Wednesday, November 01, 2006

día de muertos

no Halloween in Mexico, gracias a Dios
instead we have Día de Muertos
a whole different tradition...

here a typical ofrenda
the idea is to "offer" to our dead relatives and friends
the food, drinks, and things they used to enjoy while they were alive
the tradition says to put traditional mexican food

like tamales, candied pumpkin, pollo con mole, atole,
fruits from the Fall, and of course tequila, and café
and water all for the long road to the other world...

one very important part of the ofrenda is the pan de muerto
(check the recipe on the link above, and send me some ?)
bread that is baked just around this time of the year
delicious! it is called pan de muerto and if you see
the part of the bread sticking resemble bones...
creepy but delicious, if you have access to a mexican bakery
make sure to buy some, they just bake it around late October and early Novembre

of course if the dead guy used to smoke, well a pack of his/hers cigarettes
as well as chocolates and toys or other little belongings

usually the family who puts the ofrenda also traces a road of flower petals
from the door of the house to the place where the ofrenda is placed
the flowers to use to make this petals road are called Zenpasuchitl
yellow flowers traditional used these days

a wonderful, colorful and dark celebration of life, somehow
a tradition that speaks a lot of this magical mexican way of seeing life...