It is the morning of All Souls Day as I write this, Dia de Muertos or Dia de los Muertos (take your pick): Day of the Dead. Seth and I have just had our coffee and pan de muertos (bread of the dead) for breakfast. We gathered yesterday with family to celebrate. Mom made the bread; it’s a simple yeast bread topped with cinnamon and sugar and anise seeds with dough shaped like bones on top; we had it last night with coffee and two games of loteria where we all laughed uproariously at our terrible Spanish pronunciations (our Spanish definitely sounding more Italian than Spanish).
Things here have been a bit hectic so I didn’t have time to write something for you about this special day… but here’s a reprint of last year’s chapter. The message is timeless and the wishes all the same. From us to you: ¡Feliz de los muertos! ~ John
Hallowe’en is but the beginning of festivities that are powerful, celebratory connections to those who have come and gone before us. That first special night is followed by All Saints Day on the First of November and then today, the Second, brings us the day we celebrate everyone else, saint or not: All Souls Day, or Day of the Dead, Dia de Muertos. It is the homier of the two sacred days, more familial: All Saints Day has always seemed to me more of a formal church holiday, but Dia de Muertos is more about home, with good food, as well as music and games. Naturally, this is the day we like best of the two.
The celebrations in Mexico, where Dia de Muertos is a very big deal, can be very grand indeed, but most are just like one we will have: a small gathering, just amongst family, with a celebratory meal. We will eat, we will laugh, we will play loteria and laugh some more and we will eat some more and we will remember all of the folks who are there in spirit if not in person. It is celebrations like these that help us keep those loved ones with us, even long after they are gone. This is powerful magic, and so easily conjured. And this is what lies at the heart of these days we love so much. Death is there for every one of us. And if there is a seat for death set at every festive gathering, this, certainly, is the gathering and the day when we can laugh most heartily at it. Look closely at any of the traditional Mexican handcrafts we sell for Dia de Muertos, or at the woodcuts of José Guadalupe Posada that inspire them, and this becomes clear. Death is but a part of life. If we embrace it, if we do not not talk about it, it becomes less frightening. We gain some control over its power. And we keep the channels open across the ages.
Image: Calaveras from our Convivio Book of Days Catalog for Dia de Muertos.