Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

A Mexican memorial celebration
 

The TRINIDAD TRADING COMPANY has an eclectic collection of Mexican folk art. We offer many items used to celebrate Dia de los Muertos, a tradition of Mexico which honors ones ancestors.

The festival of the Dias de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a pre Hispanic tradition that goes back 3000 years. At that time there were elaborate rituals and philosophies concerning the life-death cycle. They believed life was no more then a passing moment, a dream from which one would wake up again.

Today “Dia de los Muertos” is celebrated each year on November 1-2. On these days it is believed the dead come from the beyond to visit with the living. Special foods are prepared, breads are baked and flowers are collected. The flowers are used to decorate walk ways and grave sites. Wax candles are prepared and lit.

Processions are made to the cemeteries where families prepare a feast. The souls of the dead return from the afterlife to visit the living, where they partake of the feast.

The first day of the festival is for the spirits of infants and the second day is for the adult spirits. The living welcome their loved ones and celebrate with music and all that the dead enjoyed while living.

In 2003 we traveled to Uruapan in the state of Michoacan to experience the celebration of Dia de los Muertos. Driving up from the coast we entered Uruapan in the late afternoon. Flower stalls were profusely filled with marigolds, gladiolas, tuberose and

a myriad of other blooms especially used for the offrendas and grave sites.

The zocalo was lined with tables filled with sugar and chocolate skulls of all sizes. Handmade each year by women, the skulls are decorated with colored frosting, sequins and brightly colored paper. “Calacas” , skeletons handmade of wood, clay and paper mache, were available as were candles. These traditional Day of the Dead items are used to adorn offrendas and grave sites. Excitement was in the air as people prepared for their families feast and the festival.

On the next day, November 1, we journeyed to Patzcuaro and Tzintzuntzan were the locals celebrate the Day of the Dead in grand style. The cemeteries were buzzing with activity, friends and families gathered around the graves of their loved ones. First the grave site lovingly tended to and freshened up. People would work and people would watch, as the day progressed people come and go and the cemetery was transformed.

By night fall the candles have been lit and the cemetery is one large celebration. Music is playing, children run about and food is shared. It is a reunion of both the living and the dead.

Coming home from this amazing experience I was moved to create my own family altar to celebrate the Day of the dead. Part of the tradition of Day of the Dead is to create and decorate an altar in honor of the deceased. The altar includes the four main elements of nature—earth, wind, fire and water.

• EARTH is represented by food (often crops of the season) as many observers believe souls are fed by the aroma.
• WIND is represented by some type of moving object (often tissue paper is used to represent wind).
• WATER is placed in a special container and its purpose is to quench the thirst of the deceased after their long journey.
• A wax candle represents FIRE. Each lit candle represents a soul with one extra candle placed on the altar for the forgotten soul.

Sharing stories and celebrating the life or loved ones keeps them alive in our hearts.

The Trinidad Trading Company is proud to offer authentic Day of the Dead - Mexican Folk Art.