Miguel Hidalgo

When Cortés arrived in the Valley of Anahuac in 1519, the area that is now the Delegación/Alcaldía of Miguel Hidalgo, on the southwest shore of Lake Texcoco, was populated with Nahuatl speaking people who called themselves Tepaneca. A hundred years earlier, it had been under the rule of the Tepanec atepetl of Azcapotzalco, just to its north.

However, in 1428, when the ruler of Azcapotzalco died and a power struggle erupted between possible replacements, Tenochtitlán and Texcoco, an atepetl on the east side of the Lake, decided it was their opportunity to ally against the city that dominated them. One of the villages in the area, Tlacopan, joined them against its overlords, thus becoming the third member of the Triple Alliance, which was to rule what is now Central Mexico for nearly one hundred years, until the arrival of the Spanish in 1519.

Tacuba and The Roadway Where History Took a Fateful Turn 

Tacuba, now a colonia in the Delegación Miguel Hidalgo, west of Centro, was originally Tlacopan, a village on the west shore of Lake Texcoco. When the Mexica of Tenochtitlan came to dominate the Valley in the 1430s, aided by allies from Tlacopan, they build a causeway across the lake, connecting the two cities. Nearly one hundred years later, when Cortés and his men had to flee Tenochtitlan, they headed for that causeway to Tlacopan. They were nearly obliterated during the famous "Night of Sorrows". The rulers of Tlacopan came to their rescue, allowing them to escape the Valley, thus changing history forever. 

Tacubaya - Labyrinth Leading from the Present to the Past

Tacubaya is south of Tacuba/Tlacopan and another ancient altepetl. Our first destination is a park, the Tacubaya Alameda, and a church likely to be having Mass, the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Purificación, Our Lady of the Purification. Her annual festival, on February 2, is known as Candelaria (because participants traditionally hold lighted candles). It is traditionally when Mary and Jospeh presented the infant Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem and Mary underwent the traditional purification after giving birth. So the church is also better known as la Parroquia de la Candelaria, the Parish Church of Candelaria.

Exiting the from Line 9 of the Metro, we approach some merchants and ask directions to the Alameda and church. They point us along one of the modern multi-lane streets and highways that now crisscross the area and tell us that, at a certain point, we will cross a pedestrian bridge that leads to the alameda and church. This leads us through what could only be described as a modern-day labyrinth to the park and chruch. They are islands of ancient tranquilty in the modern barullo, hubbub.