Hello! Today I will talk a little about a Tradition from my country Mexico." The Day of the Death", this tradition started with the fusion of Christianity brought from Spain with Catholism and Indigenous Rituals to Honor the Death. Actually, this tradition is unique in the world, because it´s a way to remember the Death with respect and joy, food, music, and color. We will talk about the ritual of the Candle. Lighting a Candle, now this tradition changes depending on the day we start the 28th and so we go on for 6 consecutive days till making a whole week. We end November 2nd. Normally, it is believed that is to help the spirit to get to its destiny. Now I have to be honest, we never did this at home and it is not part of our family tradition, but we did eat bread and go to mass. While teaching in Mexico I learned by
more about this tradition, in schools, we have altars made and the kids do fun crafts. On the 28th we start to be lighting a candle, beside and a white flower. This represents that they are going to shelter the lonely souls. The 29th we light another candle and we place a glass of water, this honors those who have been forgotten and don´t have many prayers from loved ones. The 30th which is today we light another candle and we add white bread or what is called " Pan de Muerto", delicious! Made especially for this occasion. Now, this represents food for the ones that maybe died in an accident of were hungry at that time. I recommend that if you do this at home, please do be so very careful with the candle, don´t leave it on near little children and turn it off at night. Remember that safety is very important. I will be posting tomorrow what comes the next day. Remember that culture and sharing it is very enriching. It doesn´t mean than some cultures are better than other ones it just means that we are different and there is beautiful and wonderful things to learn from cultures. My husband is American and he loves the bread, sometimes we share our bread with the little trick or treaters that come home. With some hot chocolate is delicious!!
Love and Light.
Lucy Campbell DÃaz
