San Salvador Huixcolotla is a town and municipality in Puebla in southeastern Mexico that may be best known as the birthplace of papel picado. San Salvador is Spanish for "Holy Savior" and Huixcolotla is Nahuatl for "place of the curved spines". History The original inhabitants were Popoloca speakers, under the Aztec Triple Alliance. Friar Juan de Rivas founded a small congregation in 1539 as part of the Spanish colonization, and in 1750 construction began on Iglesia del Divino Salvador (Church of the Divine Savior). In 1779 it became a town, and on 15 April 1930, it was declared a municipality under the governorship of Leonides Andrew Almazán. Geography The total area of San Salvador Huixcolotla is , of which 79% is devoted to agriculture and the remaining 21% developed. The four barrios are El Calvario, San Antonio, San Martín, and La Candelaria, and the three colonias are San Isidro, Dolores, and Benito Juárez. It is surrounded to the north by the municipalities of Los Reyes de Juárez and Acatzingo; to the east by Acatzingo and Tecamachalco; to the south by Tecamachalco, Tochtepec, and Cuapiaxtla de Madero; and to the west by Cuapiaxtla de Madero and Los Reyes de Juárez. Climate The typical range of temperatures is . Typical annual rainfall is . Demographics 78.12% of the population lives in poverty. As of 2015, electricity and sanitary systems are universal, but only 50.10% of households have piped water inside their homes. 90.25% of the population between age 6 and 14 can read and write. Papel picado Papel picado ("perforated paper," "pecked paper") is a decorative Mexican folk art made by cutting elaborate designs into sheets of tissue paper that was popularized in San Salvador Huixcolotla. It is thought to have originated from the pre-Hispanic practice of making religious offerings with amate bark paper. Among the first makers were Juan Hernandez, Cristóbal Flores, Santiago Vivanco R., and Lauro Pérez Macías. By the late 1920s it had spread outside Puebla to Tlaxcala and is now used around the world in observations of Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead). In addition to Día de Muertos, known locally as Todos Santos, papel picado is also commonly made to celebrate Semana Santa (the Holy Week of Easter), Mexican independence, and Christmas. In 1998 the governor of Puebla declared the town, in which 35% of the residents participate in this craft, a cultural heritage of the