The reading

Every year, on November 1 and 2, families in Mexico celebrate the Day of the Dead. On those days they honour their dead with ofrendas (offerings): they set out the food their loved ones liked best, water, cempasúchil (marigold) flowers, candles, papel picado (cut-paper banners), pan de muerto (bread of the dead) and little sugar and chocolate skulls. In this way they invite the loved ones who are no longer here to come back and spend time with them.

This celebration shows the great cultural richness of Mexico. It has pre-Hispanic roots, from the indigenous peoples, which blended with the Catholic feasts of All Saints’ Day (November 1) and All Souls’ Day (November 2). Its purpose is to honour the ancestors, because it is believed that on November 1 and 2 the souls of the dead return to spend time with the living. In 2008, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) declared this indigenous festivity an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The tradition is alive across the whole country, but some places are especially famous for keeping it: Pátzcuaro, in Michoacán; San Andrés Mixquic, in Mexico City (formerly called the Federal District); the Huasteca Potosina; Huaquechula, in Puebla; and Ocotepec, in Morelos. In these places the living and the dead still meet in homes, in the streets and in the cemeteries.

Mixquic is a village in the south of Mexico City, in Tláhuac, and it has one of the most impressive celebrations, because the whole village takes part in welcoming the souls of the dead. On November 1 the souls of the children arrive, and on November 2, those of the adults. They are welcomed with ofrendas, prayers and the ringing of the church bells.

The most important moment of the celebration is the alumbrada, also called the night of the candles. On November 2, from six in the evening (18:00), the people of Mixquic walk to the cemetery with candles, incense and flowers. In the cemetery they light every grave with candles and burn incense. The light and the smoke create a mystical atmosphere of communion between the living and the dead.

All that night, among prayers and songs, the people of Mixquic stay beside the graves of their relatives. According to tradition, it is the light of the candles that shows the souls the way on their journey back.