For two days, every year on November 1-2, near the panteon municipal/municipal cemetery in the small town where I live, Churintzio, Michoacan, vendors set up their merchandise. There are vendors selling antojitos/snacks like tacos and tortas. Others are selling sodas, aguas frescas, fresh fruit, duros, sweet breads, freshly fried potato chips, steamed garbanzos, ice cream, frozen fruit bars, and candy. Some will be hawking sugar skulls and other seemingly macabre figures made from sugar and marzipan. Numerous merchants will have flowers, especially bright orange marigolds, along with empty #10 cans that once contained jalapenos. A makeshift parking lot will suddenly materialize in the open area near "Cemetery Pond" and police will be stationed on the highway close to the entrance of the cemetery to control the traffic. In fact, this carnival-like scene, sometimes in an even grander scale in such famous locales as Mixquic, Federal District, the highly indigenous state of Oaxaca, Merida, Yucatan, and the small indigenous populated island of Janitzio, Michoacan, is occurring throughout Mexico. You see, it is the time that the Day of the Dead celebrations come to life.

The Day of the Dead is when deceased relatives/loved ones are festively and colorfully remembered and honored both at home and in the cemeteries in which they are buried. The antecedents of this yearly joyous reunion with the deceased goes back more than 3000 years prior to the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica. The indigenous people perceived death not as the termination of one’s existence but rather as a continuation; not fearing death, they embraced it as they believed that life was a dream and one became truly awake only in death. Consequently, the Aztecs in July and August held a month long festival honoring the memories of the dead presided over by the Goddess Mictecacihuatle, the Lady of Death.

However, the Spanish found such a practice to be sacrilegious and pagan. Hence, they repeatedly attempted to kill the ritual but were unsuccessful in doing so. Therefore, to make the indigenous celebration more congruent with Catholic practice and beliefs, over time it was altered to be held on the “more acceptable” days of November 1, El Dia de los Muertos/All Souls Day, and November 2, El Dia de Todos los Santos/All Saints Day. As a result, like many of contemporary Mexico’s religious practices, the Day of the Dead is a merging of prehispanic beliefs and customs with “more traditional” Catholic dogma and ritual. Not surprisingly then, Mexico whose population is made up primarily of mestizos in the vast majority and indigenous peoples in the minority, is a country in which the citizenry have a decidedly non-Western view of death; perceiving death to be a part of life’s continuum, it’s not that they regard death lightly but rather recognizing death for what they believe it to be, they mock it and even defy it, especially during the two days of the Day of the Dead.

November 1 is considered to be when the gates of the spirit world open and the souls of the “angelitos”/children ages 12 and under, return to the earth for one day of the year to be with their families while November 2 is when those souls ages 13 and above return to do likewise for one day of the year. Traditionally, although the practice is diminishing somewhat, at the homes of the deceased, “ofrendas,”/altars are elaborately displayed and decorated to greet and welcome the spirits upon their return home. Typically, the commemorative altar is comprised of flowers-especially marigolds, the “flower of the dead,” as their bright color and strong scent will hopefully guide the spirits’ way there-, lit scented candles, burning copal/incense, spices, pictures of the deceased, preferred foods and drinks of the deceased, favorite items of the deceased that they had enjoyed such as toys for the children, sugar skulls, pan de muerto/round sweet bread decorated on top with strips of dough “bones” and the center adorned with dough “tear drops,” and a bowl of water for the deceased to cleanse themselves after their long journey. It is hoped that the spirits will consume the essence and aroma of the offerings and will have enjoyed their yearly one day visit home.

In Churintzio, like all other communities throughout the country, the core element of the holiday is the celebration at the cemetery. There, some of the preparations for the festivities are done way in advance of the actual Day of the Dead. Months prior to November, many people in the town are involved in a “cottage industry” in which they make a huge array of distinctively colorful and intricately adorned (some may say garish rather than goulish) coronas/wreaths that will be used in decorating virtually all of the tombs; by mid-October, the zocalo/town plaza and its adjoining streets will be full with coronas for sale. Also, by mid-October, the town’s Monday tianguis/open air market will feature marigolds, candles, incense, sugar skulls, and other sugar and marzipan items like ghosts, skeletons, pumpkins, baskets of fruit and vegetables, and caskets that will be used in decorating the home altars and the altars that will be set-up in the cemetery.

A major criticism of the Day of the Dead festivities at the cemeteries by some is that it is becoming too touristy. That may be the case in such highly indigenous communities that have extensive “events” such as processions or elaborate ceremonies like Janitzio, Tzintzuntzan, Michoacan, Oaxaca City, and Merida, to mention just a few. However, in mestizo Churintzio that is decidedly not the case as it is entirely a local affair in which all attending are participants and there are no observers to be seen (except perhaps for me, the only gringo in town).

At the cemetery, extended families gather to welcome back their loved one’s souls and hopefully guide their way to their homes. Often, the marigolds are arranged in such a manner as to point them in the direction of their residence. Temporary altars/shrines are assembled with the coronas serving as the focal point- normally, those wreaths will remain at the cemetery for many months until the weather causes them to deteriorate.

Particularly at the cemetery, in a picnic-like celebration which may begin in the morning and go on until the evening, it is there that death takes a lively, loving, appreciative, nostalgic, non-threatening, and friendly expression. Family members will have prepared and then consumed the favorite dishes and beverages of their loved ones. Talk will center on their recollections of the departed. Children will be playing games and running around the tombs or headstones as the adults play the favorite music of the deceased. Consequently, joyfully, the “difuntos”/deceased are remembered and welcomed as family members that they have not seen in a year.

As for me, my approach to honoring the deceased, as in the case of two recently departed beloved mascotas, Brinkee el conejo and Juanee el perico, is somewhat different. On a daily basis, not believing in a soul beyond life for any sentient being, I will always cherish and remember their perpetually living spirits, those aspects of their unique personas that brought joy, respect, and appreciation into my life- a daily renewal rather than an annual reunion. In that way, their deaths are also, like the returning souls of the Day of the Dead, part of life’s continuum that will continue in my fondest of memories even though they will never again get to do what they craved the most, Brinkee to eat some peanuts and Juanee to play with his mate Fonzee.