Día de Los Muertos - a family feast and celebration

Patricia, Luci, and Yani

“Do you have a kiss for Grandma?” Yani Medina asked her granddaughter, Luci, as she reached to hold the little girl. 

Her outdoor kitchen is buzzing with conversation and laughter as family members come and go, checking on the progress of Yani's preparations for the upcoming family celebration.

Yani - chopping, chopping, chopping

Yani is making the traditional “pibe” - similar to a very large tamale - for the Mayan Hanal Pixán celebrations, otherwise known as the Día de Los Muertos. Delicious smells float through the warm tropical air, coming from the various pots and pans on the gas stove. 

Across the street at the middle school, the students are boisterously departing for a three-day weekend away from their studies. They carry bunches of flowers and other gifts, decorations for the temporary Hanal Pixán altars honouring their departed family members. The students will celebrate Hanal Pixán again with their families on November 1^st and November 2^nd, eating special foods, and visiting family graves in the cemetery.

Preparing the banana leaves

By the time I arrived in her kitchen, Yani had already been working for a few hours, preparing the chicken and chopping vegetables and was ready to show me the more intricate details. 

First, she removed the cooked chickens from the huge pot, and then added chopped tomatoes, onions, handfuls of an herb called ezapote, salt, and a red spice called achiote to the broth.

Mixing masa, a cornmeal dough that takes time and special techniques to create, she thickened the chicken broth.

Eduardo and Patricia, decorations for the birthday party

As she worked, her teenage daughter Cristina stopped by to chat, and her mother, Norma Figueroa Paz, came to check the proceedings. Then her son Alex dropped in. 

Next came older daughter Patricia with her husband, Eduardo, and their two sweet little girls. October 30th is Luci's second birthday, so in addition to creating the Hanal Pixán feast, Yani was working on eighty tamales for the party.

Manual - starting to cook the "pibe" 

A few minutes later, while her husband, Manual Punab, prepared the charcoal BBQ to cook the “pibe”, Yani's brother Freddy Medina stopped to add his humorously helpful suggestions. 

By now, there are eleven people, spanning four generations of the same family, supervising, chatting and laughing while Yani serenely carried on with her project.

Stripping the tough outer edges off the banana leaves to use as a natural string for her “pibe” parcels, she explains in a mix of Spanish and English what she is doing. Next, she pats the masa dough into a circular shape and adds the upright borders that will contain the yummy mixture of chicken, vegetables, and spices. In keeping with tradition, some of the chicken bones are included in the “pibe.” They represent the bones of the departed.

Norma, helping with spicy "pibe" for Manual

With the addition of the K'ol – the chicken mixture – more vegetables, and a sliced hard-boiled egg, Yani's creation was finally ready for the top crust. Everything is parcelled up with banana leaves and tied securely. It's a work of art. She then creates a special “pibe” for Manual's upcoming birthday. He has requested his usual twenty Serrano chilli peppers and a K'ol mixture including multi-coloured, Xpelón beans. This dish is too spicy for most of the other family members, and he will likely savour his fiery treat all on his own.

All set for the top crust to go on

By now, three and a half hours have quickly passed. Yani asks me to come back in another hour when the “pibe” will be ready so that I can see the finished product. 

She also sends me home with a yummy dish of the chicken mixture, and a handful of fire toasted tortillas to snack on. 

Oh my goodness! Good! By the time I drove back to our house, the dish was empty. Lawrie was only able to run his finger around the bowl, tasting the residual flavours in it.

Packaged in banana leaves 

What a great experience; learning a bit more about our local friends, and having a chance for a relaxed chat. For those of you who frequent our favourite bar, the Soggy Peso, Yani's son Alex is their newest employee. His uncle, Freddy Medina, is the manager of the bar, and his cousin Joao (YoYo) has worked there for several years. Next time you are in the Soggy Peso, make sure you say hi to Alex.

What a lovely family! We know they will enjoy their celebrations this weekend: Hanal Pixán, Día de Los Muertos, and two birthdays. 

Yani - all done!

Hasta luego

Lawrie, Lynda, Sparky, and Thomas

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Silly fun and sacred rituals: Halloween and Día de Los Muertos

Sponge Bob and Spider-person

Halloween: it’s the one time of year when perfectly normal people happily make fools of themselves playing dress-up!  

Lawrie and I love costume parties, especially when there is enthusiastic participation of other friends in the zany fun. 

In previous lives, we have worn some unusual outfits.

One year, I was an armless pumpkin requiring assistance to sip a drink through a straw.  Lawrie, on the other hand, was fetchingly attired in a green gingham dress.  Another year, I was a bruised-up accident victim, and he was the attending doctor.  More recently, we were a pirate wench and a headless butler, followed by Miss Piggy and Elmo. For the third year in a row, Curtis and Ashley Blogin hosted their annual costume party for invited guests at Villa la Bella.    

Sponge Bob and Spider-person who didn't have a clue!

This year, my date was a very handsome SpongeBob, while I was attired as Spider-person. I had a slight costume failure, arriving at the party wearing my costume backwards. Apparently, getting dressed without the aid of a mirror or without looking at the end result before heading out to a party is a very bad idea. 

SpongeBob was of no assistance with wardrobe advice as he couldn’t see his own feet, never mind what I was wearing. 

SpongeBob also had a slight physical challenge; he could not reach his mouth with a beverage container, so he cleverly inserted a length of clear plastic tubing up his arm and into his mouth to aid with the consumption of a beer or two.  

 

Richard and Linda Grierson

Halloween or All Hallows Eve is still a relatively unknown tradition in Mexico. The dress-up, trick-or-treat customs originated in Europe and the British Isles and were brought to North America by settlers. Eventually, the traditions found their way into parts of Mexico via television and stores like Walmart, Sam’s Club and Costco. Immediately following Halloween are two very important Mexican national celebrations. 

 

November 1^st, Día de Los Inocentes honours children, and November 2nd, Día de Los Muertos, honours adults. In Mexico, the rituals and celebrations venerating ancestors can be traced back about 3000 years to the Olmec, Aztec, and Maya civilizations.

The Día de Los Muertos celebrations include building private altars using sugar skulls, marigolds, favourite foods and beverages of the departed.  Some families leave a pillow and blanket outside the door to provide a resting place for their loved ones. In many settlements, people have picnics at the gravesite of their family members, including the departed in the feast. 

The holiday is celebrated joyfully with food, music, or parades with elaborate costumes in the bigger cities. The emphasis is on honouring the lives of the dead, rather than fearing evil or malevolent spirits.

Flowers being delivered via UltraMar for Day of the Dead

Our traditional North American Halloween merriments are small in comparison to the Día de Los Muertos celebrations – but various North American and European symbols such as witches, pumpkins, vampires, bats and black cats are slowly permeating the Mexican festivities. 

 

We have recently started to participate in the Día de Los Muertos rituals. We have a small altar in the kitchen, decorated with photos of our parents, flowers and candles and mementos. Just something to remind us of those special people. 

It is a fun time of year with the costume parties, and a contemplative time remembering our family members.

Hasta luego

Lynda & Lawrie

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Halloween, Day of the Dead, El Día de Los Muertos in Mexico!



Our neighbourhood monsters!

 When you combine the cultures of England, Canada, the USA, and Mexico, you get a celebration that turns into a week of candy mooching and fun, mixed in with ancient family rituals honouring their dead relatives. The Halloween that most North Americans are familiar with is, of course, October 31st, or in some parts of the USA, such as Ohio, there is also the added celebration of Beggar’s Night on October 30th.  Here, our European-North American celebration is followed by the two Mexican national holidays, the Day of the Dead for children on November 1st and the Day of the Dead for adults observed on November 2nd.  

Rituals celebrating the lives of dead ancestors had been performed by the cultures of the Olmec, Zapotec, Mixtec, Aztec, Maya, and Totonac civilizations for at least 3,000 years.   It was common practice to keep skulls and display them during rituals to symbolize death and rebirth. The festival, which was to become El Día de Los Muertos, fell on the ninth month of the Aztec Solar Calendar, near the start of August, and was celebrated for the entire month.


El Día de Los Muertos in San Miquel de Allende

When the Spanish Conquistadors arrived in Central America in the 15th century, they were shocked at the existing pagan practices, and in an attempt to convert the locals to Catholicism moved the popular festival to the beginning of November to coincide with the All Saints and All Souls days. All Saints' Day is the day after Halloween, which was in turn based on the earlier pagan ritual of Samhain, the Celtic day and feast of the dead.  So the question is, which culture actually started this interesting celebration?

Sugar Skulls on sale - photo credit R&L Grierson

The Day of the Dead holiday is celebrated joyfully in Mexico with food, music, parades in the bigger cities, and elaborate costumes.  The mood is much lighter than Halloween, with the emphasis on celebrating and honoring the lives of the dead, rather than fearing evil or malevolent spirits. 

My favourite place to be at this time of year is in San Miguel de Allende in the mountains closer to Mexico City. This city really celebrates the occasion.

Walking around the downtown area of San Miguel is the best way to discover a number of the beautiful private altars dedicated to deceased family members.  The public display in the town square in front of the cathedral is decorated with thousands of colourful paper flags, similar to the “snowflakes” that we made in grade school with paper and blunt-nosed scissors.  In a separate market off the square, there are many stalls of vendors selling a multitude of candles and a huge selection of offerings for the altars. 



Day of the Dead decorations on a tomb

 Here on Isla Mujeres, the families similarly celebrate the event, but not with the beautiful public displays that are in the centre of San Miguel.  We have a three or four-day-long “trick or treat” barrage from the various island kids. They start around October 31st, trick-or-treating at houses and businesses until November 2nd or 3rd, sometimes the 4th.  Whenever the whim strikes them.  As with most kids, they like candy as their reward; however, peso coins are also happily accepted. We typically see various small groups of kids out and about with older siblings, or a parent, collecting goodies, but nothing like the all-out attack by hundreds of costumed monsters and space aliens that invade our Canadian and American neighbourhoods every Halloween. 

A number of the kids wear simple costumes of face paint and dark clothes, done up to resemble devils or skulls.  There are Halloween costumes for sale in all of the bigger department stores, but they are not as popular as in the USA and Canada. (In our previous neighbourhood in Summerland, BC, Canada, our adult neighbours took great delight in trick-or-treating with a glass of wine in hand, knocking on various doors asking for wine.  Very civilized in my opinion!) 


Two more neighbourhood monsters!

 By November 1st, the graveyards will be awash in beautiful flowers, simple bouquets or fancy arrangements, some in fresh flowers and some in plastic.  Walking through the various neighbourhoods is a great way to see the family altars decorated with photos, toys, candles, candy, sugar skulls, bottles of tequila or beer, hot food in pretty dishes, and marigolds, lots of marigolds, as this particular flower is thought to attract the souls of the dead towards the offerings.

 Some families leave a pillow and blanket outside the family home to provide a resting place for their loved ones. In many places, including Isla Mujeres, people have picnics at the gravesite of their family members. It's an event that I so much want to take photos of, but because this is such an emotionally private time for families, I have to keep my distance and respect their privacy.  

We enjoy the blend of cultures.

 Hasta luego, Lynda and Lawrie

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