During our two upcoming tours of San Miguel de Allende, we have intentionally scheduled them to bookmark the beginning and end of the “Dead of the Dead” celebrations. Each week we will explore San Miguel with a local guide to gain a deeper understanding of this iconic holiday, and wander through the town’s decorated streets, altars, and cemeteries for an intimate glimpse into traditional Mexican culture.
According to travel writer, Sandra Roussy, “One of the most recognized yearly events that is celebrated throughout Mexico is Día de los Muertos, or ‘Day of the Dead.’ This celebration is rich in rituals and expresses the unique and exceptional relationship that Mexicans have with death and with their ancestors.
It’s a distinct spiritual time of the year to gather family members together, reflect, and remember our family members who aren’t with us anymore. It’s a happy celebration meant to honor our dearly departed loved ones and to appreciate life while we are still part of the living.
This Day of the Dead event is actually a set of traditions and symbols that can be slightly different depending on the area in Mexico. These festivities are spread over several days, normally the first few days of November when the celebrations are at their peak in the country. Some symbols like skeletons, sugar skulls, altars, and the colorful cut-paper streamers can be seen in all parts of Mexico at this time.
Day of the Dead is not the ‘Mexican Halloween’ like it is sometimes mistaken to be because of the timing of the year. It has nothing to do with the traditional Halloween customs that are well-known in the USA and other parts of the world. Actually, decorating your house with spiders and bats and wearing scary costumes is not done in most parts of Mexico. The most Halloween thing that resembles the traditional Halloween activities is celebrated in the more contemporary areas of Mexico where kids go door-to-door asking for calaveritas (small skulls), expecting candy or fruit.
One of the strongest and most recognizable symbols of The Day of the Dead celebrations is the tall female skeleton wearing a fancy hat with feathers. You have surely seen her in various contexts because the striking unique makeup has become very trendy in the last years. Her name is La Catrina and the essence of her story goes deep into Mexican traditions and roots but has been restyled only in the last century.
It is believed that the Aztecs worshipped a goddess of death that they alleged protected their departed loved ones, helping them into the next stages. The Mexican tradition of honoring and celebrating the dead is entrenched deeply in the culture of its people.
The skeleton with the hat that we see today came to life in the early 1900’s by artist José Guadalupe Posada. Posada was a controversial and political cartoonist that was liked by the people and who drew and etched skeletons (calaveras) in a satirical way to remind people that they would all end up dead in the end. It is said that he drew the dandy-looking female skeleton with a fancy feathered hat because some Mexicans had aspirations to look wealthy and aristocratic like the Europeans at that time. A satirical drawing to remind people to be themselves and to stop trying to be something that they weren’t. No matter how rich or poor you were, no matter the color of your skin, and no matter what society you belonged to, you would all end up skeletons.”
We are offering two separate tour weeks:
October 22 – 30, 2022: https://epexculinarytravel.com/san-miguel-de-allende-10-23-2022/
October 30 – November 6, 2022: https://epexculinarytravel.com/san-miguel-de-allende-10-30-2022/
These stunning images are shared courtesy of friend and very talented photographer, Jack Paulus, who, with his wife Amy, are living in San Miguel for a year after his retirement from Pixar Animation Studios. The body artist pictured is renowned local Gerardo “Fosil” Rivera Suaste, who, on our tours, we will have an opportunity to meet and watch him work to creating these live Catrinas.