THE DAY OF THE DEAD

Among the people of the Mundo Maya, November is the month of the dead. They believe this is a time in which the dead are allowed to abandon the great beyond to wander on the earth for a few days. The dead seek for their homes and families, their ancient lands, and when they find them, the stay to eat and drink, to pick up some gifts, and when sated, return to the place assigned to them to experience anew their eternal rest... for another 365 days. Then they will return again in an interminable cycle which maintains the ties between life and death.

For the Maya, dying is merely leaving this world to inhabit another.

Each place in the Mundo Maya, however, maintains communication with the dead in its own way. Some groups do so by suffering anew and reliving their period of mourning; others by celebrating, and still others by playing games of chance with the souls who visit them. All, however, achieve their objective which is to satisfy their visitors so as to help their souls to eternal rest.

We invite you to see how the Maya celebrate their dead in four regions of the Mundo Maya.

GUATEMALA

During the mid-January festival, delicious food such as beef jerky with pumpkinseed sauce is served.

All the indigenous communities of Guatemala have incorporated into to their ancient rites and ceremonies the customs brought by the Spaniards in the conquest and colonization of the New World almost five hundred years ago

.    An example of the fusion of things Catholic and pagan are the Day of the Dead ceremonies. These are common throughout the country, and each community adds its own color and pageantry to the event.

At the end of October each year, Guatemalans set up altars in their homes dedicated to those who have passed away. In the center, they place photographs of their loved ones and around these they arrange an offering of water, flowers, votive candles and different kinds of food and drink: aguardiente (a liquor made from sugar cane), bread, fruit and atole (non-alcoholic drink made with water and corn flour.)

The inhabitants of Todos Santos, Guatemala, in procession to the cemetery, carrying the flowers with which they'll adorn the graves and the food they'll share with the dearly departed.

The ritual continues into the pre-dawn hours of November 1st, when the members of the family place flowers in the doors of the house to welcome the departed souls. Then comes the rite of "dressing" the graves. The family goes to the cemetery and places flowers on the small hillocks, the last resting place of those who have gone before. They leave wreaths of wax-paper flowers at the head of the grave and then prepare the food which they will eat right there, in a symbolic breaking of bread with the dearly departed.

    The meal consists of fiambre, a type of Spanish stew made of meat or fish, vegetables, olives and capers; and canshul (based on regional vegetables) which the family eats by the grave.

Thousands of participants walk toward the cemetery in the village of Santiago Sacatepequez, Guatemala, to watch the kite flying. Contests award prizes to the family with the most colorful kite.

Even though the altar and the meal in the cemetery are common to almost all Guatemala's indigenous communities, some add other elements to the ceremony. On All Saint's Day the inhabitants of Cuchumatan (about 290 kilometers from the capital, Guatemala City) celebrate with marimba music and fireworks, which they set off inside the cemetery. They are absolutely certain that the dead are participating in the festivities, which last into the wee hours of the morning. This community party becomes private when each family serenades their loved ones with the songs they enjoyed in life.

    Santiago Sacatepequez is a community located east of the capital. To celebrate the Day of the Dead, the townspeople construct barriletes, enormous kites made of crepe paper and bamboo which can measure up to seven meters long by three meters wide. On November 1st and 2nd, each family takes its kite to an open field for it to soar through the skies. In this way they call to the departed, who identify their family by the colors used in the kite and slide down the string to join them below.

    The kites are burned so the dead may quietly return to their world. It is thought that if the kites are not burned, the souls won't know how to return home and they will stay, damaging those who mourn them.

    Chintla is another Guatemalan town which celebrates the Day of the Dead in an unusual way. Every November 1st, they organize horse races from the town to the cemetery and back, a kind of competition between the living and their ancestors.

IN THE YUCATAN PENINSULA

Thousands of participants walk toward the cemetery in the village of Santiago Sacatepequez, Guatemala, to watch the kite flying. Contests award prizes to the family with the most colorful kite.

The three states comprising Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula are a part of the Mundo Maya. Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatan all celebrate the Day of the Dead in a similar fashion. The celebration begins on October 31st, the day on which souls are believed to arrive to visit their family and enjoy a few days of festivities. An offering of hanal-pixan ("soul food" in Maya) is prepared, according to the preferences of the departed. In the early morning hours of October 31st, the souls of dead children appear. They will be received with atole (non-alcoholic drink made with water and corn flour) and corn on the cob, which is first boiled and then roasted. While the children's souls are wandering about and eating, the family say the rosary and pray for them.

    The prayers and absolute quiet are a way of asking for peace for the loved one's soul and for those who continue living.

   When the prayers are finished, the children's souls leave the house and the family eats breakfast. Another reception is then prepared for midday: an offering consisting of chicken stew, chocolate, cookies, a dessert made with squash, as well as bread, soup, meat, vegetables, atole and fruit.

Altars are set up in the corner of the living room, laid with white cloths made by the women. To the table are added: a wooden cross, a statue of the Black Christ or a coral rosary; two white candles, a vase of flowers and something in which to burn incense. There is always food and drink and little clay toys for the child dead.

On November 1st, the souls of the adults arrive, guided by the light of the votive candles which have been placed around the houses—one for each departed soul and a few extra ones, in case the family has forgotten someone. The offering for this day is much more elaborate: mukbil-pollo (large, cornmeal baked, dumpling-like dish filled with chicken and pork in a spicy chile sauce), different flavors of atole and chocolates, fruit, bread and a variety of candy. Once the adult souls have eaten their fill, family and friends join in the banquet. However, in the Yucatan Peninsula the dead stay for eight days, at the end of which time, on November 7-8, a similar fiesta is mounted and with fresh food and new offerings, the dead once again join the living.

IN CHIAPAS

In the Mexican state of Chiapas, the Day of the Dead is celebrated in every town and village. In some towns, however, this celebration is particularly important.

   One such town is Chiapa de Corzo, a small colonial city located just 14 kilometers from the state capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez There, preparations start several days in advance, when men, women and children go to the cemetery with brooms and buckets, paint and brushes, to clean and revitalize their loved ones' tombs. On October 30th, the cemetery is filled with roses, gladioli, daisies, chrysanthemums and golden china asters.

   Inside each home, preparations have also begun. An altar is set up with votive candles, patron saints and photographs of dead family members. In front of the altar, an offering is laid out.

   For the almitas (little souls), this consists basically of sugar candies shaped like wreaths and animals, and a variety of candy, water and bread. The "big souls" receive Day of the Dead bread, chocolate, cigarettes, pumpkin candy, their favorite dish and a bottle of mistela (liqueur made from jocote, a regional fruit).

   Children's souls reach earth on November 1st, All Saint's Day. Family members will stay at the tomb all day so when the little ones arrive they can see their loved ones. But there is no need to stay with them through the night because the little souls go to sleep early.

In the highland region of Chiapas, the Tzotziles paint the graves of their dead and adorn them with cempasuchitls (yellow, pre-Hispanic traditional death flowers).

Adult souls, however, are another story. The entire town of Chiapa de Corzo stays awake for them between the night of November 1st and dawn of November 2nd. Families will rent tables and chairs and hold a street celebration where the town's men play cards, dice, dominoes or chess, and pass the night away talking about the departed. At dawn, men and women head for the cemetery to say good-bye to their dead, carrying a lighted votive candle for each loved one they have lost. During the day of November 2nd, festivities are held on the city's holy ground. Some of the graves are decorated with colored ribbons and tropical plants. Trios, mariachi and marimba bands are taken to the cemetery to play the favorite tunes of those who are gone. At noon, once the family has eaten at the grave site, firecrackers are set off to announce that the souls have departed once again.

IN TABASCO

Nacajuca, a county in the Mexican State of Tabasco, is inhabited almost entirely by the Chontal Maya. Even though they have maintained their own beliefs about "little idols" and gnomes, the spirits which cause illnesses and other misfortune, their belief in the soul and the world beyond the veil have been influenced by the Catholic religion. The ceremony to celebrate the "coming" of the souls starts November 1st in the town church by saying a rosary, which is led by a "prayer man" and his assistant. During the prayers, the assistant places candles on the floor and burns incense.

    The offerings for the dead prepared at home are also common among the Chontal. In front of the permanent altar found in all homes, the male members of each family place a bed of banana leaves on which they arrange food and other items. In the traditional manner, they place manea, cooked chicken covered with plain tamales (cornmeal steamed dumplings) the main dish of the offering, in the center. On the sides, they arrange earthenware or gourd mugs of chorote (a drink made of corn flour and cacao), in each of which is a stir stick which has small ball of cornmeal dough on the tip of the handle. Next comes the uliche, turkey seasoned with salt, cumin and cilantro. Then the men place balls of cornmeal dough and lots of votive candles between the dishes and an incense bowl to one side.

Food and drink, clay toys for the souls of dead children and a small recipient where incense is burned, are placed on altars.

When the ceremony is done, the head of the household takes a pot each of chorote, uliche and manea, and shares it with all those present. Once everybody has partaken of each of these dishes, he carves the turkey and serves.

    Even though there are Chontal communities where women take a more active part in the Day of the Dead ceremonies, it is almost a rule that they stay away from the celebration, and they are forbidden to go to the cemeteries.

    In some parts of the Mundo Maya, the last community ritual related to death takes place on November 30. The people gather at the church for the "departure of the souls" with prayer and hundreds of lit candles. The dead return to their world, sated on ritual, food, drink and music to wait for next November.