Not only was it Halloween today, the festivities in the city of Merida for the Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, were taking place. Now, we have tried for the second time to get to Plaza Grande in Merida’s historic centro district in time to view the family altars that are set up around the park.  Unfortunately, even though we arrived two hours early than our first visit, we missed them and only got pictures of them taking all the altars down. Next year we may try to get their between 9am and 10am to see all the altars set up.

However, we had a secondary plan which was to visit the main cemetery, a short drive from Plaza Grande, where the parade was to start at 6pm. Arriving near the cemetery we started walking down the roads were everyone was setting up their family altars. This was simply AMAZING! As we very often are, we were very early and able to walk down the street and watch as families were setting up their tables. Many of the people stopped us to tell us about their traditions and explain the different things about their altars. At one alter, we were offered many different types of food that were traditionally made by their grandparents. The meringue and the tortilla I had there were the best I have ever eaten!

A little history is necessary if this is your first time learning about the Day of the Dead Altars.  These are more than just tables with pictures and items on them. They are built with love by families wishing to remember their loved ones. We saw altars which ranged from quite simple to more extravagant as we walked down the streets. All of them were constructed with loving memories. Some of the items we saw on the altars were:

• Candles – used to welcome the spirits back to their altars. Many candles surrounded a cross on the ground in front of the alters to help guide the spirits to their families.
• Flowers – Marigolds yellow-orange flowers with a strong fragrance also help lead the dead back to their altars. Marigold petals were often sprinkled around the cross on the ground and covering the alters.
• Incense –  used to guide the spirits back to their altars
• Photo of the deceased – framed photo of the dead person(s)
• Pan de muerto – Also known as “bread of the dead”, pan de muerto is a symbol of the departed.
• Sugar skulls – As symbols of death and the afterlife, sugar skulls are not only given as gifts to the living during Day of the Dead, they are also placed as offerings on the altar.
• Fresh fruit – we saw many oranges and grapefruits
• Baked goods – pan de muerto, tortillas, pib, traditional Yucatecan food
• Other items – any items that were personally important to their loved ones. Bottles of beer, coca-cola, baking, candies, toys, and tools were some of the items we saw.

There were many opportunities to have your face painted along the street for as little as 10 pesos! There was a lot of food available at many different spots along the street which is very typical of any event in Mexico.

The friendliness of the Yucatecan people never ceases to amaze us and we saw many examples of it today. I have put a slideshow with large pictures here, and an image gallery below. Please take the time to watch the slideshow as some of the pictures are really good and hopefully you can learn a little bit more about this tradition.

After walking through the cemetery, we headed back to Cafe Peon de Contreas for dinner before watching the parade at 7pm. The parade, which was almost right on time, was similar to what we saw three years earlier on our first celebration of Dia de los Muertos but this year Noah noticed that there was not a bull walking down the streets with fireworks and firecrackers strapped to its back. I think he was both happy and sad that it wasn’t there this year as it sure scared him when he was only 5 years old!

[tribulant_slideshow post_id=”6104″]