Santiago, a “cabezera”

Santiago, a “cabezera”

This detail, numbered “2” by the artist/mapmaker, represents “SAnctiago,” and is described as a “cabezera” (cabecera, a Spanish loanword, meaning “head town”). The church, as usual, is emblematic for the town, but we also see additional buildings of various shapes and sizes on the hill or mountain next to the main church, which is on the valley floor. Given that all of these towns are shown as occupying a hill or mountain, one suspects that this is a visual representation of the -tepetl of “altepetl” (principal Nahua socio-political unit). For a cabecera would have been an altepetl, rather than a tlaxilacalli (barrio or neighborhood). This church has a rounded roof, which sets it apart from all of the other churches on this map. Its rose window is typical, as is the pink or red coloring given to the buildings in this town. [SW] Santiago seems to refer to to a neighboring community, Santiago Mixquitla. See Takanori Kobayashi, “History Engraved on the Urban Landscape: Formation of the Sacred City and Constructino of Traditional Festivals in Cholula, Mexico,” in Constructing, Deconstructing, and Reconstructing Social Identity: 2,000 Years of Monumentality in Teotihuacan and Cholula, Mexico, eds. Sbro Sugiyama et al (2013), 120–121.