In the Purépecha language, a people who inhabited these lands before the arrival of the conquerors, Pátzcuaro literally means

"Where are the stones at the entrance where the blackness is made."

This means that it was considered a sacred enclave, a door to the world where the gods lived or to paradise, to where the souls of the deceased were led when they died. It was also believed that these flew in the shape of a butterfly to Janitzio.