Due to its strategic geographical location on the route to Honduras and to the first mining towns, Palacagüina served as a rest and supply center since 1530.
Palm duffel bags
It was the capital of the province in 1707 when it was used as a base for authorities and soldiers to repel and persecute the indigenous rebels who attacked towns in the Segovias.
During colonial times it was part of Nueva Segovia and also of Matagalpa.
For the heroic deed of General Augusto C. Sandino, this municipality served as the stage for the defense of national sovereignty against the North American Marines. General Miguel Ángel Ortez fell in the municipal park. The story of this hero is part of oral tradition and local celebrations. This territory received the category of municipality in 1994.
Traditions, artistic expressions and music
Palacagüina celebrates the anniversary in which it was elevated to municipality on November 27. But its festival takes place in the third week of November, as a municipal festival.
Music
Traditional dance
El Plan Musical Group: founded some years ago and is directed by the well-known cultural promoter Dionisio Castellón.
Los Calderones Group: of the Las Plazuelas community, founded in 2004, has eight members who play guitar, accordion and trumpet.
The Cusmaji Group: It has been working with five members for ten years, playing typical northern music. Another musical group is that of The Mendez from the El Riíto community.
Crafts
Basketry is represented by the production of palm fiber mats and bamboo baskets in the Palo Blanco community and also by those made by the Carballo family in the urban area of Palacagüina.
In the La Calera community they work the liana to make chairs, tables, benches and armchairs.
Traditional trades or practices
Tortilleras and midwives In all the communities, as well as the seamstresses and master builders, they are traditional Palacagüina trades.
Sites of historical and cultural interest
Community Museum: founded in 2013, with a donation from the residents of archaeological objects found in the Río Arriba, El Jocote and Los Arados communities. Among the artifacts on display are red, orange or polychrome clay pots.
The main pieces exhibited are a tripod bowl with an anthropomorphic support, a globular pot with side handles, an elongated urn with handles, an anthropomorphic conical support, and among the stone utensils a circular mortar with its grinding hand, a rectangular tripod metate with its stand out. hand grinding, carved and micro polished bifacial petaloid axes and projectile points. These materials date between 300 AD and 1400 AD.
Apolinar Cruz Matute
Cuyali Mines: this place was an important source of work for Palacagüina and its surroundings. Antimony and lead were still mined in 1945. The site is made up of large caves dug for mining.
El Riito Site: It is a place where you can see three pre-Hispanic motifs engraved in stone, made with wide grooves. Among the motifs represented are a human with decoration on the head that can be hair or plume, zoomorphic drawings, circles and dots.
La Iguana Hill: he made himself known in a song by Carlos Mejía Godoy, “El Cristo de Palacagüina”.
Legends
La Iguana, El Cadejo, La Cegua, La Carreta Nagua, Los Sisimiques and Los Chumpes.
Characters relevant to the local culture
Apolinar Cruz Matute: A baseball player from the El Riíto community, he is one of the hitters with more than 100 homers in the national baseball championships. Among his sporting prowess is having hit a home run in Dodger Stadium at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. He currently manages the Los Cañoneros de Madriz team.
Gallery
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