Days of the Dead

THE DAY OF THE DEAD festival is one of the most important - and interesting - of the entire Mexican religious calendar. And nowhere is this celebration adopted more enthusiastically than in Oaxaca.

Centered around All Saints and All Souls Days on Nov. 1 and 2, preparations begin this month. Here on the coast, it is customary for local families to visit the cemeteries on Oct. 15 to clean them and leave small offerings of flowers on the graves and to issue a symbolic invitation to the spirits of the dead to return in two weeks for their special fiesta.

Towards the end of the month people flock to the markets to buy the necessary goods to build their altars and honor the dead.

There are new dishes to buy (used plates just wouldn't do to receive the spirits of the dead), the many herbs, spices and other ingredients to make the rich mole, chocolate, nuts, sweets, candy skulls, candles, incense and skeleton figures, games and toys. And, most importantly of all, the flowers: bright red coxcombs, white lilies, all manner of wild flowers and especially marigolds, cempasúchitl, the flower of the dead.

All of these will be used to decorate elaborate altars in homes, businesses and the cemeteries to welcome the spirits of the dead back to the world of the living.

The observance of All Saints and All Souls Days was initiated by Pope Gregory in the 9th century and introduced into the New World shortly after the Conquest. It won ready acceptance because it meshed so easily with the beliefs and attitudes towards death of the indigenous people.

The cult of death was present in all of the cultures of Meso-America, nowhere stronger than among the peoples of Oaxaca. Mitla, one of the state's major archeological sites, means place of the dead and the pyramids of Monte Alban housed fabulous tombs filled with great treasures to accompany the departed.

In the modern era, the work of the satirist and lithographer José Guadalupe Posada, who used the skeleton motif to lambaste political figures and social injustice, created a resurgence of death imagery in popular art.

These skeleton images are called calaveras or skulls. And, they are seen everywhere, from the political cartoons on the opinion pages of the newspapers to children's toys and games. Calaveras is also the name for the humorous, if macabre, poems that are composed about the untimely demise of political leaders, friends and loved ones, even though they may still be alive.

Far from being solemn or morbid, the Day of the Dead celebrations are highly festive in tone. They celebrate the continuity of life and strengthen the links to the past. Death is the supreme equalizer; no matter how unjust the world might be, we all face the same fate. Rich or poor, ugly or beautiful, the wise and the ignorant, all, at that final hour, are destined to become bones and dust.

On the last days of the month the entire family prepares the household altar. A clean cloth is set out on a platform, arches of cane or reeds are built above it. Flowers are arranged, fruit, nuts, bowls of candy, candles and incense are laid out with photos of dead family members, religious icons and the ubiquitous, whimsical calaveras. The altars are true works of art and proudly displayed in a place of prominence. On the night of Oct. 30 the women work all night to prepare the special foods for the following days when first the angelitos - the souls of the children who went straight to Heaven, since they were free of sin - and then the adult souls arrive to visit their families and enjoy the pleasures they once enjoyed.

It is a remarkable time to be in the state of Oaxaca, to marvel at the creativity and spiritual strength of its people.