Día de Los Muertos on Isla Mujeres, the Day of the Dead (People)

Inside the two Isla Mujeres cemeteries, freshly cleaned and painted tombs are adorned with bright flowers, plus flickering candles, favourite foods, personal possessions, and photographs.

It’s time to celebrate, to share a graveside meal, and to remember the departed.

The Day of the Dead (People) begins on October 31^st. It includes November 1st, the Day of the Dead for children, and November 2^nd, the Day of the Dead for adults. Hanal Pixán, as the Mayas call it, translates as ‘food of the souls’. It is a 3,000-year-old Mayan tradition integrated into the Catholic Church rituals as La Día de Los Muertos in the mid-1500s. 

San Miguel de Allende 

Día de Los Muertos is a private family celebration that has become a public event, drawing a huge number of visitors to nearby Mérida and other cities such as San Miguel de Allende.

A Facebook friend recently asked if there were any activities planned on Isla for the Día de Los Muertos. I had to reply, “I don’t know.” City-organized events tend to be advertised very last minute, so maybe or maybe not.

 Although last year, for the first time, the Jean Piaget private school sponsored a silent parade, the Festival de Los Animas. It was fascinating to see the students and public figures beautifully dressed.

They silently walked the length of Hidalgo Avenue past bustling restaurants and bars, culminating at the Casa de Cultura with a public display of altars or ofrendas.

Festival de las Animas

We put up an altar at our house in remembrance of our parents; Lawrie’s and his sister Linda’s, brother-in-law Richard Grierson’s, and my parents.

A few years ago, we had a neighbourhood gathering to celebrate our friends’ parents as well. The years have flown so quickly, and now many of us find ourselves representing the oldest generation in our families.

One of our 'ofrendas' 

There are no set-in-stone rules for building a Día de Los Muertos altar, but it should at least incorporate the basics. If you can, include an archway to represent the passage between life and death. The archway can be made of something light and flexible and covered with flowers.

Then add candles to light the way. Marigold flowers, to attract the souls of your loved ones. A glass of water to quench the thirst of the spirits (although beer or tequila seems to be an acceptable option). A few personal trinkets, toys, and chocolate for children, plus photos of the people you are honoring. If you live in Mexico, don’t forget to include the pan de Muertos, a special bread available at most grocery stores and bakeries at this time of the year. Add other favourite foods to feed the hungry souls, and burn incense to chase away bad spirits.

Yani Medina, Mayan meal for the celebration.

The altars are traditionally set up in three levels by using a series of empty boxes and crates covered over with a large tablecloth or material. The number of levels depends on the personal beliefs of the altar designer. Two levels might symbolize heaven and earth, while three would represent heaven, purgatory, and earth. Some altars include seven levels to represent the seven steps to Heaven.

Whatever your personal beliefs, the basic idea is to create a display that celebrates your loved ones.

Cheers from paradise, Lynda, Lawrie, Sparky, & Max

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Yasmin and Jessica are back, and the gold they found in Treasure Isla is still haunting them, especially when Carlos, their boss at the Loco Lobo, and Yasmin’s new lover, is kidnapped. No spoilers here, but his captivity and the girls’ efforts to free him, with the help of Carlos’s pals—including local Isla Mujeres fishermen and a Mexico City cop—are the crux of this fast-paced story. Lock has created not only a compelling and authentic setting but a well-developed ensemble cast. The next Isla mystery can’t come fast enough.

Día de Los Muertos, Day of the Dead.

Day of the Dead parade in Spectre 2015 

It’s a case of life imitating art. 

The most recent James Bond film, Spectre, released in November 2015, has an explosive beginning in Mexico City.  The famous British spy chases a bad guy through the historic downtown district while thousands enjoy a Day of the Dead parade. 

It was a fake parade, created just for the movie.

"Now,” according to the Minister of Tourism, “we’ve had to invent the Day of the Dead carnival because, after the James Bond movie, tourists will be looking for the carnival and they're not going to find it,” Enrique de la Madrid Cordero said when speaking to a convention of travel agents.

San Miguel de Allende - 2008, L Lock photo

In Mexico, November 1st honors children and infants, "Día de los Inocentes”, and adults are honored on November 2nd as "Día de Los Muertos". The Day of the Dead (People) celebrations in Mexico can be traced to the Olmec, Zapotec, Mixtec, Mexican or Aztec, Maya, P'urhépecha, and Totonac.  

Rituals celebrating the deaths of ancestors have been observed by these people for as long as 2500–3000 years.  In the pre-Hispanic era, it was common to keep skulls as trophies and display them during rituals to symbolize death and rebirth.  The Dia de Los Muertos celebrations include building private altars honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts.  Some families leave a pillow and blanket outside the family home to provide a resting place for their loved ones.  In many places people have picnics at the gravesite of their family members.

Atar Yucatan Living

Many tourists seeking a Day of the Dead experience head for rural indigenous communities in states such as Michoacán, where cemeteries overflow with flowers, candles, color, and emotion.  

In Morelia, the capital of Michoacán state, it is evolving into a huge tourist attraction. Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro, better known as San Juan Nuevo, located 15 minutes from the city of Uruapan, features lighting of candles, release of balloons and floating candles, Passage of the Souls walk, a costume contest, music, and art.  Closer to home, in Mérida, the Passage of the Souls walk has grown to over fifty thousand participants. 

Here on Isla, the municipality has created several new events to attract tourists to the Día de Los Muertos.

Yucatan Expat

October 29^th will feature Flamenco Dancers at the Casa de la Cultura Espalda, that’s the area behind the building facing the ocean. 

October 30^th is the Magical Night of the Souls in the main square by City Hall, with troupes of folkloric dancers.

On November 2^nd, The Parade of Silence, for the passage of the souls, begins at the old cemetery at the north end of Hidalgo Avenue at six in the evening.  The route will take the participants down Hidalgo to Lopez Mateos and then culminate at the Casa de la Cultura.

It’s not Halloween. It is a very intimate and personal way of conquering death by bringing back dead loved ones for a visit with the family. 

November 2nd Festival de las Animas 

Cheers from paradise, Lynda, Lawrie, Sparky, and Thomas

Isla Mujeres Mystery series

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Death in the Vineyards

Celebration time, come on, come celebrate with me ….on Isla Mujeres, Mexico!

Día de la Independencia

Día de la Independencia in Mexico is celebrated annually on September 16^th.   

It is one of our favourite times of year on the island.  This week is traditionally the start of the festivities leading up to the big finale of this important national holiday, featuring fireworks, flags, banners, music, dancing, and tasty food washed down with cold beer or shots of tequila.  

 But this week’s blog is also about the other celebrations that happen throughout the year. Many of our Mexican friends don’t take the traditional two or three-week holiday that we northerners are accustomed to, traveling someplace warm and exotic. Heck, they already live in that place; warm and exotic. Why go anywhere else?  

Like most countries, there are several different types of holidays in Mexico: statutory (called feriados or días de asueto), civic, religious, or family fiestas. 

New Year, Año Nuevo

To start the year off with a bang (pun intended), the beginning of the New Year, Año Nuevo is an all-night fiesta in Centro with fireworks and a twelve-piece band rocking the downtown area until dawn.  

As the party winds down, many revelers will make their way to Punta Sur at the southern end of Isla Mujeres.  This is the first place in all of Mexico for the first rays of sunlight to strike land, and celebrants in their party clothes arrive by motos or golf carts, or private vehicles to toast the New Year.  Government, banks, schools, and some stores are closed on January 1^st, which is probably a really good thing after an all-night party.

Carnaval

The next big national celebration, Carnaval, takes place in late February or early March, depending on the date set by the church calendar.  

It is a full five days of parades, dance contests, and silly behaviour until the beginning of Lent on the following Wednesday.  

This is the time of year that people really let loose.  

It is not a statutory holiday, but it is one of the best experiences in Mexico.

President Benito Juárez

By the time the third Monday in March rolls around, there is a quieter observance of the birthday of President Benito Juárez, who was born March 21, 1806.  

The day is usually marked with speeches and the laying of a floral wreath at his statue at the junction of the roads behind the naval base and the end of the airport.  

It is a statutory holiday, so banks, schools, and some stores will be closed.

Day of the Flowery Cross

On the 1^st of May is the Día del Trabajo or Mexico’s Labor Day, commemorating the union movements of Mexican workers. On May 3^rd, the Day of the Flowery Cross is a separate observance just for construction workers.  

Drive around the island, and you will see a variety of decorated crosses adorning the rooftops of buildings under construction. The workers are usually treated to a hot lunch and a half-day of work. 

Día de la Independencia

And forget your misconceptions about Cinco de Mayo, as we mentioned earlier, September 16^th is the real Día de la Independencia, commemorating the beginning of its War of Independence, led by the famous Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in 1810.  If you are in Mexico on September 15th sure to make your way into Centro for the ‘Cry of Independence’ scheduled for eleven in the evening, followed by fireworks, and another all-night fiesta.  ¡Viva México!

Flowers and food for Día de Los Muertos

Día de Los Muertos, the Day of the Dead (People) begins on October 31^st and includes November 1^st, the Day of the Dead for children, and November 2^nd, the Day of the Dead for adults. It is a 3000-year-old tradition of remembering relatives and friends who have passed away.  The historic tradition was integrated into the Catholic Church rituals in the mid-1500s. Primarily a private family remembrance, the beautiful altars and offerings have in recent years attracted a huge number of visitors to cities such as San Miquel de Allende, and the City of Mexico. Here on Isla Mujeres, it is a very low-key celebration.

 

Día de la Revolución

November 20^th, Día de la Revolución commemorates the start of the Mexican Revolution by Francisco I. Madero in 1910. Observance of this statutory holiday is on the third Monday of November. Most of the local school children participate in a parade featuring very young mustachioed revolutionaries toting toy guns and crossed banderillas of fake bullets. The kids are a delight to see, so serious and desperately trying to keep in step for an interminably long parade. 

One of the numerous celebrations

Celebrated chiefly in Mexico and the southwestern United States, Las Posadas begins on December 16^th and ends on December 24^th. The nine-day religious holiday honors the pilgrimage of Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus to Bethlehem. In Mexico, the Aztec winter solstice festival had traditionally been observed from December 7th to December 26^th, marking the sun god Huitzilopochtli’s birthday.  

Getting ready for the next New Year's Eve fiesta

The parallel in time between this Aztec commemoration and the birth of Christ lent itself to an almost seamless merging of the traditions in 1586.

Traditionally, Navidad or Christmas is observed on December 25^th as a secular and a religious holiday.  People attend Mass, relax, catch up with family and friends, and eat leftovers (recalentado) from Christmas Eve’s Noche Buena dinner.  

And there are more, lots more celebrations!  Come join the fun!

¡Viva México! Long live Mexico! 

¡Hasta Pronto!

Lynda, Lawrie, Sparky, and Thomas the Cat

Isla Mujeres Mystery series

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Death in the Vineyards

You are not in Kansas anymore. This is Mexico!

Night of the Kings Isla Mujeres M Watt photo

The great thing about being an expat is the adventure.  

Different foods, different language, and different customs, and it isn’t exactly like “home.” But that’s what makes the experience so enjoyable.

We grimace when we hear foreigners criticize their new country, and I don’t just mean folks that have recently moved here to Isla, I mean any expat in any country.  Unless you hold a valid passport for your new country, you are not a citizen, you are a guest: plain and simple.  You are allowed to be in that country at the pleasure of the government.  Enjoy the experience for what it is!

Here are some of the fun differences you will find in Mexico:

Did you know that gift-giving at Christmas is not a widespread tradition in Mexico?

Lawrie with Jordan Kowalchuk, 2000 in Canada

The traditional day for gift-giving is January 6^th, the Night of the Kings, when the three wise men purportedly arrived in Bethlehem with gifts for the baby Jesus.  

Gift-giving at Christmas only gained in popularity with the advent of television marketing and the influx of American and Canadian visitors.  Beleaguered parents must now purchase gifts for both Christmas and the Night of the Kings.  It’s a financial challenge for the parents, but a great score for the kids!

Did you know that the Cinco de Mayo celebrations are generally ignored in Mexico?

Cinco de Mayo, 5^th of May, has been celebrated in California since 1863, when Mexican miners, working in northern California, learned that 4000 Mexican troops had defeated 8000 invading French troops at Puebla, Mexico. The French had conquered the port of Veracruz in 1861, on the east coast, and had then continued overland to Mexico City. They were finally stopped and defeated by the Mexican troops at Puebla.  

At the time the Battle of Puebla took place in 1863, the United States was occupied with its Civil War. France had hoped to establish a presence in Mexico so that it could support the Confederate Army in their battle with the U.S. Union forces. The Mexicans, working in California, were so overjoyed at the news of their country’s successful defeat of the French forces, they fired off rifle shots and sang patriotic songs. By the 1930s, in the United States, Cinco de Mayo was seen as a celebration of Mexican culture. The holiday didn’t come into US national prominence until the 1980s, when beer company marketers, primarily Corona, capitalized on the celebration, and it grew in popularity in areas like Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, and San Jose.

Did you know that Halloween and The Day of the Dead are not the same?

Lynda & Lawrie Halloween

Halloween is believed to have originated in Ireland as a pagan celebration in appreciation of the afterlife, of survival, of continuing to be alive while others have died.  It is the day when the door to the afterlife is open.  Halloween has since evolved into a festival of funny costumes, parties, and trick-or-treating.

The Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos, originated in Mexico around 3500 years ago.  It is a celebration in remembrance of friends and family who have passed on. Celebrated over three days, it is an important family event. October 31^st, the angelitos, spirits of dead children, are invited back to visit their families. November 1^st is for the adult spirits, and November 2^nd is All Souls Day, when families visit the cemeteries to decorate the graves of their relatives.  

Trick-or-treating is not part of the Day of the Dead celebrations. But kids are always happy to embrace a new idea, especially one that includes candy. 

Flowers for Day of the Dead

Did you know that Mexico is part of North America? 

It’s strange how most ex-pats or tourists think just of Canada and the USA when referring to North America. Mexico is part of North America. Central America starts at the southern border of Mexico and includes Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. And South America, well, it is that really big continent south of Central America.  

The oldest permanent European settlements in North America are thought to be Mexico City, settled by the Spanish in the 1520s, Port Royal in Nova Scotia, Canada, settled by the French in 1605, and Jamestown, Virginia, USA, settled by the English in 1607. That makes Mexican traditions about a hundred years older than Canadian or American traditions. 

Cooking with Abuelita Angelita,

So now you know a little more about Mexico, and hopefully our internet research is reasonably correct.  

Celebrate the differences and embrace your new adventure wholeheartedly.  

Learn a bit about local customs, try different foods, and attempt to learn the language, even if you stumble and make a mess of the words.  

Live, laugh, and enjoy!  Life is too damn short to be grumpy about little annoyances!

Hasta Luego, Lawrie, Lynda, Sparky, and Thomas the Cat

Isla Mujeres Mystery Series

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Death in the Vineyards Mysteries

A witches’ brew of traditions: Mayan Hanal Pixán, Día de Los Muertos, and Halloween

Pink-haired rock stars and pretty devils

It’s the time of year when devils, skeletal Catrinas, pink-haired rock stars and hobgoblins make an appearance in a witches’ brew of celebrations and traditions; the Mexican Día de Los Muertos, combined with our North American Halloween, and the very spiritual Mayan celebration of Hanal Pixán.   

It’s a fascinating time of year to be in Mexico.

Recent breakfast at the Naval Officers' Club

October is also when the current Navy Commodore’s wife hosts the annual costume-party breakfast at the Officers’ Club on Medina Avenue.  Doña Olivia, along with her right-hand person, Susana Olvera, did an outstanding job this year.  

The monthly breakfast event is an important fundraiser that helps purchase equipment and furnishings for the Navy hospital on Isla Mujeres.  

Minnie Mouse

It’s a fun time to visit with seldom-seen friends and make new acquaintances. Then breakfast is served, raffle prizes drawn, and sometimes a version of flash-card bingo is played. The Gringa population informally refers to the event as The Navy Wives’ Breakfast because the longer Spanish name is a mouthful of difficult consonants and unfamiliar words. 

This year, Minnie Mouse put in an appearance at the costume party. Wearing oversized yellow shoes, she stumbled her way to the door. Peering through eye-holes in the giant head, she was greeted by scary hunchbacks, devils, and the Scream Ghostface man. The room was jammed.   Everyone participated in the crazy fun by wearing costumes and disguises. A huge amount of effort had gone into the decorations, with black and orange balloons, tablecloths, napkins, Halloween-themed food, and a pumpkin-faced cake.

Mariachi band - ten musicians

There was a short video presentation showing the items at the hospital purchased in the past year through the women's fundraising efforts.  

Then a ten-person mariachi band played some great tunes, and the door prizes were drawn.  

At our table of fourteen women, islander Gail Stewart was the lucky one to win a prize. 

Our table at breakfast.

If any of your island friends ask if you would like to go to the Navy Wives’ Breakfast, say Si! You will have a fun time and contribute to the island.  

Sue McDonald Lo is a great source for information and tickets. 

Minnie Mouse is already planning her costume for next October!

As for the rest of the witches’ brew of traditions, the city is hosting several events to draw visitors into the local celebrations.  

Friday, October 30^th, is the Paseo de las Ánimas – the Parade of the Souls, starting around 6:00 in the evening at the older cemetery in Centro and finishing at the recently completed Casa de la Cultura – Cultural Center. 
 

Altars - Photo Naranja Dulce

On Saturday, October 31^st, in the square at city hall, there will be a mix of traditions: the judging of Halloween-style costumes for children, and the building of beautiful altars for the Mayan Hanal Pixán celebrations.  

The altars are traditionally decorated with candles, candy skulls, bright yellow Marigold petals, favourite foods and photographs of the deceased's loved ones.  The Municipality of Isla Mujeres has, until recently, been very low-key on this important celebration, preferring to let the families privately honour their deceased loved ones. 

San Miguel de Allende

I have mixed feelings about making it a public event. In San Miguel de Allende, closer to Mexico City, the amazing altars, offerings, and decorations are a huge tourist draw. We were there, accidentally, in 2008; the sight is breathtakingly beautiful. 

Yet a part of me thinks this should remain a private family event, not a tourist attraction. Still, it is a fascinating time of the year to be in Mexico. 

Cheers from paradise!

Lynda, Lawrie, Sparky, and Thomas

Isla Mujeres Mystery Series

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Death in the Vineyards Mysteries

The Adventures of Thomas and Sparky