Mexico is one of the places where Halloween is not that welcome (yet). Instead, Mexicans celebrate Dia de Muertos - Day of the Dead. Close enough to Halloween, but still different and much more picturesque and authentic. During this time you build an altar for your family members that passed away, remember them in a cheerful way telling jokes and anecdotes about them, eat pastry called 'bread of the dead', sugar skulls with your name and other candy, drink hot chocolate and spend time with your family.
In Veracruz, Naolinco is the place to be and to see the best of it. Between 28th of October and 2nd of November in this small town the locals organize a party where invited are both the living and the dead.
I know that many of you would think that in Mexico it is always hot and sunny, but this town in the mountain happens to be very cold and gloomy even for the European standards. In the evening of 1st of November many go there to celebrate, and the locals are offering hot chocolate and tamales to warm the freezing visitants up.
These celebrations are unique in the whole state of Veracruz and cannot be seen anywhere else. Every family prepares a special altar for their deceased. The altars have not much to do with death and scary stuff though. On the contrary, they are full of life and are supposed to remind about the deceased. They are decorated with orange "flowers of the dead", colorful perforated paper, drinks and food that the deceased really liked and copal incense. According to the believes, during this time the dead are coming back to our world to be with their family and enjoy once again all the things that they loved during their life.
When you walk on the dark and mysterious streets of town, inhabitants invite you to enter their homes and to see their altars. They also offer wine, coffee and food. Afterwards, the families and the visitants are heading to the cemetery for the ritual of "cantada" during which they sing songs for the dead.
In this way, you can visit almost every house in Naolinco and get to know the people living there. They are happy to tell you more about their family members that passed away, daily life and share their food with you. They still believe in old rituals, traditions, magic and ghosts. They still put a lot of effort in the preparations and this tradition means a lot to them.
I have never been a big Halloween fan, neither I like all the plastic decorations in the streets. But here in Mexico, Dia de Muertos is different, it really makes sense and has a meaning. And I like to walk in the streets and see all the decoration that people made themselves, watch the lights, eat tamales and drink hot chocolate. And I think it is even worth to come all the way to Mexico to see it at least once in a lifetime instead of going to all the Halloween parties back at home.
Till the next story,
Cheers,
Marcela
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