Dias de los Muertos

It's a very nice day here in Chelem. We had several storms blow through over the weekend...the sky was cloudy much of the time and the temps dipped a bit. That was actually a welcome break from the hot weather last week. I'm glad that the weather has cooperated with the Mexican celebration of Day of the Dead. The Mexican people love celebrations and can figure out something to celebrate almost any day of the year. But one of the most important holidays is Day of the Dead. It's actually two days Nov 1 is Dias de los Inocentes (Day of the Innocents) on which they honor infants and children who have died...and November 2 which is Dias de los Muertos on which they honor adults who have died.
For their celebrations they build alters at their homes, light candles, present "the dead" with gifts of food and drinks which they enjoyed in their lives, present toys for the infants. Many will go to the cemetaries and set up what look like picnics...talking and singing to the passed family members.
Today while driving through the normally sleepy town square in Chelem there were lots of people around. Many people sitting and walking in the square and all the restaurants and stores were open and there were food carts all over. When I drove by the cemetary there were many food stands set up as well as a number of stands selling religious items, candles and skull candy. Yes, skull candy! The skeleton and skull are the most prominent images associated with the Dias de los Muertos. And, funny thing is (at least to me)...the skull image is most like the image that was used by the band The Grateful Dead! Skull candy is available almost everywhere...it is literally white sugar molded into the shape of a skull with the eyes, teeth and other bones painted in...most of them are smiling, which is a nice touch.
There are many foods associated with Dias de los Muertos...but the most important is a sweet bread called Pan de Muerto. It's a rich bread made with sugar and eggs...it's usually baked in a round loaf with a couple of strips of dough forming a cross on the top. After baking it's most common to cover the bread in sugar.
So...I told you all about the Day of the Dead and the Dead Bread so that I could tell you this. In the local Aureura Bodega (Walmart) store the bakery has been baking pan de muerto around the clock all weekend...most of the cases which usually carry cinnamon rolls, buns, doughnuts and Mexican pastries are now full of various sizes of pan de muerto. At the end of one of the aisles of display cases they have set up a folding table as an alter...on the table are a couple of religious candles, some white and green sugar jack-o-lanterns (not sure why they aren't sugar skulls, must be a corporate thing) and of course a couple loaves of pan de muerto...in the middle of the table is a photograph of Sam Walton, the founder of the WalMart corporation. And that's how important this holiday is to the Mexican people...and I think that is great!
(out of respect for this great tradition and celebration I purposely did not take any photographs)