Día de los muertos

     Many people in the US are familiar with the "Día de los muertos," term, or Day of the Dead, but I think what is often forgotten is the celebration behind the day.  We are so accustomed to death being equated with sorrow, fear, and all that is bad, that to rearrange one's cultural perspective and consider death as part of the journey of life, as did the pre-Hispanic cultures, can be a difficult shift.  The Aztecs and other indigenous groups set aside specific months for remembering and honoring the dead, and it was (and still is, in Mexico) believed that the dead came back during that time.  In the small town I visited, signs stating "Welcome Back Dad!" or "Here is your house, Mom!" were set up over the entryways to the houses that had ofrendas. 

The Spanish Catholic missionaries, who found the Aztec celebrations to be too light-hearted and, dare I say, flippant, in their attitude towards death, moved the Aztec August and November celebrations to coincide with the Christian celebrations of All Saints Day and  All Souls Day. However, their efforts to eradicate traditions of the Aztecs were in vain.   While the pre-Hispanic ceremonies have been shortened to 4 days (starting Oct. 28 and going until Nov. 2), the spirit of 

the celebration is still alive: it is a time to welcome back the departed, to help them on their journey, and to remember with joy the time they lived among us.  

     Each  area in Mexico has its slightly varied take on the day, but the staple of Día de los muertos is the ofrenda, or altar.  Altars represent the deceased, and often include their favorite food and drink, and a photo.  In Ocotepec, the town I visited, ofrendas for the recently deceased include their clothing laid out with a sugar skull at the head area.  Altars traditionally have the four elements of water, air, fire and earth 

represented.  Water is to calm the dead's thirst, fire, represented by the candles, to symbolize purification, wind, represented by the movement of the papel picado, and earth, often represented by the bread pan de muertos.  Copal, an incense made of resin, is also burned on every altar.  Here in Morelos mole, limes, mandarin oranges, and tamales are also considered to be standard elements.  

      In Ocotepec, the night of Nov. 1st is the night to welcome back the adults who have died (children are celebrated the days before).  Each family in the town creates a huge ofrenda to the deceased, and welcome in visitors, who follow the cempasúchil-marked path to the ofrenda. Cempasúchil is the Nahuatl word for marigold, which the traditional flower for the day.          

           As we entered each home, we gave our candle to a family member, stood before the altar in silence for a few moments, and then walked out of the room, where another family member handed us something to eat and drink.  The food varied - in some houses we were given slices of pan de muerto, in one house we were given a tamal.  The drinks were either a hot ponche of fruit or coffee.  Each house must have seen over 500 visitors that night.  

     After we visited the ofrendas, we went to the panteón, 

 or cementerio.  Candles, papel picado, and cempasúchil had been brought during the previous days to the children's graves, and many adult graves had been decorated as well.  We were not the only people in the cementary - besides other tourists, many family members had come out to sit beside graves and tend the candles.   Unlike a typical US graveyard, this one was alive with light, music, and people. 

     We returned to the panteón the next day.   The activity was amazing - families gathered to clean gravesites, place more flowers, and eat food together.  Teenagers and children hung out between the graves, and food vendors crowded the entrances to the panteón, selling everything from sandwiches to ice cream.   A twelve-piece band played most of the morning and a Mass was celebrated in the early afternoon.  

     Inspired by our surroundings, Regina and I set up our own ofrenda earlier this week.  Instead of cempasúchil, I placed roses in memory of Bobbi, an amazing gardener,and Regina laid out a dictionary in memory of her grandmother's love of crossword puzzles.