The Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) is celebrated November 1 – 2 in Oaxaca, as it is throughout Mexico and several countries in southern Europe. Honoring the dead begins in Mexico on November 1, All Saints’ Day and continues to All Souls’ Day on November 2, although in reality, the entire month of November is given over to remembering the dead in Oaxaca and is called the Month of the Souls.

The festival in Oaxaca shares common ingredients with other Mexican states and countries such as Spain and Italy, which also observe the holiday. These southern European traditions include: cleaning and decorating cemeteries, food offerings to the dead, special breads and sweets, the ubiquitous skull and skeleton imagery, and costumed people wandering from house to house begging food for the dead.

Although there is some debate in Oaxaca about exactly at what time the dead souls return and depart, November 1 (Día de los Angelitos) is understood to be the day in which the souls of deceased children return and November 2 (Día de los Grandes) is the day for returning adults. Unlike much of Mexico, Oaxacans remember the dead throughout November, setting aside consecutive Mondays after November 2 for special prayers and cemetery visits. These are the Días de los Responsos (Responsary Days) .Six city cemeteries form part of the Cemetery Cycle, which begins in the Panteón General.

Just before Los Muertos itself, shoppers will crowd the Mercado de Abastos, Oaxaca’s main market, where Los Muertos items are available in a special area of the market known as the tianguis. Here, one can find candles, religious portraits, bright flowers, pan de los muertos (bread shaped as bones or human bodies), calaveras (sugar skulls), candied fruit, and whimsical skeletal figures. These items, along with food and drink offerings will find their way onto home altars or altars set up in public places, such as hotels, schools and other public places.

Pan de los Muertos

The home altars are maintained for the two days of Los Muertos with offerings of fresh food and drink. Sweets, toys, and small candles all left for los angelitos are exchanged for more adult versions for the returning grandes. Some families may leave their altars up for several days after Los Muertos in order to provide offerings to the “marginalized” in the spirit world, las limosneros (the beggars), los olvidados (the forgotten ones), los matados (those who were murdered or died a violent death), and almas malas (those souls with many sins to purge).

The graves of family members in the local cemeteries will be cleaned and decorated with flowers and candles on November 1. Families will visit the graves during Los Muertos and partake of food and drink offerings left for the dead. Although a typical image of Los Muertos in Mexico depicts candles burning brightly in dark cemeteries as people celebrate throughout the night, in Oaxaca the tradition has always been to visit the cemeteries during the day. In fact, it would have been uncommon to find someone remaining in a cemetery past dark, let alone overnight with the exception of the cemetery at Xoxocotlán. This tradition might be changing, however, partly due to the influence of customs from other parts of Mexico and partly from catering to the expectations of tourists. Some Oaxacan cemeteries are extending their hours to the evening and it is possible that there may even be one or two remaining open late into the night.

Decorating graves in the cemetery.

In addition to preparing food for the returning spirits, people exchange food so that there is always plenty on hand for both living and dead visitors to the home. On November 2, children dress up in costumes and go house to house soliciting food for the dead. This is a long-standing tradition in Oaxaca and with the ever increasing encroachment of American Halloween customs into Mexico it is likely to become even more popular.

For an interesting and thorough examination of Día de los Muertos in Oaxaca, read Days of Death, Days of Life: Ritual in the Popular Culture of Oaxaca by Kristin Norget.       

While the rituals and traditions surrounding death and dying in Oaxaca, as in the rest of Mexico, are largely drawn from Catholicism, they also incorporate popular rites and customs taken from the indigenous cultures of Mexico.

As an example, a popular belief in Oaxaca is that there is something of a dual nature to one’s soul. There is the soul that exists as what Norget in Days of Death, Days of Life calls a “spiritual duplicate” (el otro yo). This “other self” is essentially the traditional Christian soul, but there is also another soul-like essence, something akin to a shadow that may sometimes become separated from the person and go on to exist independently. This shadowlike emanation of the soul leaves the body after death but certain ailments can also cause it to flee the body in life. A shock or fright (susto) can do it as can the gaze of a person with the “evil eye” (mal de ojo). It is also believed that this shadow-soul wanders during sleep and in dreams and so, is susceptible to being stolen by some lurking malevolent spirit (mal aire). There are rituals that can return this wandering shadow to the person, rendering him whole once more.

In Oaxaca it is thought that when a person dies, his soul enters a luminal state, remaining tied to the earth. For the first nine days after death, the deceased (difunto) remains in its former house. On the evening of the funeral and for the next eight days, people gather in the home of the deceased reciting prayers for his soul’s salvation. These nine days are called the Novenario de los Difuntos.

Popular belief in Oaxaca says that the dead can intercede with the saints and sacred beings, but only after their souls have achieved forgiveness for their worldly sins. It usually takes one year of penance before God’s judgment, during which the living pray for the deceased and remember them in religious rituals, all with the express goal of making sure their souls enter into heaven after their penance has been completed. If not sufficiently cared for at the time of death, the dead may remain in the earthly realm, haunting certain sites and causing mischief. More often, the dead appear to the living in dreams and communicate with them, a sure sign that the deceased one is troubled and requires some sort of aid from the living

During that year of wandering the earth the soul remains in a luminal state. The living believe the deceased to still be impure, unsettled, uncontrolled, and even hazardous and so, the deceased becomes an object of pity, concern, and fear. It is essential for the salvation of the deceased that the living pray for and include in their religious rituals, the deceased. Not only will they help the deceased to enter into the afterlife (al más allá) but they, in turn, will earn the future intercession of the dead with the saints on their behalf. It’s a win-win proposition for both the living and the dead.

It’s this intimate connection between the living and the dead that explains the Oaxacan attitude toward death. The dead are not gone, not disappeared; they are merely on one more step of a journey that we will all enter upon. The dead remain. Not only in our memories, but as active partners in our lives and our own salvation.

SANTA MUERTE – PART 3

I really didn’t think I would have anything further to say about the Santa Muerte cult until after my trip to Oaxaca, Mexico in October. Yet, here I am.

The reason why I am writing this is that I was recently visiting Philadelphia, the Italian Market area in South Philly to be exact, when I came across this Santa Muerte candle, more evidence of her ever- growing following in the United States.

I found the candle in a small Mexican bakery/grocery called Las Lomas. I had been looking for a purple Santa Muerte candle since that color candle is used in rituals for spiritual growth and awakening psychic powers (as well as for general health and healing). What better candle for a metaphysical/paranormal researcher, right?

In a hurry, I bought the candle and left the store, not realizing until later that the candle was not made of traditional wax but was a waxy gel that contained within it an effigy of La Flaca herself, Santa Muerte! I don’t know what the effigy is made of and so I don’t want to light the candle in case I melt her down, too.

It will be interesting to see how prevalent Santa Muerte is in Mexico during the Day of the Dead fiesta. I’ll keep you posted.