I guess this
is my chance to explain a little about Día de Muertos, as it is celebrated
today.
As a
Mexican, living all my life in Mexico City, I’ve grown with deep understanding
about many mexican things. Such as tacos, piñatas, chocolate, aztec pyramids,
mayan pyramids, corruption, earthquakes, “marchas” (protest marches),
mariachis, chiles, Frida Khalo, cinco de mayo, and countless traditions. One of
them being “Día de Muertos”, that means: “Day of the Death”.
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| Variety of clay skulls at Mixquic. |
In the Día
de Muertos we celebrate our relationship with death. We remember our loved
ones, those who have had passed away, and are now in a better place.
This Mexican
tradition is well known across the world, and UNESCO considers it Intangible
Cultural World Heritage of Humanity. Its popularity is due to the evident blend
between Spanish and pre-Hispanic indigenous lore.
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| Cemeteries are decorated with Cempasúchitl flowers. |
The diseased was buried with clay objects and
other items necessary for his trip to the underworld, they also thought that
the souls of the dead went to a different place , depending on how they had
died; this idea was similar to that preached by Christianity about the
existence of a heaven and hell. That mixture of beliefs about death originated
the Día de Muertos, which today represents a touch of joy and union to establish
a bridge between life and death. This tradition preserves the custom of placing
an altar with cempasúchil flowers, chopped paper, clay toys and typical foods
for this date such as: mole, tamales, pumpkin candy and sugar skulls. It is
also important to place pictures of the people we want to remember. As Mexico
is a very religious country, this “fiesta” maintains a deep religious
character, since the mass celebrated to say goodbye to the souls of the
deceased on November 2nd is a custom inherited from the 6th century
Christianity.
But, there
is more to it. Our celebration does not last for only one day; it takes up to
three complete days, starting in the last day of October.
October 31st. “La ofrenda” (the offering) is prepared with a
table of three levels that signify: the sky, the earth and the underworld; a
white tablecloth is placed, a glass of water to mitigate the thirst of souls, a
plate with salt and incense to purify the souls and a path of flower petals of
cempasuchil is placed outside the house to indicate the way. On this day we
remember our children so we also place at the altar, sweets and typical
candies, a candle for each child of the family and one more for the forgotten
souls or who no longer have one who light candles for them.
November 1st. At twelve o’ clock will ring the
bells at the temple to say farewell to the little souls, and a the same time,
the souls of adults will arrive. Objects dedicated to children are removed from
the altar and instead are placed the foods and drinks that were of the taste of
the elderly, including pulque, tequila, beer and cigars. One candle is placed
for each deceased person in the family and one more for the lost souls or for
those who no longer has anyone to light one for them.
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| In the altars, we place the favourite food of our death relatives. |
November 2nd. At noon, the last chimes sound to
announce the departure of the adult souls who have visited us. It is at this
moment that the families go to the cemetery to clean the tombs, decorate them
and leave them ready for the return of our dead in the night. Some people like
to dine at the cemetery and share food with their dead. So, by night the entire
place is surrounded in candlelight, people feast on top of the tombs, they
sing, they laugh, the cry but above all, they remember those who took a step
ahead of us to the afterlife.
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| Family cleaning and decorating the tomb. |
