Mexicans firmly believe that the dead return each year to be with us, with love and caring, Mexicans prepare tables of offerings where flowers, food and the photo of the dead are abundant.
Everything is done very special for this time of year and amazingly the 2nd of November is a national holiday, banks and businesses are closed, black glass plates adorned with traditional dishes like Mole, Tamales, Pumpkins, the special sweet bread called Pan de Muerto that is made with skulls and bones on top and candies in the shape of animales made from Sugar Cane and Caramel that originated from Spain and of course no offering would be complete without a coffin and skulls made of dulce or clay.
In Mexico death has brought with it a lot of beliefs, rituals and traditions, actually and above all areas in the country in the rural and suburban areas continue as do areas metropolitan like Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey and Morelia to prepare Alters of Offerings and dedicate ceremonies to the dead on this day.
Marigolds are the official flower of the dead here in Mexico so during the time from the middle of October to the first week in November you will find abundance of Marigolds for sale on the streets, in markets and everywhere including outside of the Cemetaries
Outside of the Cemeteries you will find endless numbers of vendors selling flowers and other items necessary for preparing the offering as well as on the streets. In Mexico City in the area of Chapultepec Park in the zone known as Polanco in Miguel Hidalgo the city lines the miles of Paseo de la Reforma with the traditional flower Marigolds (cempásúchil) of the Day of the Dead.
With the advent nothing peaceful Western culture began to combine the old beliefs with the idea of ??an afterlife, a transmutation of the soul of the deceased would expect the day of reckoning, while his mortal remains in the tombs remain.
Hence the practice of burial in a tomb that is, in turn, a tradition that stems from the time of the catacombs.
In Mexico, the practice of burying the dead in graves was initially at home and in the courts of the churches, I remember the first funeral that I went to in Mexico in a suburban area but from a rural family, the casket was in the living room of the house and thats where the friends and family came to visit. They told me that they had to bury their family member at the church in this small town because where they were now living had no yard to bury him.
Paseo de La Reforma in Mexico City's Chapultepec Park Area.
Another example of these burials you can see today still along side the Cathedral in Merida Yucatan where you can see on the floor endless headstones made of marble and onyx with the names and dates of the people buried there. During the Juarez regime the practice became considered “Insane” and was banned giving rise to public cemeteries.
In Western Culture from the days of the catacombs, graves have been considered places where mortals wait for their day of final reckoning or their “Judgement Day”. For this tombs have been redressed in various artistic forms, from sculptures, headstones with literary epithets and paintings that are symbolic respect to the beliefs of death and the final destiny of those passed.
This “grave art” has evolved in pagan ways (columns and obelisks, broken trees and branches, cut short willows, urns, mourners, skulls) is passed to the abundance of angels and souls, crosses and redemption problems. Times of literary and artistic sculptural forms occur in the cemeteries of Mexico since the middle of last century until the early decades of this, today there are only isolated cases of the old rituals, as burials have been standardized.
These representations or “grave art” have an decorative value, but they are more than that, they are testimonials to the body, the ideas or beliefs of social groups.
The actual ceremony to honor the “Night of the Dead” originated in Michoacan and was introduced to the spaniards and others that colonized this area of Mexico. Ancient Mexicans made ??significant rituals around death, which so impressed the first conquerors, through evangelization, introduced new ideas, resulting in a very strong religious syncretism.
An elaborate alter to honor the departed.
Formerly Tirepitío was an important religious center dedicated to the ancestors. There are offerings of yellow flowers (marigolds) and the day consecrated to the dead Mexicans rose to the ceiling of his house and shouted the names of their ancestors (primeval gods) towards the north, to receive the food they had put into the door.
Today there are 5 great places in Mexico to experience the Day of the Dead although the first we consider this year to be the most dangerous area due to the Drug War being fought there.
- Jaracuaro, Arocutin and Cuanajo Michoacan which are 3 small towns in the state of Michoacan and excellent locations to really live the magic of the Day of the Dead.
- San Andres Mixquic in Mexico City, yep thats right, here in Mexico City in the south of the city.
- Ocotepec Morleos, near the weekend community of Cuernavaca (city of eternal spring) the celebration of the Holy Souls is one of the most representative traditions of the state, where the cult of death noted for its rich cultural and religious.
- Huaquechula Puebla, a neighboring state to Mexico City and Veracruz where one of the most impressive rituals is represented.
- El Xantolo, party of the dead in the indian communities of San Luis Potosi a state along the gulf coast north of Veracruz and Hidalgo where you can be part of this complex cultural, ethnic and religious covering various aspects of the worldview about life and death among Mesoamerican Indians.
Here are some photos representative of offerings during the day of the dead.
Another Alter honoring the departed where you can clearly see the photo of the departed, candles, food offerings and lots of flowers.
Preparing food for the offering of the departed usually their favorite foods, beverages and sweets.
What is amazing here in Mexico is the mixing of the old traditions that still exist all over Mexico in celebration of the Day of the Dead or Dia de Muertos and halloween. Yesterday we saw so many kids out with family dressed for Halloween and carrying their Pumpkins looking for candy or pesos but the important note is the influence of American Culture here which isn’t so good in some aspects.
Like Halloween many Mexican families have given way to celebrate Christmas only where the true holiday in Mexico is 3 Kings Day which isn’t giving gifts on Christmas but actually receiving gifts the day Jesus did from the Kings. More on that as we come closer to celebrating the birth of Christ in December.