At last, things are almost back to normal in San Miguel de Allende, and we were able to celebrated El Día de los Muertos in great style. The origins of the holiday are ancient. From the History Channel website: "The roots of the Day of the Dead, celebrated in contemporary Mexico and among those of Mexican heritage in the United States and around the world, go back some 3,000 years, to the rituals honoring the dead in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The Aztecs and other Nahua people living in what is now central Mexico held a cyclical view of the universe, and saw death as an integral, ever-present part of life."
The Aztecs honored the dead for an entire month in August, but when the Spanish came to Mexico, the Catholic Church moved the celebrations to November 1st and 2nd to coincide with All Saints Day and All Souls Day. On the 1st, the spirits of children are allowed to visit their families for 24 hours and the same happens for adults on the 2nd.
In addition to the skulls and other symbols and rituals used over the years, the Catrinas and Catrins were added to the celebrations. Catrinas, modeled after cartoons drawn in 1910 by Mexican illustrator Jose Guadalupe Posada and later incorporated into a huge mural by Diego Rivera, were satirical jabs at upper-crust Mexicans and their obsession with European high society. Tom Wolfe's skeletal "social x-ray" bears a striking resemblance to a Catrina.
This year we were able to take a tour with a guide who explained the rituals to us and took us to special places around town. Our first stop was the crypt under the local parish church, the beautiful and famous Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel. The crypt is open only one day each year on November 1, so we were delighted to go inside. It is a fairly large chamber with many tombs where several heroes of the revolution and members of prominent families are buried. There are large tombs under the floor and small ones in the walls.
Click on photos for larger versions. | | Crypt: Table is directly under the altar above |
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 | | Many tombs line the walls |
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| Several priests who died during the revolution are behind this wall |
We were treated to bells at the Parroquia. Play the video to listen.
There were lots of decorations around town in addition to the many doorways surrounded by garlands.
 | | Bright flags flew over the streets |
|  | Workers placing marigolds, the symbol of
Day of the Dead, around a monument |
 | Garlands around doors. This shop is
advertising makeup for Catrinas |
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One of the most important rituals for this holiday is the building of ofrendas. These are shrines to
the departed and must include photos as well as the favorite foods of the deceased. They can be inside people's homes or like this one, on the steps of the home.
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| A large ofrenda outside the home |
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| Favorite food of the departed |
The very old cemetery, Antiguo Cementerio de San Juan de Dios, is sometimes opened for Day of the Dead, but for some reason, it wasn't open when our tour went there. The cemetery is no longer in use, but if you have an ancestor buried there, you can get permission to enter. I took one photo through the gate.
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| Lots of marigolds decorating the graves |
On both November 1st and 2nd, the area around the Jardin, the central garden, was filled with makeup artists painting people's faces for the evening Catrina Parades. Some of the designs were quite lovely.
I did my own makeup, but my husband, Erich, had his done at one of the booths.
