Museum

Suchilquitongo’s [1] Museo Comunitario (no phone, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. and 5–7 p.m. daily), on the town plaza, displays artifacts, reproductions, and an actual-size mock-up model of the famous Tomb 5, discovered in the Cerro de la Campana [2] (formerly Huijazoo) archaeological zone in 1985.

A glance at the archaeological displays reveals why it’s considered the most important Zapotec city-state tomb uncovered to date. It was literally a house of the dead, with the remains of at least 20 noble personages of at least three generations, with calendrical birth names, such as 5-Earth, 5-Serpent, and 12-Monkey.

Before the excavation, they lay at rest in a massive three-room, 15-foot-deep crypt complex among piles of jewelry, supplied with elaborate goods for the afterlife and surrounded by bright murals of ceremonial scenes, including a grand procession of feathered and helmeted ball players.

Before you leave the Tomb 5 mock-up, be sure to see the sphere of day and night, and the richly engraved columns and tomb entrance door, both embossed with as-yet-untranslated Zapotec glyphs.

Another museum room illustrates the Spanish-Mexican custom of mayordomía, as acted out by Suchilquitongo [1] people for their major fiesta, the July 22–27 fiesta of Santiago (St. James).

Everyone participates—cooking food, making costumes, rehearsing for the dancing, setting up ramadas for shade, spiffing up the church, donating money—especially the mayordomo, the man or woman nominated by the presidente municipal and approved by a grand church meeting of the entire community to head all this up. The mayordomo, nearly always a person of means, usually ends up his or her term of office poorer, but rich with community affection and prestige.