¡Feliz dia de los Muertos!

Day 71 in Mexico

Hello and happy November! It seems like just last week that I was saying happy October, and we’re already in a new month. It’s been a little while since I last wrote, and between then and now I got to experience one of the Mexican holidays I was most excited about – Day of the Dead! I didn’t know exactly what to expect. I did know that it’s a deeply traditional event, much more religious than Halloween, where people construct altars and make offerings to their family members who have passed away. They typically lay out food, drink, flowers (marigolds and beautiful fuchsia flowers), candles, candy skulls, and other favorite items of the deceased, both in their homes and in the cemeteries. It’s a time where the living commune with the dead, a day dedicated more to celebrating their life than mourning their passing, and, I think, one of the most uniquely Mexican holidays. I’ve been learning about it ever since high school, so I was very excited to finally get to see it in person.

I was not let down; it was a very interesting weekend indeed. I say weekend, because Day of the Dead did not last one day, but really ran from Friday until Monday. I knew that November 1st is actually Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead or All Saints Day) and November 2nd is All Souls Day, but evidently Day of the Dead here has become a mash-up of the traditional Mexican holiday and American Halloween. There were Halloween masks and costumes for sale everywhere, pumpkin and witch decorations alongside the skull candies, and kids dressing up in their Halloween finery on Friday at school. Children here do wear costumes and ask for candy on Halloween, but there’s no one trick or treating time. For four nights straight there were kids running around the city, asking neighbors and even people in their cars for treats (although here, they have a little song instead of saying “trick or treat,” and people give out sweets, bread, money or fruit – no concerns about unwrapped candy). At the same time, families were setting up their altars. I kicked off my Day of the Dead experience by visiting the large altars in the central plaza in Cuernavaca on Saturday, which are put on display for the public. I took A LOT of photos; here's an example.

I too had a mixed holiday; I followed visiting the ofrendas (offerings) by watching Hocus Pocus and hiding from the trick or treaters with my friend Sara. On Sunday, I visited one of Cuernavaca’s most popular tourist sites, the Jardin Borda, which is a beautiful museum with expansive gardens; however, they transformed it into an artisan’s market and Day of the Dead art show. Skulls and skeletons are very common decorations for the holiday, and in Jardin Borda they set up a show of Catrinas, or dressed up skeletons. They’re a unique combination of art, beauty, and the macabre, and some of them were so beautiful and intricate it was amazing. Again, I took lots of photos, and I couldn’t help but buy myself a miniature Catrina; she’s so pretty, with a blue ballgown and her big skeleton grin.

Then, after a break to watch the Packers/Vikings game (boo Vikings), some of the other volunteers and I headed off to a very unique Day of the Dead celebration just outside Cuernavaca in a town called Ocotepec. There, any household who has had a family member die in the past year opens their home to the public. You can pass through their homes and visit their ofrendas, which were massive beyond words. Every group visiting brings a candle or flowers to give to the family, and in return they give everyone passing through something to eat – tamales, pan de muerto (Day of the Dead sweet bread), atole (a cider like drink that can be fruity, spicy, or chocolatey), or punch. This event lasted all afternoon and all night long, and these families had literally hundreds of people passing through their homes. At times the lines to visit a home’s altar were a block long, and yet they always had something to give everyone that passed through, even if it was just bread and coffee. It was such an interesting experience to be invited into strangers’ homes, to be given something to eat, to give a gift in return to someone you’ve never met, to be invited to share in the celebration and remembrance of their deceased family members. In just passing through, we got to learn about the person through their altar – they had all the foods they liked, cigarettes if they smoked, their pictures, their shoes… one even had his teaching memorabilia. All the front doors had decorated signs saying, “Welcome, Mom,” or “Welcome home, Grandpa.”

It was a bittersweet display for sure, sad because the person was gone, but joyful because this one night was dedicated to communing with them as if they were still alive. The whole event was so much more involved than I expected; I can’t even imagine the amount of effort and time that must have gone into preparing the ofrendas and all the food. Even the churches in town had offerings in them; I think it was the only time I’ve ever seen skeletons hanging from a church door (the church usually isn’t so big on Halloween). It was a very cool night, to be sure, but it was more than cool; it felt sacred. It was about celebrating family, community, and the life beyond; to me, it seemed much more special than knocking on doors asking for candy or watching horror movies (though that's fun too). I’m glad that I got to be included. Monday is typically the day when families take their offerings to the actual cemetery, decorate the graves with flowers, and even share a meal or a drink at the gravesite. I thought my host family would be doing this, but we didn’t go. As Angeles explained it to me, the cemetery would be packed with people and because of the rain it would be muddy, so better we save a visit for another day. Still, I feel like I had a very complete Day of the Dead experience. Who knows, maybe next year I’ll be making my own mini altar next to the bowl of Halloween candy! ¡Hasta luego!