Day of the Dead

On Saturday we celebrated by making an “ofrenda” in our apartment. We gathered the items that are traditional and added a few of our own.

The idea of El dia de muerto is that one day a year you welcome the spirits of your loved ones back and hang out with them. It’s a happy festive day in Mexico. There are specific things to welcome your loved ones back.

1. A photo
2. Marigolds – these are supposed to guide them.
3. Incense -the round thing in front of Jan’s photo had special insense burning. This is to also guide them back
4. Candles- the pink one is specific for mothers. This is also to help them find their way back.
5. The bowl like things are special Mayan gourds used to hold liquids. These are for the spirits to drink. We had water in one and coffee in the other. Jan loved coffee.
6. Salt- this was in the blue and white shot glass. This is to purify them. The shot glass is also from her grandson Brian’s wedding which we thought was a nice touch.
7. Food – we didn’t want to put out real food because we were afraid of ants and our table was small so we had mini versions. Pan de muerto, a special type of bread. A mini plate of pastries, mini tacos. A mini plate of veggies that are important to the Mayans specifically corn. We wished we had a mini slice of deep dish pizza or a Portellos Italian Beef.
8. Chocolate- this is a Mayan thing but also something Jan loved. We had two pieces of chocolate with the mini foods.
9. Drinks – we had a dry gin martini with olives, Jan’s favorite. You are not supposed to use glass because the reflection could scare away the spirits. But Jan was fearless. We knew she would not be scared, especially of a martini.
10. Favorite things – Jan loved doing puzzles so we had some puzzle pieces. She also loved to read. I looked for a mini representation of a book but couldn’t find one.

This is a closeup of the mini food.

The market was a mad house the day before. It was like the grocery store on Thanksgiving morning with people getting everything they needed.

Marigolds were everywhere.

Lots of corn.

This is a real Pan de Muerto. The things on top represent bones. It was really good.

There were piles and piles of banana leaves at the market and the supermarket. This was for a special type of Mayan tamale they cook for the day that is cooked in banana leaves.

Also a lot of insence holders and the gourds.

It’s such a beautiful traditional and nice how in Merida they add Mayan traditions.