![]() ![]() They also take all types of fruit and food, covered with embroidered napkins, as well as incense and candles. Between seven and ten at night the families keep the vigil in the cemetery, with the arch placed over the tomb. Seasonal fruits are hung from the arch, as well as the huaparikata, wrapped in corn leaves uchepo, which is a sweet food prepared with ground corn mixed with piloncillo sugar and cinnamon, also wrapped in corn leaves corn gorditas seasoned with sugar and the nacatamales.Ĭandles are placed on the sides of the arches’ wings, while a cross rises above the arch. ![]() The arch is adorned with the traditional flowers. This semicircle has wings, because the Purhepecha believe that the deceased becomes a winged being that flies with his guardian angel toward the dimension of the disembodied. On the afternoon of the first of November, the men that go to the celebration house are in charge of designing the floral arch this is specific to that population since the semicircle signifies that death is an expression of birth toward another dimension. The children continue participating in that custom, although it is not as attractive as before, according to Bertha Alicia. From the early morning hours, the groups of children would get together to comb the countryside and hills, picking flowers for the arches that are made to adorn the houses the night of the first of November. It was part of the celebration in this town that children would go to the houses with bunches of flowers to contribute to the families. This custom continues on the first of November, since a continuous procession of women that go to celebrate that year’s dead can be seen in the homes where there is a celebration. As retribution for the offerings of fruit, they give these condiments to the visitor so that she can make her nacatamales. At the same time, the women come out with two or three kilos of batter that had been prepared earlier for the nacatamales, as well as a handful of corn leaves, and apatakua made of red mole, beef and chopped onion. Hot wooden coals burn the incense smoke at the base of the altar in black clay ashtrays, aromatise the environment, cleansing it of impurities.Īccording to Bertha Alicia Cruz, cultural promoter of San Lorenzo, the hosts receive the offerings, and place them on the main mat of the troje where they would place everything that friends and neighbors bring. Flowers, the decedent’s belongings, and offerings are placed on the altar, and members of the community participate in this activity. The altar is a sacred place where the living show their love for the dead, co-existing with them in memory. The Jimbanqua ritual or celebration of the newly deceased has, as one of the predominant elements at the family level, the placing of altars and offerings. The atapakua is seasoned with mushroom, green vegetables, beef, and many times it is made from a vegetable base, according to each family’s preference.Ĭommunity Activities: The Ke’jtsitakua – Food Offerings At midnight, the church bells ring, announcing the arrival of the souls.The hosts boil the corn in wood ash to make the nixtamal, and very early the next day they make great quantities of batter for the nacatamales, along with the red mole of the guajillo chile. The bread with the human figure – guapita – in the form of a doll represents the woman.įrom the day before the first of November in San Lorenzo, the women, relatives and friends rise early to prepare the chile for the nacatamales. The pan de muerto (bread of the dead), with its own designs depicting the beliefs of that region, is made in the shape of a rabbit – aguani – that represents man, since in San Lorenzo the belief is that the soul, is the daughter of the moon. This corunda that also represents the star or the atomo divino (soul) of the dead, like the parakatatsitsiki flower, relates to the swarm of butterflies that for many represents the return of the souls. The Purhepecha, like the Maya, are a culture of corn, therefore not only the nutritional value of this product of the earth is rooted here, but the cultural value as well.Īnimecha Ke’jtsitakua – Offering of the DeadĪmong the traditional foods that are prepared for the celebration, the corunda (tamal) called huaparikata stands out, made from a base of new corn, that begins to be harvested in October, giving it a five point star shape, like a geometric figure. The prepared food for the celebration of the newly deceased in the Purhepecha Plateau in the State of Michoacan, is offered first to the deceased, so that they may take advantage of the vital flow of the food on the altar the physical part is left for relatives and friends. From the book “Day of the Dead, A Passion for Life.” ![]()
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