[3] The Santo Domingo church and former monastery is the largest structure in the town, set on a small hill overlooking the river.

This structure has been restored to house exhibition halls, including those associated with the Museo de la Laca (Lacquer Museum).

[3] The municipality Chiapa de Corzo is the local governing authority for 83 other communities, all of which are considered rural for a total territory of 906.7km2.

These communities include Julián Grajales, Las Flechas, Salvador Urbina, El Palmar San Gabriel, Caleció Narcia, Ignacio Allende, Venustiano Carranza and Nicolás Bravo. )

It honors an image of Christ with masses, popular dances, fireworks and amusement rides along with cultural and sporting events.

It is popular throughout the state but important in Chiapa de Corzo for the Comida Grande which is served during the Festival of San Sebastian in January.

Another is a beef dish where the meat is dried then fried then served with a sauce made from squash seeds, green tomatoes and achiote.

Principal crops include corn, peanuts, sorghum, cotton, bananas, mangos, melons, jocote (Spondias purpurea), chard, lettuce and onions.

There are fewer dancers than in the past, and many of the younger generation are not interested in the time it takes to carve a traditional mask from wood then lacquer it.

The tradition began in 1599, when Pedro de Barrientos, vicar of the Santo Domingo Church, encouraged the development of fireworks making.

After examining the boy, he instructed his mother to bathe him in the waters of a small lake called Cumbujuya, after which he was miraculously cured.

[9][10] To distract and amuse the boy, a local group disguised themselves as Spaniards with masks and began to dance showing “para el chico” which means “for the boy.” According to one version of the story, this is what cured the child.

[9] The tradition of these dancers began in 1711, leading the Spanish to call the event “para el chico”, which eventually evolved into Parachicos.

The dancers carry a type of maraca made of metal called chinchin to make noise along with the taping of their boot heels.

[8] Accompanying the Parachicos or dancing on their own is another type of dancer called “chuntas.” These are men dressed as women as the word chunta means maid or servant.

[10] The patron of the dances and processions has been the Nigenda family for about seventy years, whose house on Alvaro Obregon Avenue becomes the meeting point for the dancers during the festival.

At the back of the patio of this house, there is an altar with the portraits of two deceased members of the family: Atilano Negenda and Arsenio Nigenda.

At the end of the parade is the patron, Rubisel Nigenda, who is accompanying by a "Chulita" a young woman who does not wear a mask, but rather an old fashioned traditional Chiapan dress, with a long skirt, embroidered shirt and roses.

[11] The immediate area of the municipality was settled around 1200 BCE by a group of people related to the Olmec culture, who are thought to have been speakers of an early Mixe–Zoquean language.

However, much the settlement shared many features with La Venta, including a ceremonial pond and pottery styles as well as using the same sources for materials such as obsidian and andesite.

The earliest Long Count inscription in Mesoamerica derives from this phase, with a date of 36 BCE appearing on Stela 2.

By the end of these phases, however, craft activity diminishes and long distance ties contracted even though tombs remain elaborate.

It is not known what brought down the civilization, but the city became gradually abandoned and appears to have become a pilgrimage site, perhaps by Zoque who had been conquered by the Chiapa people.

[12] Whether the Chiapa actually conquered the Zoque city or whether it had fallen before their arrival, the newcomers decided to occupy the adjacent floodplain of the Grijalva River, where the modern town is, and leave the old ruins untouched.

[3] The developers of the area were Dominican friars, who followed the ideals of Bartolomé de las Casas in neighboring San Cristobal.

They worked to protect the indigenous against the abuses of the Spanish colonizers, allowing them to gain the trust of the local people and convert them to Christianity.

[5] While there is evidence of human occupation in the region from at least the Archaic period the main archeological site for the area is near the modern town of Chiapa de Corzo.

The origin of this ceremonial and administrative center goes back 3,500 years, being a strategic point in commercial routes between the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coasts.

In addition to the axes, there are also more than three thousand pieces made of jade, river pearls, obsidian and amber, from areas as far away as Guatemala and the Valley of Mexico, showing trade networks.

The discovery of the ancient tomb has prompted the Mexican government to buy more lands and extend the site by 7,200 square meters to one and a half hectares.