El Perro Bailarín

Home Altars — Ofrendas (Día de los Muertos VI)

Ofrenda altar for Day of the Dead Full Image

This is the time when Mexican families create special home altars called ofrendas (literally, “offerings”) dedicated to the spirits of their deceased loved ones.

The altars range from the very simple to the highly elaborate, and are usually arranged with objects that brought joy and pleasure to the departed person during their life, including favorite foods (such as fruit and chocolate) as well as beverages (tequila) and perhaps cigarettes. Altars dedicated to the spirits of deceased children will include their favorite toys, candy and other sweets.

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Salt and water are also essential, for they quench the thirst of the souls, tired from their long journey back to this world. And, of course, pan de muerto (“bread of the dead”).

Ofrendas are usually set up on a table covered with a tablecloth and are typically decorated with cempasúchil (marigolds) and papel picado (“tissue paper cut-outs”). Candles are lit to guide the spirits, and copal incense is burned to carry prayers to God as well as attract the souls of the dead and ward off evil spirits. In addition, a gourd containing a small portion of food is hung at the entrance of homes for those souls who have no one to remember them.

The ofrendas pictured here are not in private homes, but are set up in more public spaces. They reflect the ancient the ancient belief that death is a part of life—a belief that still permeates daily life in Mexico.

Pan de Muertos (Día de los Muertos V)

Pan de muerto (“Bread of the Dead”) Full Image

Dancing Dog was wondering the streets this afternoon, as is his wont, when he encountered a sidewalk seller of pan de muerto, or “bread of the dead.” This traditional egg bread is prepared especially for Day of the Dead to be placed on ofrendas (home altars in honor of the dead) and graves, and is available in all the panaderías (“bread bakeries”) in town.

The hearth-baked loaves come in many shapes, including human figures, alligators, lizards, and other animbals, but are typically round with a central raised knob representing the skull, and crossbone-shaped decorations radiating outward representing, what else, bones. A sprinkling of colored sugar crystals completes the decorations.

This vendor's offerings turned out to be sweet and airy, but otherwise pretty tasteless. You can find a recipe here.

Day of the Dead Flowers — Las Flores de Muertos (Día de los Muertos IV)

Marigolds and cockscomb for Day of the Dead Full Image

Dancing Dog wasn’t informed in advance, but the street in front of his humble abode has been transformed into an impromtu wholesale flower mart for the Day of the Dead celebrations. The shady side of the street is completely lined with farmers and their families from the countryside selling huge mounds of yellow, red and white flowers that city families will use to decorate grave sites and home altars commemorating their deceased loved ones.

Baby's breath and tenweeks stock Full Image

The yellow-orange flowers are cempasúchil (zempoaxóchitl in the Náhuatl language, meaning “flower of 20 petals”). D.D. knows them as African marigolds (Tagetes erecta), but here, they are the semi-official flor de muerto (“flower of death”). Their golden color symbolizes wealth and represents Tonatiuh, the Aztec god of the sun, whose light helps souls not to lose their way in making the journey back and forth between the cemetery and the Land of the Dead. These pungent blossoms have long been used medicinally in Mexico as a vermifuge and emolient.

The red is pata de león (“lion's paw”) or flor de terciopelo (“velvet flower”). In English, these are known as cockscomb (Celosia cristata). Their dense, almost velour-like crowns do indeed resemble a large cat's paw, and their deep red color symbolizes the blood of Christ and the Resurrection, as well as animal and human life.

Street market leading up to the Day of the Dead Full Image

Young flower vendors Full Image

The white flowers are nube (“baby's breath”; Gypsophila paniculata) and alhelí (“tenweeks stock”; Matthiola incana). White signifies purity and tenderness, and is associated with the souls of deceased children. In the early evening, their heady aroma fills the air along the sidewalk.

As the days draw closer to November 1^st and 2^nd, prices for the flowers in the street market are beginning to plummet. Even D.D. couldn't resist the sales pitch from the three young flower vendors pictured here. Two large bouquets of white and yellow chrysanthemums were just 15 pesos (about US$1.30)…

Skulls — Calaveritas (Día de los Muertos III)

Sugar skulls for Day of the Dead Full Image

Preparations for Día de los Muertos are proceeding apace here in Pátzcuaro.

It is believed that the dead like sweets, and calaveritas de azúcar (sugar skulls) are made or purchased to display on family altars (ofrendas) as offerings to the dead. This week, more than 50 vendors of the traditional sugar skulls and other sweets associated with this celebration have set up under one of the portales of the Plaza Grande.

Small chocolate skulls Full Image

The skulls are made of alfeñique, a paste of white sugar, egg white, water, lemon juice and cream of tartar. The paste is shaped in plastic molds and allowed to dry, followed by decorating with soft icing in a variety of colors and forms and sometimes shiny foil or sequins.

Small marzipan coffins for Day of the Dead Full Image

The skulls come in all shapes, sizes and styles. The name of the deceased family member or friend being honored is usually written in icing on the back of the sugar skull. More info is here.

The skulls are also made in sweet chocolate. White chocolate skeletons as well as sugar or marzipan coffins are also popular.

Calaveras of the Female Dandy — Las Catrinas

Calavera de La Catrina, an etching by José Guadalupe Posada Full Image

Dancing Dog observed craftspeople setting up on the Plaza Grande today. The artisans come from all over the State of Michoacan to sell their wares for a fortnight or so around Los Dias de los Muertos.

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D.D. noted a number of ceramicists producing the one figure that has come to symbolize the Day of the Dead in Mexico—the Catrina.

Calavera de la Catrina is the title of an etching by José Guadalupe Posada, an illustrator and lithographer who worked in Mexico City in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. He originally created the work to illustrate the popular song, La Cucaracha. But Posada had an obsession for everything French and he later used the image to parody the overdressed ladies of upper-class society of Mexico of the 1890s: “Female Dandies.”

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Today, “Catrinas” are considered one of Mexico's most important cultural icons about death. The coquettish caricatures are depicted in the form of a calavera or “skeleton” sporting a huge feathered hat and a toothy grin, and serve as a macabre reminder that death is continually at our side.

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More information about José Guadalupe Posada can be found here and here.

The photos show a selection of the catrinas on sale at the crafts market. The figures at the upper right are 24“-30” tall; the lower ones 12“-18” high.

Candles — Velas (Día de los Muertos II)

Buying candles for Day of the Dead Full Image

Dancing Dog notes the continuing preparations for Day of the Dead celebrations.

These vendors have set up in the street leading to the Basilica, selling tall candles that will be carried in procession by family members to the cemetery on the evening of November 1^st. They also sell smaller candles, as well as copal (a pine resin incense), that will be burned on the grave and in front of family altars set up in homes. The white candles symbolize hope, and the aromatic smoke from the copal wards off evil.

Orchids — Orquídeas

Flor de muertos — Autumn-flowering laelia Full Image

Another sign of the approach of the Day of the Dead season is the appearance of flor de muertos, one of the best known and most beautiful wild orchids in the State of Michoacan.

Laelia autumnalis Full Image

Known in English as “autumn-flowering laelia” (Laelia autumnalis), this orchid grows in the humid temperate forests of Mexico's Trans-Volcanic Belt as an epiphyte on oak trees (encino prieto) or as a rupicolous plant (growing on rocks).

This bouquet was 20 pesos (about US$1.75) from a Purépecha lady who offered them to Dancing Dog as he enjoyed his espresso this morning. Their splashy pinks and reds brighten D.D.'s humble casita…

Wreaths — Coronas (Día de los Muertos I)

Corona de muertos (wreath) for placing on a grave Full Image

Dancing Dog noted today the first signs that Los Días de los Muertos, the Days of the Dead, are approaching. A large truck was being unloaded of its cargo of coronas de muertos near the market.

Coronas de muertos for sale prior to the Day of the Dead Full Image

Corona literally means “crown,” but in this case is usually translated as “wreath.” Families purchase these colorful, often elaborate works and bring them to the cemetery on November 1^st to place at the head of the grave of their deceased loved ones. They come in a variety of shapes and styles, and can be constructed of real flowers, paper or plastic.

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The ones pictured here are handmade of plastic ribbons and “silk” (paper) flowers in two different towns in the western part of Michoacan.

Figurines — Imagenes

Figurines for sale at the Basilica Full Image

Dancing Dog has a ritual of meandering across the grounds of the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de la Salud (“Basillica of Our Lady of Health”) on his way to morning coffee. Vendors rent space and set up along the walkways along the side and in front of the church precincts. Among them are several sellers of small statuettes who arrange their wares in a kalidescopic hodge-podge that's almost disorienting.

La Sirena shares shelf space with San Judas Tadeo Full Image

An enchanting La Sirena (“mermaid”) shares shelf space with a rather detached San Judas Tadeo (St. Jude Thaddeus). The latter was one of the twelve Apostles and, as “patron of hopeless causes,” is one of Mexico's most popular saints. He’s usually portrayed with a small tongue of flame on top of his head symbolizing the fire of the Holy Spirit received on Pentacost and holding a gold medallion with a profile of Jesus.

D.D. trusts that La Sirena's modest costume needs no explanation, but notes that her surprisingly empathetic face appears in replication on numerous statuettes of the Blessed Virgin Mary also on display at the various stalls peddling religious artifacts. What is it about the slight tilt of the head, the downward cast eyes, the pale skin, the light-colored, almost blond hair that is so appealing in this culture?

Rats! — ¡Ratas!

Ad for Ratifin rat poison Full Image

Dancing Dog notes with sad amusement a story this past week originating from a town in the remote mountains of Chihuahua State. Headlines flashed the world over, announcing the “recruitment” of an army of conscript cats to deal with a plague of rats infesting the homes of townspeople. Reports ranged up to 800 rats per household, up to half a million in toto! In an effort to eradicate the hoards of rats infesting their storehouses, the local farmers began setting poison, which in turn, killed off the cats and other rodent predators.