Dia de los Muertos

Thanks Mercedes for this awesome photo of Panteon Principal!

Well, Los Muertos is actually on November 1st, but that was a really rough week for me and I just forgot to write about my experiences.

Dia de los Muerto is a syncretism of pre-Hispanic rituals and Catholic beliefs that forms this holiday in honor of those who have passed on. Loved ones who have passed on "come back" and families will go to cementaries at night to pray, many spending the entire night. We had group activities planned for this holiday, the most demanding being the altar building. We had to buy and bring all the materials (which was a lot of stuff) to the Panteon Principal in Oaxaca on October 31st in the morning. We made a trip to Mercado de Abastos, the largest open air market I have ever been to, and bought everything we needed for the altar. Ugh, we had to carry all that stuff from the market to our school, which was at least 10 blocks, partially uphill. Massud and Ricky were our strong men that carried the sugar cane! I think I promised I would treat them to ice cream, but I forgot...

We had our altar ready by the evening, which was when the cementary opened to public to display the altars for the weekend. We had tons of flowers and sugar cane and paper mache and cardboard, well, it took me back to the days when I was in Odyssey of the Mind. The traditional elements of the altar include marigolds, or zempazuchil, and many flowers, sugar cane, foods and drinks like mole, fruits, candy, soda, water, tamales, and always, mezcal. The food is an offering given to the deceased loved ones, because surely they are hungry and thirsty after their journey from the dead!

The next two nights October 31st and November 1st, we took tours to the various cementaries around Oaxaca to see Dia de los Muertos celebrations. On October 31st, we visited Panteon General in Oaxaca, where we built our altar, then we went to Xoxo, a suburb of Oaxaca where they have lots of events at their cementaries. Max and Alice dressed up in Halloween costumes, Tigger and a lady bug, respectively, and kids would run up to Max and take photos with him!

The following night we went to Etla, a nearby city that has a "monster bash" and it was a really long night. We arrived before the parade, and stood around for at least an hour before any activity began. We werent bored, though, because we we are such a fun group that we have can entertain ourselves easily...and we were drinking :) Senora Esther has been our tour guide for most of our activities in Oaxaca, she is a sweet, energetic and lively woman, surely in her 60's, and she bought bottles of crema de nispero, a very sweet liqour, and shared with everyone in the group. She can party hard for her age...I want to be like her when I grow up!

Although I have heard about Los Muertos in the US, my family never really did much to celebrate this holiday. In the Northern states of Mexico, where my family comes from, this celebration is not a preserved, and so I was never really exposed to it. I am so glad I got to live this holiday in Oaxaca, where traditional beliefs are strongly retained as a part of the identity of this city and of this state.