As we approached Día de los Muertos, I could feel the excitement in my family growing. "Josh, ¿cuantos de tus amigos vendrán a hacer pan? Josh, how many of your friends are coming to make bread?" my cousin Jacobo would eagerly ask me. He had invited my YAGM Mexico friends to come to Tlaxcala for the quintessential Mexican holiday in order to make Pan de Muerto and experience the traditions of Tlaxcala. When I asked my family about the traditions of Día de los Muertos in Tlaxcala and within our family, the answers I received were vague. Like many other aspects of life in Mexico, I realized that I would just have to wait and experience Día de los Muertos myself. Here is an account - in words and pictures - of what I experienced.
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| Calaveras de Chocolate en el mercado antes de Día de los Muertos :: Chocolate skulls in the market leading up to Día de los Muertos |
DAY ONE - OCTOBER 28th
Today was dedicated to making offerings to those who have died in accidents: drowning, choking, fires, car accidents, etc. My family has four relatives that have died from accidents. Mamá put together a small offering for these family members, consisting of:
-a candle: a light to illumine the path
-a cross made of flowers: to find their destination
-salt: to purify the salt
-water, fruit, and Pan de Muerto for each individual: to eat, drink, and enjoy
DAY TWO - OCTOBER 29th
Today, I accompanied Tía Norma to the school she works at in order to see their Día de los Muertos celebrations. The school had displayed a number of Catrinas that kids had made.
A number of kids had their faces painted as skeletons, and a number of girls were dressed up as Catrinas.
One class in the school was responsible for making an offering.
Cempazúchitl flowers - more commonly known as Flor de Muerto - adorn the offering and lead over a hundred feet from the entrance of the school, guiding the dead to the offering.
Colorful and intricate tissue paper art decorate the offering.
A picture of Jesus and the Virgin adorn the top of this offering. Many offerings hold the pictures of deceased loved ones to which the offering is dedicated.
The offering is filled with oranges, bananas, tamales, mole, bread, Pan de Muerto, apples, rice, Calaveras de Amaranto, Calaveras de Chocolate, jicama, sugar cane, camote, chicken, tequila and mezcal.
Candles and incense bath the offering.
In addition to the offering, there was a large fiesta. Each class in the school was responsible for brining one dish: rice, tamales, tlacloyos, agua, tortillas, mole or candy. Everyone ate and took in the surroundings for an hour or two before school was dismissed for the day.
DAY THREE - OCTOBER 30th
At the shelter, we made an offering for the three migrants who had died in/near Apizaco during the last couple of years. The offering was adorned with paper-tissue art, flowers, water, guayaba, sugar cane, jicama, oranges, flowers, and the names of the three individuals who had passed away. The crosses adorned the ground: one of dirt to remind us that those passed away lived and walked on the earth with us, one of salt to purify the souls of the deceased, and one of flowers to celebrate the deceased. After putting the altar together, we had a service of sorts that lasted close to an hour. I think we said the Rosary during the service, but I'm not really sure. [Church services or speeches combined with a language in which you are not completely familiar is a good recipe for a lack of attention.]
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| In memory of Arlen Nahum, Henry Hernandez & Marly Marcial + Chavez |
DAY FOUR - OCTOBER 31st
Today my YAGM friends Becca and Alyssa accompanied me to my cousin Jacobo's house to make Pan de Muerto. We began shortly after 7am by mixing the ingredients for the bread.
We mixed flour, sugar, vanilla, eggs, oil, milk, yeast [and probably some other things that I don't remember]. We did this three different times, making one batch with nueces [pecans], one with guayaba [guava], and one with canola [cinnamon].
After this, we allowed the bread to rise.
And we prepared the adobe-like oven for baking. [A fire was made within the oven to heat the stones around the oven. Eventually, the sticks and coals were removed, and baking commenced. Every once in a while, a blow torch was put inside the oven to add heat again.]
After the bread rose a tad-bit, we formed it into Pan de Muerto. It is called this because the pieces of dough that adorn the top represent huesos [bones] and the ball in the middle represents a skull.
After forming the pieces of bread, we added a glaze and seeds.
At this point, it was 3pm. We had been working on the Pan de Muerto - and taking breaks - for over seven hours. We had formed seventy pieces of Pan de Muerto with nuez from the mixture, but still lacked the baking, and the formation of the other 2/3 of the mix. Alyssa, Becca, Catherine [who also joined us] and I decided to go see some Día de los Muertos traditions in the center of town, while my family continued to bake. Jacobo did not finish baking until after 2am! Here is a video of the process we undertook to make Pan de Muerto
The Zócalo in Tlaxcala hosted about a dozen different altars that people and organizations had made. It was part cultural display and part offering competition.
After viewing the offerings in the center of town, we headed back to my house to celebrate the birthdays of my sisters: Annie and Karla. The party was part birthday, part Halloween party, and part Día de los Muertos celebration, outfitted with face painting, a mariachi band, a taco stand, and plenty of tequila and mezcal. It was a fun night of celebrating life with my Mexican family and American friends.
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| My primas Laura & Yiyi, My sisters Karla & Annie |
DAY FIVE - NOVEMBER 1st
Today, we put together a big offering in our house for the abuelos and bisabuelos.
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| Traditional Candy: Cajeta, Camote, Cocada y más |
DAY SIX - NOVEMBER 2nd
Today felt like New Year's Day. Most people had the day off. The town was quiet, and we spent most of the day laying around the house. In the afternoon, my family went to the grave site of los abuelos and laid flowers there.
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