The department of Yoro, in north-central Honduras, is the ancestral home of the Tolupán people —also known as Xicaque or Jicaque, though their true name is Tolupán— one of the oldest indigenous ethnicities in the country. The term 'Xicaque' was used pejoratively by the colonists to refer to the rebellious groups of the old Taguzgalpa. The Tolupán are distributed across municipalities such as Morazán, El Negrito, Victoria, Yorito, Olanchito and Yoro itself, as well as the Montaña de la Flor, in neighboring Francisco Morazán.
The community of the Montaña de la Flor, with some 600 people, is the most isolated and culturally autonomous territory of the Tolupán, where the Tol language and much of the ancestral traditions are still preserved. The department, one of the country's originals, combines mountains, fertile valleys and a strong rural identity.
That indigenous heritage, along with the memory of the struggles for land and forest, is an essential part of Yoro's identity.
Yoro is famous the world over for the 'Rain of Fish', a phenomenon that, according to local tradition, occurs each year between May and July, at the height of the rainy season: after strong storms —a black cloud, electrical discharges and intense winds, generally between 4 and 5 in the afternoon— live fish appear on dry land, far from the river. The fish that fall are usually of the same species, known as 'sardine fish' (pez lancha), about 11 centimeters long.
The wonder has been recorded for more than a century and has attracted documentarians and scientists from all over the world, who have proposed various explanations —from waterspouts that would suck fish from the sea or lagoons, to underground fish that would emerge with the floods— without any definitive answer. That mystery has made Yoro a place of international fame.
Since 1998 the Festival of the Rain of Fish has been held, drawing visitors curious to witness or learn about one of the most singular natural phenomena on the planet.
Legend links the Rain of Fish with Father Manuel de Jesús Subirana, a Spanish missionary originally from Manresa (Catalonia) who evangelized northern Honduras in the mid-19th century and who died on November 27, 1864. His remains rest in the church of Santiago Apóstol in Yoro.
According to popular account, Father Subirana, moved by the hunger of the townspeople, prayed for days asking God to give sustenance to the needy; at the end of his prayers, tradition says, small fish began to fall from the sky, feeding the people. Since then, the phenomenon was interpreted as a miracle granted to the missionary's prayer, and the annual festival is held in his honor.
Thus science and faith intertwine around one of the most famous enigmas in Honduras, which has given this interior department worldwide renown.
The largest and most dynamic city in Yoro is El Progreso, on the Ulúa River, an important industrial, commercial and agro-industrial center historically tied to bananas —it was a stronghold of the Tela Railroad Company, a subsidiary of United Fruit— and today to African palm, sugar and maquila manufacturing. Its proximity to San Pedro Sula integrates it into the great economic pole of the country's north, of which it forms part of the Sula Valley.
Toward the east, the Aguán Valley —which Yoro shares with Colón, in its portion of Olanchito and Sonaguera— was one of the great banana zones and today is the setting of African palm production, with a long and conflict-ridden history of agrarian disputes over land tenure that has left numerous victims among peasants and guards.
That combination of agro-industry, bananas and palm marks the economy and also the social conflicts of the department in the lowlands.
Yoro preserves important forest areas in its mountains, such as Montaña de Yoro National Park and the Texíguat Wildlife Refuge, which harbor water sources, diverse fauna and Tolupán communities that maintain a close relationship with the forest. These ecosystems of pine and cloud forest are also a source of water for the lowlands and agricultural areas of the north.
The Tolupán of Yoro have led historic struggles for the defense of their forests against logging, with indigenous leaders murdered over recent decades, in a tension that continues. The conservation of these forests and of Tol culture is one of the department's great challenges.
The combination of living indigenous culture, unique natural phenomena such as the rain of fish, and landscapes that range from the mountain to the industrial valley makes Yoro a department of strong identity, between the economic drive of the Sula Valley and the ancestral tradition of the highlands.