San Juan Cosala
Today we are visiting San Juan Cosala. You may not know much about it other than the spas, which are world class. The name comes From the náhuatl Word meaning “ Place among the snakes in the water”. An asception given because of an atmospheric phenomenon that occurs between August and September. When the rainfall is so strong that the hills have detachments of earth and snakes come out. There is also another meaning, which is
among pots. The funny thing is that all the towns have almost the same meaning with different name of towns, all this information is very confusing.
San Juan Cosalá
It was founded by the Cocas, many years before the spanish conquest of México, who also came from Aztlán, in 1113, due to the eruption of a volcano, just like the founders of the other Lakeside towns. They settled here because of the weather and the beauty of the place and others continued their journey to found Tenochtitlan.
During the conquest, Alonso de Avalos, conquered the area without difficulty, because the inhabitants were very
peaceful, so there were no big battles.
When the franciscan friars arrived to evangelize all the area of the Lakeside, they gave Christian names and put them in front of the native name. Which in this case was Cutzalan and the saint that was chosen for this town was Saint John the Baptist, when they put the two names together. Cutzalan was changed to Cosala.
It belongs to the municipality of Jocotepec. The biodiversity of the lake and mountain was abundant. Rich in White fish, catfish, carp, crab, and other species now extinct in the area., such as deer, badger, rabbit and armadillo. It was the settlement with the largest population of all the Lakeside area. It was the best organized up until the Colonial period.
Sowing of corn was very important, done in all the hill skirts. Vestiges have been found of the big harvest rituals in the month of May and end of October.