Comitán

The first town was founded in a swamp by Tzeltal people, who called it Balún Canán, usually translated as "nine stars". The Spanish began their conquest of the region in 1528, and the Dominican friars formally established the colonial town in 1556; it became a vicarage in 1625 and took the name Santo Domingo de Comitán. Like the rest of Chiapas it was governed from Guatemala through the colonial period, and it was also known as Comitán de las Flores.

On 28 August 1821 the town declared itself free and independent of both Spain and the Captaincy General of Guatemala, the first step towards the independence of Chiapas, which is why Comitán calls itself the cradle of Chiapas independence. Chiapas joined Mexico in 1824.

In 1915 the town was renamed Comitán de Domínguez in honour of Belisario Domínguez, a physician born here who, as a senator, made a speech in Congress against the dictator Victoriano Huerta and was murdered for it in 1913. The writer Rosario Castellanos spent her childhood in Comitán and set her novel Balún Canán here, taking the town's old Maya name as its title. On 9 October 2012 Comitán joined the federal Pueblos Mágicos programme, recognised for its culture, architecture, history and food, including its sweets.

Comitán is a town of writers and of memory. She is among the figures honoured with busts and statues in the main square, the cultural centre and the regional library carry her name, and an international festival in her honour has been held for more than a decade. The poet Óscar Bonifaz collected the town's archaisms and regional expressions in a book, and the local speech, in which some older people still use vos, is a point of pride.

The religious year is crowded. The main feasts are San Sebastián in January, the Virgen de la Candelaria and San Caralampio in February, San José in March, Santo Domingo with its Expoferia in August, the Virgen del Rosario and San Judas Tadeo in October, and the Virgin of Guadalupe in December. San Caralampio stirs the greatest devotion, although he is not the official patron: legend says the martyr saved the town from an epidemic.

The town's museums reflect the same mix of local and national culture: the house of Belisario Domínguez with its old pharmacy, the art museum named after Hermila Domínguez de Castellanos with works by Tamayo, Toledo and Cuevas, an archaeological museum, a city museum and a museum of Rosario Castellanos. The architecture runs from Baroque churches to Neoclassical and Neo-Gothic houses.

About 113,000 people lived in the city at the 2020 census, up from about 98,000 in 2010, an average growth of 1.6 per cent a year. The city covers about 34 square kilometres. It is the commercial centre for at least eight surrounding municipalities, and its population is largely ladino with Tojolabal and Tzeltal people.

The economy rests on commerce and services. A shopping centre, Plaza las Flores, has national chains, supermarkets and a cinema, while the central markets and small shops of the old town carry on alongside them. Comitán is also a popular holiday town for Mexicans, who come for the colonial centre, the food and the lakes.

Most adults can read and write, and the town has campuses of several colleges and universities, including one named after Rosario Castellanos. Daily life centres on the lively Parque Central and on the feasts of the barrio churches, which punctuate the year with processions, fireworks and fairs.

Comitán is known across Chiapas for its food. Typical dishes include butifarras, a boiled local sausage, along with chorizo and longaniza made in the town's own style; hueso asado; chilevinagre; picles; chicharrón; and pellizcadas, tortillas with asiento. Bocadillos de patashete are another local snack.

The drinks are distinctive. Comiteco is a local spirit that used to be made from agave; mistela is a fruit liqueur; and the warm and cold drinks include jocoatol, atole de granillo, temperante and pozol made with peanuts.

Above all, the town is famous for its sweets, many made by traditional methods: chimbo, africanos, peanut sweets, dulce de coyol, nuegados, melcocha, quiebramuelas and trompadas. They are sold in shops and at stalls around the centre and in the markets, where Mercado Primero de Mayo also serves homemade regional dishes. The town's food is one of the reasons given for its Pueblo Mágico listing; the sweets are made from regional ingredients, some by methods dating from before the conquest.