Dia de los Muertos: An Overview

Pomuch Campeche MX

Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, is celebrated throughout Mexico.  The holiday, which combines elements of Christian belief and practice with indigenous elements, runs from October 31-November 2, although in practice Dia de los Muertos events and preparations begin well before the designated dates.

Celebrations in all areas of Mexico involve the belief that during the days of the Dead, the boundary between the living and the dead becomes  permeable and the dead return to the sphere of the living with the invitation of the smells of special foods, flowers   and incense that are arrayed on altars built for them.  What is most interesting is how the customs vary from place to place. 

The linked article below has several links that will take you to articles and videos about the  unique celebrations of Dia de los Muertos in different areas of Mexico. Please take alook.

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2017/10/a-dia-de-los-muertos-odyssey.html

Hidden New Mexico

 

Jose de Gracias Church, Las Trampas, New Mexico

Taos High Road, rock formation

North of Santa Fe is a road that leads back in time.  The Taos High Road winds its way  

through old  New Mexican towns like  Truchas, Cordova and Las Trampas.  In each of these 

places there is an old adobe church.  In the last two weekends of September, the High Road 

comes to life with the annual High Road Art Tour.  The church in Las Trampas is open to the 

pubic, though no photos of the interior are permitted.  The little church in Truchas is beautiful

and an  of the colonial New Mexican style. It is not open to the public, but I received special 

permission to photograph within it.  

This link will take you to an article about this rarely seen uniquely New Mexican colonial 

church.

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2017/07/new-mexican-gem-of-taos-high-road.html

 

The Unique Holy Week of Central America

Via Crucis Aquatic-Granada, Nicaragua 

 

Holy Week in the Central American countries of Guatemala and Nicaragua is similar to that in other parts of the Latin American world, but also very different. Nowhere else will you find the elaborate sawdust carpets, Huertos (elaborate gardens constructed of fruits and vegetables) or a Good Friday Via Crucis in boats on the water.

The sawdust and floral carpets created during Lent and Holy Week are unparalleled. These carpets are created on streets before the passage of a religious procession and are meant to be destroyed as they are walked on by the procession.  They are a gift to the divine.  Antigua, Guatemala is world-famous for its carpets.

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-anatomy-of-sawdust-carpet-lent-in.html

The carpets of Barrio Sutiava in Leon, Nicaragua are very different from those of Antigua.

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2017/05/art-as-sacrifice-sawdust-carpets-of.html

This video, shot in Antigua, Guatemala takes an in-depth look at these carpets and their construction.

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2015/03/video-available-sawdust-and-floral.html

                                        ___________________________ 

Huertos are spectacular displays of fruits and vegetables constructed in churches and, in Nicaragua, in special structures built for the occasion.  The word huerto translates as vegetable garden or orchard and they symbolize the abundance and redemption of the resurrection. 

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-huertos-of-guatemala-and-nicaragua.html

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On Good Friday, throughout the Christian world, the Via Crucis, Stations of the Cross is performed publicly.  In Granada, Nicaragua there is a completely unique Via Crucis in boats on the city's Lake Nicaragua.   

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2018/04/via-crucis-aquatic-granada-nicaragua.html

                                      _______________________________

Nandaime, Nicaragua is a small country town that has a celebration that turns the ancient purification ritual of self-flagellation on its head.  In Nandaime on Holy Wednesday each year for one hour, participants roam the streets good-naturedly whipping anyone in their path. It did sting a bit, but was interesting to be there.

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2016/04/taking-hit-holy-wednesday-in-nandaime.htm

                                          ___________________________________                                                                     

Antigua Guatemala is world-famous for its spectacular Holy Week processions. Here is one that took place on the day before Easter, an important day in the Latin American world.

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2015/04/video-holy-saturday-procession.html

                                        ____________________________________

Bands are a central part of processions.  Special music has been composed for them over the years. In essence they are funeral bands.  

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-music-of-holy-week-processions.html

The Day of Guadalupe

                                                                         Guadalupe

Although Dial de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, may be Mexico's most famous holiday, tomorrow is equally important. On December 12, throughout Mexico, is the festival of Guadalupe.  Actually, the festival has been in motion long before this culminating day, with pilgrims rushing to reach their goals.  Some head for the official Shrine of Guadalupe in Mexico City.  Others head to their home churches, but all are striving  to fulfill a promise made to Guadalupe that they would make a pilgrimage in honor of a prayer she has fulfilled. 

Guadalupe is the Patron Saint of Mexico and her day is a national holiday.  The time surrounding the holiday is dynamic, colorful and deeply moving in its depth of religious commitment and passion. The following post describes  journeys made by pilgrims in observation of the festival.

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-race-for-guadalupe.html

Celebrations of Guadalupe's day differ from region to region,. The next article shows a colorful and beautiful celebration of the festival in a small beach town on the Yucatan Peninsula's "Riviera Maya".  

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2017/02/guadalupe-in-paradise.html

 

 

Nicaragua's Holy Week Gems

Constructing a Huerto, Diria, Nicaragua

Nicaragua has not been as well-known a site for Holy Week tourism as Guatemala.

Yet, the observances there are beautiful and several, the Aquatic Stations of the Cross, the good natured penitential floggings of Nandaime and the magnificent huertos, you won't see anywhere else.  Below is a link to  compilation of writings of Holy Week events in Nicaragua. 

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2019/04/semana-santa-holy-week-in-nicaragua.html

 

Guadalupe's Day

 

Tomorrow, December 12,  is the Feast Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe Mexico's Patron Saint. It is one of the most important days in the Mexico being both a religious and national holiday.

Much of Guadalupe's feast day involves believers reaching a destination (Guadalupe's Shrine in Mexico for some, a home church parish for others) to fulfill a promise to undertake a pilgrimage in thanksgiving for some favor bestowed upon them by Guadalupe. 

Here is a compilation of articles from this blog about Guadalupe and her story :

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2014/02/our-lady-of-guadalupe-miracle-or.html

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-race-for-guadalupe.html

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2017/02/guadalupe-in-paradise.html

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2014/02/video-basilica-of-guadalupe-mexico-city.html

Fine Dining for the Dead

Hanal Pixan Altar, Izamal, Yucatán, MX 2023

Hanan Pixel Altar, Akumal, Quintana Roo, MX

In the Maya-speaking states of Quintana Roo and Yucatán, in Mexico, Dia de los Metros, the Day of the Dead, are known as Hanal Pixán.  Hanal and Pixán, respectively, mean food and soul and the Maya language and used together, the phrase means "food for the souls".  This is literally the point of all Day of the Dead celebrations, whether in the Maya lands or in central Mexico,  The idea is to provide food (and drink) for the deceased to encourage them to return to the land of the living for an annual visit, maintaining a link between the living and the dead.

There is one dish that is characteristic of Hanal Pixán altars that you will not find in other parts of Mexico. That is mukbil pollo which translates as "buried chicken"; the dish is also called "pibes".  Mukbil Pollo is a chicken tamale wrapped in banana lives and cooked in a hole in the ground; the realm of the dead. It has a distinctive smokiness due to the way it is cooked.

Mukbil Pollo

The thing is that living people also like Mukbil Pollo.  It has a wonderful smoky aroma and taste because of the way it is cooked-wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in an open fire underground. Several years ago, I had the dish in a restaurant in Izamal during the time of Hanal Pixan. Hoping for a repeat, I drove the three hours to Izamal from my home base in Quintana Roo, since Mukbil Pollo is generally not available commercially'. It typically s cooked in homes for the express purpose of the altars.

Arriving in Izamal, a fascinating town with a rich colonial colonial history and the beautiful 16th century monastery of San Antonio de Padua, I began my inquiries. They turned up nothing.

,,

Convento of San Antonio de Padua, Izamal Yucatán

Izamal, Yucatán

Street scene, Izamal, Yucatán, showing monastery wall

Finally, someone told me about a woman with a tricycle cart who sold mukbil pollo, daily, proving my point that the dish attracts the living as well as the dead. Asking as I went, I found her street and then her house.  Peering in her house, I could see the pibes (same as Mukbil Pollo). 

House interior, Izamal, Yucatan 

Mukbil Pollo orders for Hanal Pixán altars, Izamal, Yucatán

Counting the orders of Mukbil Pollo, Izamal, Yucatán

The woman was a good businesswoman and had her grand-daughter tally orders to see if there was spare for me.   As she counted the orders, I decided not to to take food out of a dead person's mouth, thanked her and told her to hold onto her orders in case one was needed for a last-minute altar.

Back on the street I started, once again, making my inquiries.  I was in luck- a restaurant down the block, the finest in the town, was serving mukbil pollo to living humans.   I'd managed to stumble into Izamal's fine-dining establishment, the beautiful Restaurant Kinich Izamal. 

 Kinich's special for the day- it was November 1, the second day of Hanal Pixán- was none other than Mukbil Pollo.  The portion was huge, as one is typically split by a whole family.  I'm not sure if it was actually cooked in the traditional way, stuck in a fire in a hole in the ground, but it was close enough.

Restaurante Kinich Izamal

Mukbil Pollo, R Kinich, Izamal, Yucatan

A sizable box of left-overs in hand, I walked back to my car for the 3 hour return trip.