![[chilena-fest]](images/chilena-fest.jpeg "chilena-fest")
SANTIAGO JAMILTEPEC, which hosts its 25th annual Chilena Music Festival this
month, is an ancient Mixtec settlement whose history is very closely linked
to that of Tutútepec, the original capital of the Mixtecs on the coast of
Oaxaca. It was originally called Casando'o, for the warrior chief who helped
spread Tutútepec dominion over 200 km of the coastal region, from Ometepec
to Huatulco. According to the legends, Casando'o settled down, married and
had a son he named Jamil.
One day an eagle snatched Jamil from his cradle and devoured the child in the highest branches of a huge tree, leaving its head, a few bones and the tree drenched with blood. It is said that the distraught Casando'o buried the remains at the base of the tree, now the site of Jamiltepec's church and the reason for the town's present name.
![[jamiltepec]](images/jamiltepec.jpeg "jamiltepec")
Jamiltepec is the district capital of a region that encompasses all the
counties from the Rio Verde to the state border with Guerrero, but the town
has retained its charm and indigenous characteristics. It's a colorful,
bustling market town; about 60 percent of the population is indigenous.
You'll see women in traditional dress: huipiles, embroidered blouses and the pozahuanco, the mauve and purple striped wraparound skirt. The men wear calzones, white, draw-string pants and shirts of heavy cotton.
The people of Jamiltepec were called malacateros, for malacates, wood and clay spindles used for spinning cotton. The malacetes are often used as hair ornaments. The area was a center for cotton-growing and the town is best known for its textile crafts - - hand woven and embroidered clothing, table clothes, napkins - - but families in Jamiltepec also traditionally produced finely-crafted knives and machetes, some engraved with prayers or amusing sayings.
The town's central plaza, has a pair of colonial sundials atop classical
columns and a handsome Dominican church.