Dia de los Muertos y Halloween

Fortunately for Nataly there are enough Americans here that Halloween is celebrated by some. On the 31st we were told to go down to the Jardin and there will be people handing out candy. Nataly wore her spanish flamenco costume and down we went. Sure enough, there were American's handing out candy to hundreds of kids, both Mexican and expats. Nataly ran into several of her classmates from school and from circus, which was fun. 

Nataly and some classmates

Nataly and kids from circus

We had bought and brought candy to hand out as well. It was hard to avoid being completely mobbed by kids, so we resorted to stealth methods of having Nataly had out the candy, instead of the gringa wearing the fuchsia tutu on her head (me!).  The kids were dressed in a mixture of Halloweeny costumes and skeletony Dia costumes. Nataly had a blast, phew! We had fun later looking at all the strange candy. Lots of sweet and spicy lollipops and chews. A beer flavored lollipop. Little candy pills flavored like perfume!

Then the next morning began The Dia.

It’s hard to think of how to summarize Dia de los Muertos here in Mexico. The public spectacle that San Miguel put on was incredible, but at the same time it felt somewhat at odds with the ceremonies in people’s houses and in the cemeteries.

I read up on Dia beforehand because I didn’t know much about it. In many of the pre-Columbian groups of this area there were, and probably still are, many times of year dedicated to honoring and appeasing the dead. These traditions were combined with the Spanish celebration of all souls day. But they are very different at root. While the Spanish catholics pray for the souls to get to heaven or out of purgatory, the Mexicans traditionally believe that the souls of the dead are returning for a visit on these days. In some of the communities this is a joyous time to visit with and celebrate the lives of the ancestors, but for others the dead are fearsome and have exacting demands that must be appeased. Also in some communities there are rituals that must be done to encourage the dead to leave the living after these days are over. There are also huge differences between the way rural and urban communities celebrate.

In urban communities like San Miguel, Dia de los Muertos seemed like a time to thumb-ones-nose and make fun of the specter of death. Walking around we saw many kids and adults with faces painted as Calaveras (skulls) or Catrinas (fancy society skeleton women). Every gallery and tourist shop was full of art depicting skeletons having a great time, doing everything the living do – barber skeletons, skeletons at the bar, skeletons giving birth etc. 

VW Bug skull

The original image of the Catrina, is credited to a cartoonist and illustrator named José Posada who published his art in newspapers in the 1910s. He satirized the dictatorship and high society with his drawings. His drawings of the Catrinas are reproduced everywhere during Dia de los Muertos, even though they are a fairly new aspect to this pre-Columbian event.

Taking their inspiration from the Cow art sculptures that were so popular in Chicago, San Miguel gave giant skull forms to prominent local artist to work their magic on. Our favorite skull was made by Anado, who designed much of the art in our first house this summer.

Anado's skull

Nearly every organization like the Biblioteca, the major art galleries, the schools, the restaurants, and the bigger stores had altars (ofrendas) dedicated either to founders, muses or other important people in the organization. 

"Reader" at the Biblioteca

The altars were very beautiful, generally decorated with the marigold flowers associated with the dead. There are offerings of favorite foods and drinks, candles, pictures of the dead, pan de muerto (bread with bone shapes on top, and alfeniques (sugar animals and other shapes, that represent the sweetness and fragility of life).

girl at the playground

Traditional Day of the Dead dance from Jalisco

            Every night the main square was crowded to the brim with people. The shows went late into the night. My favorite performance was the “earth harp”. It consisted of giant harp strings attached to the upper levels of the Parroquia church. The other end was tied to a metal contraption. The musician wore large gloves and pulled on the strings with all her might. She was accompanied by a wonderful singer. The music was ethereal and beautiful, especially in this setting with hundreds of papel picados decorating the night sky and fluttering wildly in the windy evening.

            One week before the Dia I went to the cemetery (el Panteon) just to see where it was. When I arrived I was amazed at the bustling atmosphere. People had wheelbarrows full of paint, shovels, cleaning supplies etc. The graves generally have a small metal fence around them and a raised gravestone. People were cleaning the stones, throwing away old flowers and repainting the fence. I walked over to the separate area for the graves of foreigners. It looked totally different. Uniform small gravestones with uniform green plantings. Much more lush, but boring looking. For me, it symbolized in a nutshell the whole difference between the American aesthetic and the Mexican one. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera that day. 

            On Nov 2^nd we planned to go to the Panteon in the early evening. I guess we hadn’t researched it enough, because it turned out that the cemetery closed at 7pm. In many other parts of Mexico people stay at the graves overnight with their relatives. We only had time to look around for 15 minutes before being shooed out. It was absolutely overflowing with flowers. 

There was one Mariachi band playing what sounded like bar songs, with the family singing along. We had bought a bunch of marigolds and quickly found a grave that hadn’t been tended to to place our bouquet. I was disappointed to not be able to spend anymore time there. Outside the cemetery a whole mercado had sprung up with food for the living, flowers, and a party atmosphere.

            We were so busy with all the public spectacle that we ended up celebrating a day later than traditional, but I don’t think our dead minded.  This was the first time we’d made an altar. Nataly loved this! We enjoyed thinking about favorite food and activities of our ancestors and figuring out how to embody those in an altar.

            We made papel picado and our own alfeniques, as well as buying some things from the market.  I found it very personally powerful and enriching for our family.  Being part of this gave us permission to stop and remember. It felt good to know that all around you the whole community was focused on remembering the importance of the people who made us who we are, who inspired us, and who we will always love.  It’s definitely a tradition we plan to continue.

            One last beautiful thought to end this posting. One of the traditional beliefs surrounding Day of the Dead is that the souls, particularly of children, are embodied in the returning Monarch butterflies. For our family this has additional significance as we live in a community with a Monarch sanctuary and Nataly goes to Monarch school.  Now whenever I see a Monarch, I see it as both spirit and butterfly.