so agriculture was not very profitable. The principal economic activities were fishing, production of indigo dye, and basketry.[1]

As the population increased, a Sunday market developed in the Plaza de Arriba (atrium the church of San Miguel). The opening of the Acapulco-México trade route in the 17th century and the bridge of Our Lady of Guadalupe over the Apatlaco River on July 16, 1616, encouraged the growth of the market.[4]

One confusing fact as to the date of foundation of Jojutla is that 18 families headed by Ignacio de la Luz fled from Chimalacatlan because of an epidemic. The Dominican friars of the Villa de Tlaquiltenango accepted them in the town of San Jerónimo Metl, on April 14, 1695. Incidentally, this confusion in part comes from Dr. Santos Amador Espinoza, who wrote Notes on the history of the City of Jojutla de Juárez in 1895, but whose information was later contradicted by Father José Agapito Mateo Minos Campuzano. The town of San Jerónimo Metl itself was devastated by a cholera epidemic in May 1770.[4]

On September 14, 1722, in hacienda of San Gabriel, the muleteer José Cerón found an image of the crucified Christ, which was taken to the chapel of the hacienda, only to mysteriously disappear three times. The Dominican friars then took it their monastery in Tlaquiltenango on January 1, 1723, when it again disappeared, only to reappear on the main altar of the chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe, of the town of Archangel San Miguel Xoxutla. Since that time, there has been a festival in Xoxutla (Jojutla).[1]

During the War of Mexican Independence Juan Antonio Tlaxcoapan of Tlaquiltenango led a group of citizens to meet Generals Vicente Guerrero and Nicolás Bravo in Chimalacatlan on September 8, 1813. The citizens of Jojutla did not join the Insurgents in Chilpancingo, and once their army withdrew Tlaxcoapan was taken prisoner and shot by Spanish authorities on November 6, 1813. Today he is recognized as a local hero.[1]

Ricardo Sánchez moved to Jojutla on March 15, 1830, and in 1836 he introduced the cultivation of brown rice. Sánchez lobbied for the municipalization of the town of the Archangel San Miguel Xoxutla, which was granted by the government of the State of Mexico on March 29, 1847. Sánchez became the first municipal president and he rescheduled the feast of the Lord of Tula from September 14 to January 1.[1]

The Jojutla Railway began on September 21, 1890.[5]

On April 14, 1895, at the initiative of a group led by the priest Agapito Mateo Minos Campuzano, Jojutla celebrated its bicentennial.[6]

There was a bloody battle during the Mexican Revolution until the city was taken and looted by Maderistas under the command of Pablo Torres Burgo, and Gabriel Tepepa. The Revolutionaries sacked the city.[7]

Andres Eloy Martínez Rojas, a Mexican astronomer (b. Cuernavaca, 1953) discovered a crater on Mars, which he named Jojutla. In 2017 the asteroid (6159) Andréseloy (1991 YH) was named in his honor.[8][9][10]

An illegal, secret graveyard used by the government was discovered in Jojutla in March 2017. This was similar to the one found in Tetelcingo two years earlier. Of the 85 bodies found in Jojutla, 54 involved cases that the police had not even bothered to investigate. 30,000 people have "disappeared" in Mexico in the years up to February, 2018.[11]

Jojutla was hit harder than anywhere else in Morelos during the September 19, 2017 earthquake. At least 73 people died and hundreds were injured.[12][13] 652 homes were destroyed, 1,157 were damaged,[14] and many other buildings, including schools and the Palacio Municipal (city hall), were damaged. More than two years later, in January 2020, residents were still waiting for reconstruction.[15]

Juan Angel Flores Bustamonte of Juntos Haremos Historia (Together we will make history coalition) was elected Presidente Municipal (mayor) in the election of July 1, 2018.[16]

Two parachutists died on March 23, 2019, when their equipment failed and they landed in the Autopista del Sol at Kilometer 132, near Jardines de Mexico. They were employed by a school of parachutes in the area.[17] Festival Vaivén 2019 (art & music festival) was held in Jardines de Mexico on March 30, 2019.[18]

La Secundaria Técnica número 34 in Jojutla was the first middle school in the country to give classes in agroecology.[19]

As of May 4, 2020, there were 505 infections and 59 deaths in the state of Morelos and 18 confirmed infections from the COVID-19 pandemic in Jojutla.[20] Schools and many businesses were closed from mid March until June 1.[21]

In 2019 Hortencia Figueroa Peralta from Jojutla, former leader (PRD) of the state legislature, was convicted of misuse of MXN $23.7 million earmarked for employees. She won a temporary injunction against being sent to prison, but in May 2020 that expired and she will soon be sent to the state penitentiary in Atlacholoaya.[22]

The state of Morelos reported 209 cases and 28 deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico, as of April 27, 2020. Schools and many businesses were closed from mid March until June 1.[23] The state office of DIF sent food and water to vulnerable groups of people in eight municipalities including Jojutla on May 26.[24] On June 2, Jojutla reported 94 confirmed cases and 17 deaths from the virus; the reopening of the state was pushed back until at least June 13.[25] Jojutla reported 211 cases, 145 recuperations, and 46 deaths from the virus as of August 31.[26] Three hundred sixty-two cases were reported on December 27, 2020.[27] The hospital dedicated to the care of serious COVID-19 cases reached 100% capacity on January 15, 2021.[28]

Known as The Sea of Morelos,[44] Lake Tequesquitengo provides relaxation and fun such as water skiing, skydiving, snorkeling, bungee jumping, or scuba diving. There are hotels around the lake in all price categories.Teques is a popular weekend destination for Mexicans from the capital and the State of Morelos.[45][46]

The lake has a tragic history. The general belief is that the village of Tequesquitengo was flooded by the Mosso brothers, who—according to Alfonso Toussaint—owned the San José Vista Hermosa hacienda in the mid-19th century, which was erected during the colonial era in the upper part of the valley. Newspapers of the nineteenth century pointed out that in the northern part of the valley there was a small lagoon, which was sustenance for the colonial town of Tequesquitengo, in addition to the tequesquite, a mineral from which the settlement took its name.[47] Until a difference between the peasants and the hacendados caused the latter to divert the flow of surplus water from the irrigation channels of the hacienda to the valley, flooding it and forcing its settlers to settle on the shores of the lake that formed covering the town and its church, San Juan Bautista.

Scholars differ about when the flooding began, suggesting dates between 1820 and 1880, with some blaming the earthquake of 1845.[44][48]

• New Year's Fair, January 1–10, Jojutla de Juárez. This is the most important festival in the community. It commemorates the discovery of a black cruxifix in 1772 that somehow disappeared several times until miraculously reappearing at the chapel of Guadalupe in Xoxotla. The Señor de Tula (Lord of Tula) was honored from September 14, 1724 until 1848; since that time the holiday has been celebrated on January 1.[49]
• Flag Day, February 24–28, Jicarero.
• Cultural Week, March 21–29, Jojutla.[1]
• Festival Vaivén 2019 (art & music festival) was celebrated in Jardines de Mexico, March 30, 2019.[18]
• Feria del Arroz (Rice fair), June (exact dates vary) Jojutla (7 days).
• Feast of San Juan, June 24, Panchimalco.
• Feast of Santa María, September 8, Tlatenchi.
• Independence Day celebrations, mid-September in Jojutla.
• Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, October 4, Higuerón.
• Feast of the Our Lady of the Rosary, 1st Sunday of October, Tehuixtla (5 days)[1]
• Day of the Dead, November 1 & 2.
• Revolution Day, November 20 (traditional); 3rd Monday of November (official).
• Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 11 & 12.
• Las Posadas, December 16–24.
• Most families celebrate Christmas Eve on December 24, although December 25 is the official holiday.[40]

Brass bands to accompany the dances of Los Tecuanes, Las Pastoras and Chinelos at festivals.

Red, white, and green pozole; corn tamales of all kinds: fish, nopales (cactus leaves) with onions, huazmole (a goat stew made with jumbay; different rice plates; cecina; barbecue; and tacos dorados (tacos made with deep-fried torillas).[1]