these little girls are dressed up for noche de muertos and asking for money
preparations for decorating the graves in tzintzuntzan. say that name 3 times quickly. it's actually pronounced "zin-zun-zan".
Miguelangel Nunez gave us some background on the belief system of the indigenous people.
Read on if you’re interested (there's quite a bit here):
The indigenous people believe in supernatural spirits of their ancestors. On the night of Nov. 1 the thin layer between the living and the netherworld is cracked open. These people (the ones we see selling in the Mercado or cleaning the streets) put a lot of energy into cooking and gathering and cleaning and arranging of their family gravesites. They believe the animas (the souls) of everyone are all together between midnight and sunrise which is why they gather at the graves all night. At sunrise the animas (souls) go back to the other world.
The day celebration, Nov. 2, is for the catholics. Apparently the catholic church couldn’t change the belief system of the indigenous people so they added on Nov. 2 – all saints day – to go to the cemetery to remember those who have died but they don’t include the belief about the animas.
The night of Nov. 1, offerings are made by the families. We saw many of these things on the graves and the meaning is:
bread (represents the human form)
oranges represent the sun
bananas are the crescent moon
sugar cane is the bones of the dead
squash/like pumpkin is the cranium and carved faces with a candle inside is the light of the soul. There are 4 elements represented:
fire (candle)
water (origin of life)
earth (cemetery)
wind (ornaments or cut-out paper flags that move in the wind)
and then there is the sense of smell (aromas from wild orchids or franencince)
flowers (love to all animas & visitors, positive energy and best wishes)
yellow from marigolds is a pre-columbian tradition representing the sun or creator, the first god to die and come back to life.
Dying and birth is a collective experience. After death the family has an open house for 3 years on Nov. 1 offering food and drink to anyone coming by. They believe it takes 3 years to purify the animas.
And then we were off. The traffic was like LA sludge and took a long time to o from place to place. Sitting in the van for an hour or so gave us a chance to rest and warm up. It was cold. Walking into the first cemetery with all the crowds like walking into performance art except it was real. I saw a huge park-like area filled with burning candles anad people huddled around graves. Mounds of earth covered in orange marigolds. Smoke and incense, melted wax and flower s scented the air. Ironically I’d just read in the book The Magician’s Assistant “people need things to do at cemetaries to make themselves feel useful…it makes you feel better”. We went to 3 different cemetaries, Tzurumutaro, tzintzuntzan, and cucuchucho. Tzintzuntzan had the worst traffic because it’s the most popular. Cucuchucho is the farthest away, and the least populated, mostly locals. They used very tall candles and offerings were all handmade. Because it was so cold people were huddled around campfires or fires cooking soup or hot chocolate. By 2am many of the family members were sleeping wrapped in blankets. I was surprised by the energy – laughter, music, quiet conversations. It was a respectful gathering of family members for their most important holiday of the year. We didn’t get back to the hotel until 2:30am. The next morning I could still smell the smoke from last night. it was an amazing experience hard to put into words.
The indigenous people believe in supernatural spirits of their ancestors. On the night of Nov. 1 the thin layer between the living and the netherworld is cracked open. These people (the ones we see selling in the Mercado or cleaning the streets) put a lot of energy into cooking and gathering and cleaning and arranging of their family gravesites. They believe the animas (the souls) of everyone are all together between midnight and sunrise which is why they gather at the graves all night. At sunrise the animas (souls) go back to the other world.
The day celebration, Nov. 2, is for the catholics. Apparently the catholic church couldn’t change the belief system of the indigenous people so they added on Nov. 2 – all saints day – to go to the cemetery to remember those who have died but they don’t include the belief about the animas.
The night of Nov. 1, offerings are made by the families. We saw many of these things on the graves and the meaning is:
bread (represents the human form)
oranges represent the sun
bananas are the crescent moon
sugar cane is the bones of the dead
squash/like pumpkin is the cranium and carved faces with a candle inside is the light of the soul. There are 4 elements represented:
fire (candle)
water (origin of life)
earth (cemetery)
wind (ornaments or cut-out paper flags that move in the wind)
and then there is the sense of smell (aromas from wild orchids or franencince)
flowers (love to all animas & visitors, positive energy and best wishes)
yellow from marigolds is a pre-columbian tradition representing the sun or creator, the first god to die and come back to life.
Dying and birth is a collective experience. After death the family has an open house for 3 years on Nov. 1 offering food and drink to anyone coming by. They believe it takes 3 years to purify the animas.
And then we were off. The traffic was like LA sludge and took a long time to o from place to place. Sitting in the van for an hour or so gave us a chance to rest and warm up. It was cold. Walking into the first cemetery with all the crowds like walking into performance art except it was real. I saw a huge park-like area filled with burning candles anad people huddled around graves. Mounds of earth covered in orange marigolds. Smoke and incense, melted wax and flower s scented the air. Ironically I’d just read in the book The Magician’s Assistant “people need things to do at cemetaries to make themselves feel useful…it makes you feel better”. We went to 3 different cemetaries, Tzurumutaro, tzintzuntzan, and cucuchucho. Tzintzuntzan had the worst traffic because it’s the most popular. Cucuchucho is the farthest away, and the least populated, mostly locals. They used very tall candles and offerings were all handmade. Because it was so cold people were huddled around campfires or fires cooking soup or hot chocolate. By 2am many of the family members were sleeping wrapped in blankets. I was surprised by the energy – laughter, music, quiet conversations. It was a respectful gathering of family members for their most important holiday of the year. We didn’t get back to the hotel until 2:30am. The next morning I could still smell the smoke from last night. it was an amazing experience hard to put into words.
we highly recommend our tour guide - miguel angel nuñez - casadetierra@hotmail.com
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