Celebrations, Mexican Culture

Day of the Dead Offerings

by Irene

I am back from my trip to Mexico!  It was wonderful to be able to visit my family in Culiacán, and attend my niece’s wedding in Mazatlán, both cities in the state of Sinaloa.  I will post about my experiences there soon, but I did not want to miss the opportunity to share some pics of the interesting offerings in honour of the departed that were on display at businesses and hotels, in preparation for the Day of the Dead (today, November 2).  Saintly images, an abundance of flowers and skeletal figurines with their ivory faces, all combined with candles, sheets of chiselled paper, portraits of ancestors and, of course, food.

Supermarkets were well stocked with Day of the Dead cushy bread, Mexican marigold (Tagetes erecta) flowers, and sugar skulls:

Along with the display in one of them, was a small offering, mixing traditional elements, such as the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, with Halloween trick-or-treat plastic pumpkins:

IMG-20191017-Supermarket offering My Slice of Mexico

My sister took a photo of the offering at the Community Centre where she attends a yoga class.  Note the use of paper flowers instead of the traditional fresh orange/yellow marigolds (Tagetes erecta), also known as cempasúchil (from the Nahuatl cempohualli – twenty, and xóchitl – flower) because each bloom has twenty petals:

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Restaurants also had displays, including food and chinaware from their kitchens, as it may be seen at the top of this post, and below:

Inked20191015 Restaurant offering.jpg

One of the most impressive offerings was at one of the hotels where part of the family stayed; it was almost two stories tall and included fresh and paper flowers, water and food, candles, crosses, photos of beloved departed, and human and animal skeletal sculptures:

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Our offering at home is very simple this year, just a table-top display, but I managed to bake a batch of Day of the Dead sweet bread:

Day of the Dead offering 2019 My Slice of Mexico

13 thoughts on “Day of the Dead Offerings”

  4. Very nice post! My husband is Mexican and we have not been so far in Mexico during this time of the year and I would love to see it… It is such a beautiful cultural tradition 💓 we have started to teach our boy about it and making altars here… And I am looking for proper recipe for pan de muertos and try it here. Really nice post!

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