Myosotis

Hi there~

Día de Muertos will be the next week! Aren’t you excited?

Well, in the Coco fandom some cocolocos are starting with the setting for their Ofrendas. And here are some tips for how many days, what to put in the ofrenda and why:

October 28: you light up the first  candle and you put a white flower to invite the “ánima sola”, the lonely souls.

October 29: you light up another candle and put a glass of water for the forgotten and helpless.

October 30: you light up another candle, put another glass of  water and put a piece of white bread for the ones that left without eating and for the ones that left because of an accident.

October 31: you light up another candle, put another another glass of water, another piece of white bread and fruit. This is for the deceased ones of our deceased, in other words, for our great grandparents and great-great grandparents.

November 1st: In this day you put all the food in the ofrenda, this is the day for the kids.

November 2nd: this day you put the marigold petals way to the ofrenda, you burn copal to purify and to attract the rest of the deceased, mostly adults since kids came on November 1st.

November 3rd: you ligth up one last candle, you burn copal and you say your goodbyes to your family inviting all of them to come again on the next year. You clean everything until next year. Many people usually ate the food (fruit, pan de muerto, the dishes you prepared…).

….

First of all, nowadays Día de Muertos is both a prehispanic and catholic combination that ended up as a tradition. So almost everything has two meanings, a prehispanic one and a catholic one.

I’ll try to be more on the prehispanic side, and on the most common too.

1) You have to decide how many levels your altar will have:

2: earth and sky (the goods in the earth like the fruit and the goods in the sky like the rain)

3: either heaven, earth and underworld; or the holy trynity

7: is the most common, it represents the 7 levels a soul had to travel to the spiritual peace, the 7 kinds of dead acordinly to the aztecs or the 7 capital sins.

For the aztecs there’s 8 test (one on each level) in the Mictlán (underworld for the ones who died of natural decease) until you arrive to the 9th level of Mictlán and you met the Death Gods Mictlantecuhtli and his wife Mictecacíhuatl to achieve the eternal rest. Xolos help the souls to complete the 8 tests of the Mictlán, that’s why you never have to hurt a dog ;)

2) Water. For the souls that are thirsty and that want to clean themselves, it’s also common to left some personal cleanliness objects with that purpose.

The Mayans had the belief that the cenotes, which were considered sacred, were a gateway to the underworld. In many representations of altars we usually place a tableware with water, symbolizing a cenote and the entrance to the underworld.

3) Candles, to light up their way and to warm their souls. In some places, each candle represents a deceased, that is, the number of candles that the altar will have will depend on the souls that the family wants to receive, and don’t forget to dedicate one to an ánima sola. Purple candles represent  mourning, and the white ones purity. Before the Spaniards brought the wax to make candles, Ocote wood sticks were used.

4) Copal, or incense. This attraccs the souls because of the smell and it also purifies, some people put and ash cross too. All of this have the purpose of keep bad spirits far away and to help the souls of our beloved ones to end with their pendent worries. The ash cross also helps a soul to leave the purgatory, in case it’s there.

5)The salt serves so that the soul does not get corrupted on its round trip for the following year.  

6) Arc of flowers, that goes at the top representing the entrance of the land of the dead and as a representation of the 8th level of the Mictlán. Its usually made of palm and marigolds

7) Flowers.

There’s a legend of the marigolds. There was a girl named Xóchitl and a boy named Huitzilin, they always carry flowers to a hill and offered them to Tonatiuh, the God of the Sun. They both felt in love and promised to always be together. When the war came Huitzilin had to go to fight, and died. So Xóchitl went to the hill and asked Tonatiuh for his help to be reunited again with her beloved one. One of the sunrays of Tonatiuh touched Xóchitl and she became a beautiful flower with the color of the sun. Then a hummingbird came and possed on the center of the flower, so the flower opened in 20 petals and a delightful fragance. Warriors rebirth as hummingbirds, which was the case of Huitzilin, so when his love touched the flower it bloomed. Tonatiuh said that as long as there are marigolds and hummingbirds in the world, the love of Xóchitl and Huitzilin will last.

Xóchilt means  flower in náhuatl

Huitzilin means hummingbird in náhuatl

Cempoalxóchitl (or Zempoalxóchitl) means 20-flower, or 20 petals flower  in náhuatl, in Spanish this is written as cempasúchil, that it’s the marigold, a native flower of México.

Marigolds bloom at fall, when everything is dying, as in the legend when it bloomed after the lovers died. Its nahuátl name Cempoalxóchitl that is usually translated into 20 petals flower, literally means 20-flower. The Aztec calendar worked with 18 months of 20 days each one. Every month starts with an alligator and ends with a flower, meaning the endind of a cicle, the “death” of that month and of course of the year, a cicle that is now complete just like the life of our beloved ones. 

Those are some of the reasons because marigolds are also related to the dead. And it’s because of its beauty, intense and mysterious fragance, curative properties and relation with the light of the sun that it’s used in the altars to guide the souls.

You can also use other flowers like baby’s breath flower if the ofrenda is for a kid, since they represent inocence and purity. Celosia cristata and the spikenard flower are pretty common too.

8)Earth goods. To represent the goods of the earth, it’s common to put seeds and fruits on the ofrenda. A common fruit in the ofrenda is the sugar cane because it looks like human bones. Seeds like corn and cacao, and sawdust too are usually used to decorate as in the photo.

9) Papel picado. The precious colorful paper sheets that we use in many celebrations all the year, these ones represent the wind that will carry the scent of the flowers and copal to the souls.

Aztecs used Amatl paper, nowadays know as Amate paper and used it to paint there their deities, some codex in amate paper still survive in the museums. But once the Spaniars arrived, this changed to the tissue paper. 

For a Día de Muertos altar, the papel picado has the skulls and skelleton drawings as in the style of José Guadalupe Posada (the man who created the Calavera Garbancera now also known as La Catrina) the colors of the paper had different meanings:

White: purity, for the kids

Purple: mourning color for catholics

Orange: mourning color for aztecs

Blue: for the ones who died for water related decease

Red: for the warriors and women who died at giving birth

Yellow: for the elders

Green: for the young

Black: some people say it’s for the adults (as white is for the kids), others say it represents the purgatory and the underworld, but others believe you are calling for the death to come for you (so, yeah, I don’t use it).

But we usually use almost every color, either because it looks cute and (low key) because since we are accepting ánimas solas, forgotten and helpless ones.

In México where one can eat, two can. And if two can, three can…

Now you get why we make big celebration parties…

10) A Cross for the cardinal points, so the soul does not get lost. It’s usually made of lime (the one you use with cement) or candles.

….

If you have seen in the offerings some prehispanic dogs made of clay, those are the izcuintles or itzcuintli. They are a must in the altars dedicated to children, since they are a toy so that the souls of the little ones are happy to arrive at the banquet. 

Itzcuintli means dog, and xolo means weird, so xoloitzcuintli, xoloescuincle in spanish, means weird dog. Xolo also refers to Xólotl, the twin brother of god Quetzalcóatl. Representing the duality, day and night, life and death, and xolo dogs are also refered as the dogs of the God Xólotl.

When people died they were usually buried with their xolo dogs so the dog could help the souls to cross the Chiconauhuapan River, one of the test of the Mictlán. So, if the person didn’t had a xolo dog when was alive, putting an itzcuintli figure is believed to give them some help to pass this test.

12) Food

A fan of tacos, mole, enchiladas, or even pizza? You have to put the favorite food of your beloved ones, both food and drinks.

13) Dulces

Specially if the Ofrenda is for a kid, even is you can put some of the favorite candies of the visitors, it’s really common to put lots of traditional candies os sugar, amaranth, pumpkin, coconut, etc

14) Pan de Muerto

The Pan de Muerto, bread of the dead, is one of the most precious elements on the altar, it  symbolizes a fraternal offering to the souls. As part of the celebration, loved ones eat pan de muerto as well as the relative’s favorite foods.  The bones represent the deceased one (difuntos or difuntas) and there is normally a baked tear drop on the bread to represent goddess Chimalma’s tears for the living. The bones are represented in a circle to portray the circle of life. The bread is topped with sugar. 

The classic recipe for pan de muerto is a simple sweet bread recipe, often with the addition of anise seeds, and other times flavored with orange flower water or orange zest.

15) Calaveritas de azúcar

Or sugar skulls, they are a representation of a human skull. The term is most often applied to edible or decorative skulls made (usually by hand) from either sugar, chocolate, amaranth, clay, maché papier, etc.

In pre-Columbian times the images of skulls and skeletons were shown often in paintings, pottery, etc. representing rebirth into the next stage of life. During the 20th century a political caricaturist named José Guadalupe Posada became famous for making Calaveras as vain skeletons dressed in the clothing of the wealthy. The most famous one was Catrina, wearing a feathery hat, fancy shoes and a long dress. Catrina is considered to be the personification of The Day of the Dead. These skeletons are created from many materials such as wood, sugar paste varieties, types of nuts, chocolate, etc. When used as offerings, the name of the deceased is written across the forehead of the skull on colored foil.

On November 1st, to celebrate the kids, miniature sugar calaveritas are placed on altares to represent the deceased children. On November 2nd, the are replaced with larger versions to honor older deceased relatives.

16) Gollete and sugar canes

The gollete is a piece of sweet bread similar to a donnut usually covered with pink sugar, its round shape simbolices the cicle of a life. And the sugar canes are used to hang up the golletes.

They have two meanings: the succeful pass from life to death and also the victory over the enemies, since the golletes also represents lifes, similar to the sugar skulls. The enemies skulls where usually put on sticks in many mesoamerican cultures. 

17) Photos

Photographs or portraits of your loved ones. Usually are for them to know they’re are welcome. and to dedicate to them all the offerings.

If you don’t have a photo or a portrait you can write their name on a candle or on a sugar skull.

18) Toys

Specially for the kids, traditional wood ones are the most common, like yoyos, baleros, trompos, dolls, tablitas…

19) Personal belongings

Did that person used to smoke? put some cigarettes; was a musician? their favorite instrument. Now you get the idea. Think of the things that person would love to see again. Or even a little gift you know they will love.

20) Calaveritas literarias

Poetry written for the día de muertos are known as literary calaveras, and are intended to humorously criticize the living while reminding them of their mortality.Literary calaveras appeared during the second half of the 19th century, when drawings critical of important politicians began to be published in the press. Living personalities were depicted as skeletons exhibiting recognizable traits, making them easily identifiable. Additionally, drawings of dead personalities often contained text elements providing details of the deaths of various individuals.

Sometimes we write some for the people we are dedicating our ofrenda to.

21) Skeleton ornaments

We use them either to represent the death or our beloved deceased person. At schools is common to ask the kids (as a homework or as a school project) to decorate and wear some paper skeletons.

So, this is it. But I KNOW you have a question.

Can I have a Coco Ofrenda? Can I use the coco characters for my Ofrenda???

You can have a Coco Ofrenda as long is not the same you are planning to put the photos of your family.

I mean, you can make an Ofrenda for your family AND a “decoration Ofrenda of Coco”.

Just have some respect for your family and have them separately.

And yes, if you have a Coco or Book of Life or whatever glass for the water or plate for the food, it’s ok, Coco candles too? Yes! It’s ok, as long they are just decorations as any other skeleton, not to have them in the main lights of your family Ofrenda.

Remember the Ofrenda Is your the deceased ones, not for you.

And they deserve love and respect.

So here are they

This are the common use for seeds and sawdust

These are the golletes and sugar canes

Sugar and Chocolate Calaveritas

Some ofrendas using photos, portraits or candles

Skeleton ornaments

A Ofrenda dedicated to Coco (this is from last year in Coyoacán, México)

1. dia de los muertos is not mexican halloween and i will punch you if you call it that

2. dia de los muertos is a very serious holiday and you should not make fun of it

3. dia de los muertos is a very cool holiday and you should appreciate it (a lot of latinos or hispanics would love to talk about it, so ask one of your latino/hispanic friends or ask google!)

4. you should make sure to respect latinos and hispanics during dia de los muertos (october 31-november 2), especially if they're celebrating it

thanks

it is said that the scent and look of the cempasuchil or marigold can guide the dead back from the land of the dead temporarily!

one of my favorite things about dia de los meurtos is pan de muertos!, which is a special kind of loaved breads reserved for the spirits.