Oxkutzcab is a city along the routa Puuc in Southern Yucatan. It is also the name of the municipality that includes the surrounding comisarías, such as Yaxachen, Xul, and Xobenhaltun. There are about 12,000 people living within Oxkutzcab’s city limits and surrounding comisarías.
The city’s name is composed of three Mayan words – Ox, kutz, and cab, meaning three, tobacco, and honey, respectively. There are multiple translations for the words as well, so the area could also be named for a fruit called ramon (ox) and/or a turkey (kutz). The jury is out on which is the best translation for the city’s name, although most people recognize the double translations and embrace them in both artistic depictions of the city and in conversation.
The most notable aspect of life in Ox is the city’s agricultural production of citrus and other tropically adapted fruits and vegetables. The city’s central market is the largest in the region and it boasts an enormous fruit section. The market starts winding up for the day around 7 a.m. and women in huipiles, traditional Mayan dresses, will stay at their fruit stands until 3 or 4 in the afternoon some days.
The front of the market in Oxkutzcab around 10 a.m.
Before the locals from Oxkutzcab come out to shop for their fruits on Tuesdays and Fridays, fruit salesmen from surrounding cities travel to Ox in the madrugada, the early hours of the morning, around 3 or 4 a.m. in order to ship out the highest quality fruit to their towns. But for a higher price. The locals will often wait until later in the day to purchase their fruit for a cheaper price as the vendors are more willing to offer bargain prices as the day wears on and their product is waiting to be sold.
An interesting topic of study in Oxkutzcab is the relationship between the local food and regional identity. People around Yucatan are largely familiar with Oxkutzcab’s reputation as the citrus hub of the peninsula. When I travel to Merida on the occasional weekend off, the city-folk will ask me where I live and upon hearing the name Oxkutzcab they reply with, “Oh! Orangeland!” or “So you like oranges, huh?”
City monument in the central square
The focal point of the monument: a cart filled with locally grown fruits and vegetables
It is true that the orange is the crown jewel of Ox’s fruit selection, with both sweet and sour varieties produced in excess. Consequently, the orange has become a symbol for the city, representing both the economic foundation of the city and the prized product of day-to-day labor on the parcelas, or fruit farms. The green bulbs (many of the varieties of oranges in Ox don’t turn orange when ripe) litter the streets and crowd the back of pick-up trucks.
Fruit transport, a common site throughout the city
The area embraces their relationship with the citrus and the central role it plays in the lives of the city’s populace. For one, the municipality’s crest features the fruit as the central image.
The municipality's crest. The left third of the crest features a "ramon" tree, the right third, a leaf of tobacco,
and the bottom third, a honey comb. The crest depicts the items that make up the name of Oxkutzcab in Maya
with an orange joining them together.
The region is also well known for the annual Feria de Naranja, or orange festival. In October of each year the city gathers together to eat all things orange, admire larger-than-life constructions of buildings, people, and even trains made entirely of oranges, and to otherwise consume what seems to be an enormous amount of citrus, although the festival’s damage to the citrus product does little to hurt the overall epic regional production of oranges.
Giant oranges... made of oranges
And just for fun, check out the name of Ox’s well known baseball team:
Geaux Naranjeros!
I’m certainly looking forward to the festival in October but the anticipation is unable to mount to an unbearable level as the orange boom has already begun. In the paletería, popsicle shop, where I eat most of my meals, orange juice is fresh squeezed and ice cold, always waiting for me to scoop it into a giant glass and enjoy. Ten pound bags of oranges line the walls of the shop and assure me that no matter how quickly I can drink the orange juice, Ox will be ready and waiting to give more. The only worries I have now are the inevitable mouth ulcers and heartburn associated with excessive consumption of citric acid. It’s a rough life.
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