Day of the Dead Week

[DandyDon]

Okay, not all week, but Tuesday thru Friday...

I saw this program shared on Facebook and became interested. Unlike in Texas and other states north of the border where we often offer Spanish translations on signs, these are all in the local language - so I looked a few up. Here's the best I can make of them.

Tuesday, 30th to Friday, 2nd - 6-9pm: Hanal Pixán - the name given to the Day of the Dead celebrations of the Maya people who live in the Yucatan Peninsula. The term literally translates as "food of souls" in the Mayan language. In this region, food takes on a special meaning as traditional dishes are prepared for the spirits who are believed to return on this day to visit their families. The holiday is a way of celebrating and honoring deceased family members and friends.

Wednesday, 31st to Friday, 2nd - 7pm: Day of the Dead celebration. See Your Guide to Mexico's Day of the Dead

Wednesday, 31st - 6pm: Tour of Mayan legends. Try google translation at Leyendas Mayas: 7 historias de una cultura extraordinaria

Wednesday, 31st - 6:30pm: Procession of animas (souls?)

Thursday, 1st - 5pm: Altars of death contest

Friday, 2nd - 10am and 4pm: Masses of the Day of the Dead

Well, that's the best I can make of it. I don't guess they wanted this gringo to totally follow. Maybe some of bilingual members can chime in here. Here's a pretty good guide: Essential vocabulary for Day of the Dead

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

Thank you for posting this. This has become my favorite holiday and we go every year. If you haven't been, Cozumel does it best!

Jay

 

[DandyDon]

I think some families here will decorate family graves. Local ties here are to northern Mexico mostly, some people I know here take buses to that area to visit family, so no Mayan connections here. If we don't dry out enough to start harvest by then, I'll have to drive thru the cemetery and look.

 

[El Graduado]

Had my yearly fix of mucbipollo yesterday. Just like in the US, holiday sales start earlier and earlier each year.

Halloween (October 31) is a very American holiday, but celebrated more and more in Mexico. The real Mexican holidays, however, are on November 1, when all the souls of dead children come back to earth for the Día de los inocentes and November 2, Día de muertos, Día de los santos, or Día de los difuntos, when all the adults’ souls return for a visit.

Dead, sainted, or difunto, it’s all the same; you’re dead and the living come to your grave or erect an altar to celebrate your life. To this end, the bakeries around town go into overdrive, turning out pan de muertos (dead-man’s bread), calaveras (decorated, sugar skulls), and a specialty in the Yucatan Peninsula, mucbipollo (mook-bee-poyo). It means, ‘buried chicken,’ in Mayan, but it refers to the Mayan method of baking underground and not to some kind of grave-robber’s lunch. It is a traditional food enjoyed during this holiday of the dead. Mucbipollo is a large, round, tamal (or tamale, as the estadounidenses say) stuffed with chicken, pork, hard-boiled egg, garlic, onion, tomato sauce, epazote, achiote, peppers and other Yucatecan spices, wrapped in banana leaves and baked underground. It used to be loving-made and baked in backyard underground pits, but today the 18-inch round discs are crammed several at a time in regular ovens so that more can be sold, so they turn out over done on one side and underdone on the other. Ah, for the good old days!

Deadman’s bread (Pan de Muertos) is a semi-sweet bread baked especially for this season to be eaten or offered up to the dead on the altar or grave. The decorations on top are supposed to represent bones. Calaveras are decorated sugar skulls. Traditionally, you buy one with your name on it. When my wife and I were married, we put miniature day-of-the dead bride and groom skeletons atop our wedding cake. Mother-in-law was not amused.

 

[gt2003]

Heading down in a few hours. Thanks for the posts. This will give us a little more insight into the festivities. We really enjoyed them last year!

 

[Kimela]

This is great info. I'll have to condense it to a document with the words and translations, as well as the yummy food (and how to pronounce it) so I don't miss any of the holiday specialties.

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . .

Halloween (October 31) is a very American holiday, but celebrated more and more in Mexico. The real Mexican holidays, however, are on November 1, when all the souls of dead children come back to earth for the Día de los inocentes and November 2, Día de muertos, Día de los santos, or Día de los difuntos, when all the adults’ souls return for a visit. . . .

I'm seeing Day of the Dead celebrated more and more in the US.

 

[lionfish-eater]

One of my favorite artists is Jose Posada.
He was a Mexican illustrator, satarist, and political commentator.
Much of his work used the skeletal form to represent humanity.
He often mocked the politicians and bourgeois.
After his death his work became associated with Dia de los muertos.
One of his most famous illustrations became the face of Catrina that is so popular today.
. Humorous poetry is quite common during Día de Muertos, with poems known as literary calaveras written to remind the living of their own mortality. For Posada, death was the great equaliser. He is known to have said that “death is democratic”. No matter your colour or creed, your wealth or your poverty, everyone ends up as a skull in the end.

José Guadalupe Posada: Skulls, Skeletons and Macabre Mischief - Illustration Chronicles

José Guadalupe Posada - Wikipedia

The Calaveras of José Guadalupe Posada

 

[JamesBon92007]

We were in Puerto Vallarta last year and there were many giant Katrinas along the malecon plus many people were displaying shrines for their lost loved ones, celebrating their lives. The cemetary was also heavily decorated. I noticed a lot more Dia de los Muertos souvenirs in Vallarta than I did in San Miguel (up until yesterday). I did buy a bag of Halloween candy at Chedraui a few days ago and saw a couple of Trick-or-Treaters in Vallarta last year so it looks like our American custom has had some influence.

 

[DiveNCoz]

Had the opportunity to go down to the square last night where they celebrated Dia De Los Muertos here in Cozumel. I painted my face as a common tradition called "La Catrina."