Markets Towns in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca

Markets in Oaxaca are a colorful experience that shouldn’t be missed as most have characteristic sections of flowers, fruits & vegetables, animals and folk art. But, for the most part, they offer an unequal opportunity to see the real life of rural Oaxaca and meet some of the Indian people from the various ethnic groups.

Regional economies are based on the organization of markets that are strategically located around the region and held on a daily basis. This is a custom that was inherited from the pre-Columbian established “tianguis” which is the name that most locals still refer to markets.

In fact, most markets are centered around a town church, which was the way that the Catholic Church built their first churches over the foundations of earlier pre-Columbian constructions, and at places where masses came to on a regular basis, because there were tianguis markets organized there.

So today, people still come from distant villages to the main market town to both visit the church and do their market shopping and selling activities.

Markets also connect the valley with other regions such as the Sunday market of Tlacolula, where people from the Northern Sierra as well as from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec come. So they become important economic and social events where people of different ethnic origins meet and interact.