El Día De Los Muertos

El Día de los Muertos  (Day of the Dead), is a Mexican celebration which begins October 31, and ends on November 2. November 1, All Saints Day, and November 2, All Souls Day are marked throughout Mexico and is common to all.

This is a day to celebrate, remember and prepare special foods in honor of those who have departed. On this day in Mexico, the streets near the cemeteries are filled with decorations of papel picado, flowers, candy calaveras (skeletons and skulls), and parades. It is believed that the spirit of the dead visit their families on October 31 and leave on November 2.

November 1 is set aside for remembrance of deceased infants and children, often referred to as angelitos (little angels). The families make altars and place ofrendas (offerings) of food such as pan de muertos baked in shapes of skulls and figures, candles, incense, yellow marigolds known as cempazuchitl (also spelled zempasuchil) and most importantly a photo of the departed soul is placed on the altar. These include all manner of skeletons and other macabre toys; intricate tissue paper cut-outs called papel picado; elaborate wreaths and crosses decorated with paper or silk flowers; candles and votive lights; and fresh seasonal flowers, particularly cempazuchiles (marigolds) and barro de obispo (cockscomb). Among the edible goodies offered are skulls, coffins and the like made from sugar, chocolate or amaranth seeds and special baked goods, notably sugary sweet rolls called pan de muerto that come in various sizes invariably topped with bits of dough shaped like bones and, in some regions, unadorned dark breads molded into humanoid figures called animas (souls).

Those who have died as adults are honored November 2. Elaborate altars are made in honor of deceased relatives and often include bottles of beer or tequila, cups of atole (corn gruel) or coffee, and fresh water, as well as platters of rice, beans, chicken or meat in mole sauce, candied pumpkin or sweet potatoes and the aforementioned breads. The offering may also include a pack of cigarettes for the after-dinner enjoyment of former smokers. All of these goods are destined for ofrenda de muertos (offering to the dead).

The spirits of the dead are expected to pay a holiday visit home and should be provided with an enticing repast and adequate sustenance for the journey. Frequently a wash basin and clean hand towel are provided so that visiting souls can freshen up before the feast.

It might sound somewhat morbid, but the Mexicans react to death with mourning along with happiness and joy. They do not look at death with fear the same way other cultures do. They reflect their fear by mocking and living alongside death, which means that Mexicans have to learned to accept it within their everyday lives. It is in art and even in children's toys. It is not feared as it is in other cultures.

Children play "funeral" with toys that are made to represent coffins and undertakers. Death is laughed at in its face. We have no qualms about getting up close and personal with death, we chase after it, we mocks it, we even court it.

Many euphemisms are used for death, La calaca (the skeleton), la pelona ("baldy"), la flaca ("skinny"), and la huesada ("bony"). There are refranes, sayings, and poems that are popular with day of the dead. For example the cliche' "La muerte es flaca y no puede conmigo," which loses it's meaning when translated, "Death is skinny/weak and she can't carry me."

In setting up the altar, a designated area of the home is cleared of its normal furnishings. The arrangement often consists of a table and several overturned wooden crates placed in tiers and covered with clean linens. The offerings are then laid out in an artistic and fairly symmetrical fashion. The smell of burning copal (incense) and the light of numerous candles are intended to help the departed find their way.

Meanwhile, at the family burial plot in the local cemetery, relatives spruce up each gravesite. In rural villages this may entail cutting down weeds that have sprouted up during the rainy season, as well as giving tombs a fresh coat of paint after making any needed structural repairs. The graves are then decorated according to local custom. The tomb may be simply adorned by a cross formed of marigold petals or elaborately embellished with colorful coronas (wreaths) and fresh or artificial floral arrangements. In many areas children's graves are festooned with brightly colored paper streamers or other festive adornments.

While death is a topic largely avoided in the USA, the remembrance of deceased ancestors and loved ones is traditional among diverse cultures around the globe, often marked by lighting candles or lamps and laying out offerings of food and drink. Such celebrations can be traced back as far as the glory days of ancient Egypt when departed souls were honored during the great festival of Osiris.

In Mexico the Day of the Dead is a holiday that tends to be a subject of fascination for visitors from abroad. With its rare mix of pre-Hispanic and Roman Catholic rituals, it is also a perfect illustration of the synthesis of pre-Hispanic and Spanish cultures that has come to define the country and its people.

Death held a significant place in the pantheons and rituals of Mexico's ancient civilizations. Among the Aztecs, for example, it was considered a blessing to die in childbirth, battle or human sacrifice, for these assured the victim a desirable destination in the afterlife. The success of the Spaniard's spiritual conquest in Mexico is due in part to their willingness to incorporate certain pre-Hispanic customs into Christian practices.

With the rapid encroachment of U.S. culture, intensified since the enactment of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAU), you are seeing the country's supermarket shelves crammed with plastic pumpkins, witches' hats and rubber masks. This has spurred many citizens to actively pursue the preservation of Mexican traditions.

Most Mexico guidebooks make special mention of Day of the Dead customs, focusing on the celebrated all-night candlelight vigils in cemeteries at Janitzio Island and Mixquic, to the extent that either may draw nearly as many awed observers as celebrants.

Mixquic, once a farming island of the Aztec empire, is now a district of Mexico City that has retained something of a rural village ambiance and its ancient indigenous roots. The area takes on a busy and festive air in the final days of October as merchants set up street stands to hawk their wares for the Day of the Dead. In the cemetery, all family burial plots are elaborately embellished with an array of earthly delights in the hope of luring departed spirits. At 2 p.m. November 1, relatives gather at each tomb to mourn the loss of loved ones with la llorada--the weeping. Later, when dark would normally envelop the graveyard, the glow of thousands of votive candles illuminates the way for the departed.

At Midnight they are called home with the mournful tolling of bells.

Day of the Dead festivities in villages throughout the state of Michoacan have a distinctive flavor reflecting the culture of the area's Purepecha Indians. Having successfully resisted conquest in the pre-Hispanic era, this ethnic group remained immune to outside influences until the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors. As in other parts of Mexico, floral tributes, regional repast and candlelight vigils in each local cemetery are integral to the November 1 and 2 celebrations, but among the Purepechas (or Tarascans, as the Spanish named them) these activities are relegated to women and children. Meanwhile, the male population commemorates the season with other rituals related to the fall harvest.

In my culture, the adults set aside November 2 (All Souls Day) for remembering the adult dead, and contemplating our own deaths. Witches and ghosts, unseen demons and the souls of the dead wandering in the dark were very real to ancient people, and this should not surprise us. Even if it is nothing more than the fear of the unknown, fear of the dark is a common experience today, just as it was in more "primitive" times.

The antidote to darkness is light and the rituals of the ancients at this time of year involved fire.

We all have wall switches that produce instant light in our homes and the glare of halogen street lamps that prevent our cities and towns from ever being completely in the dark (except during a power outage!). Step back for a bit of perspective before you dismiss the quaint and ill-informed customs of the ancients as pagan nonsense. Indeed, as the days grow shorter and the hours of natural light are fewer, we would do well to reflect on the importance of light, literally and figuratively, in our lives.

To shed light on a problem is to move towards a solution. To come out of the darkness into the light is to overcome fear and ignorance.

Even if we are skeptical about witches and demons, we still have to deal with the reality of death--our own, as well as the death of ancestors, family, and friends who have gone before us.

I set aside these days to bring death and the dead into the light: to acknowledge loss and move beyond it; to mourn, but not to despair; to regret what needs to be regretted, but even more to celebrate what needs to be celebrated; to remember the past and have hope for the future; to see life as a gift and death as a new beginning.

Most importantly my friends, remembering that we are all bound together as one, we are all connected in this life as well as in the life to come.

Here is a video explaining how to bake your own sweet breads to offer your dearly departed loved ones.

Here is a recipe for Pan de Muertos

1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, cut into 8 pieces
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup very warm water
2 eggs
2 -3/4 cups flour, unsifted

1. Bring milk to a boil. Remove from heat, then stir in butter, sugar and salt.

2. In a large bowl, mix yeast with warm water until yeast is dissolved. Let stand 5 minutes, then add the milk mixture.

3. Separate the yolk and white of one egg. Add the yolk to the yeast mixture, saving the white for later. Add the other egg, too. Now add the flour to the yeast and egg mixture, blending well until a ball of dough is formed.

4. Flour a work surface very well and place dough in center. Knead until smooth. Return to the large bowl, cover with a clean dish towel, and let dough rise in a warm place for 90 minutes.

5. Grease a baking sheet. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Turn dough out onto floured surface again and knead once more. Then divide the dough into fourths. Set one fourth aside. Roll the remaining three pieces into ropes, all of about the same length. They should be fairly hefty--not dainty ropes.

6. Pinch three rope ends together and braid. Finish by pinching ends together on opposite side. You should have one long braided loaf. Next, divide the remaining dough in half and shape each half into a bone. Cross the "bones" in an "X" shape and lay them atop the braided loaf.

7. Cover bread with the dish towel again and let it rise for 30 minutes more. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix the following:

3 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon anise seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

8. In another bowl, beat egg white slightly. When the bread has finished its 30 minutes of rising, brush top with egg white and sprinkle with the sugar mixture, being careful not to get any on the crossed bones. Bake for 35 minutes, or untildone, at 350 degrees.

They are especially good with a cup of Mexican hot chocolate (be sure to add a pinch of cayenne pepper). Enjoy!

This may all seem morbid and somewhat ghoulish to those who are not part of that culture. But, for Mexicans who believe in the life/death/rebirth continuum, it's all very natural. this is not to say that they treat death lightly.

They don't. It's just that they recognize it, mock it, even defy it. Death is part of life and, as such, it's representative of the Mexican spirit and tradition which says:

"Don't take anything lying down - even death!"

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