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Day of the Dead

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El Dia de los Muertos and Todos los Santos

  • March 24, 2009
  • Rated 4 of 5 by SeenThat from Tel Aviv, Israel
El Dia de los Muertos and Todos los Santos




The strangest festival in this journal, the Day of the Dead is a syncretism between an ancient local festival honoring the dead and the Christian day of All Saints.

Access

The main activities of the festival are located in the General Cemetery of La Paz, a main landmark that is readily accessible, though the arrival with public transport is difficult in those days due to the crowds.

After acclimatizing to the altitude, a walk from El Prado - La Paz main avenue – to the cemetery should take around twenty minutes.

Dining with Ñatitas

Originally, the locals used to take their dead out of their graves and share a day with them.

The gruesome part is that in the past the dead used to be dug out of their graves; nowadays only the skulls are used. Obviously lacking a nose, the skulls are affectionately called "ñatitas" (short nosed). If a skull is not available, a family's member dresses up as the dead and enacts him during the day, talking with the family about the last year and giving counseling.

Mastak'u - All Saints Table

The Mastak'u (All Saints Table) is where the syncretism between Catholic Christianity and local beliefs is evident. The All Saints Table is set at the meeting point of the family and features different offering to the spirits, according to their tastes in life.

Typical offering include food, drinks and miniature replicas of objects (see the Alasitas entry in this journal, the items used are identical) that belonged to the dead in life. In such a way, the arrival of the spirit is assured for a day during the first three or seven years after the death (traditions vary).

The table is arranged according to the world’s picture of the Aymara, Quechua and Uru people (all of them native of the Andean High Plateau and the high valleys surrounding it). It is arranged in three levels named Alaxpacha (heaven), Ak’apacha (earth), Mank’apacha (hell). The Heaven includes nowadays a cross, representing Christianity.

In the underworld, where the dead are according to the native beliefs, everything goes backwards and old people slowly turn young again. At the end of the dry season the dead return for a day to get supplies for the next year. On the first of November, Bolivian families begin to prepare a small feast to their dead that supposedly would arrive to the cemetery the next day.

The offering is arranged on a cloth covering a table called (mastak'u). The cloth is white if the dead were a kid or black if he was an adult. Next to the skull or to the dead photograph, candles, food, candies shaped as animals, dried fruits, pastries, "tantawawa" bread shaped as kids and symbolizing sacrificed children, coca leaves, chicha (corn beer), and cigarettes are placed in generous quantities. The skulls are extravagantly adorned, with many flower garlands, sunglasses, cigarettes and whatever the family fancies.

"Tantawawa" means "bread-children" in Aymara and refers to bread shaped and painted as babies. The bread is given to real children that in exchange pray for the dead of the family giving the bread.

Small ladders are placed on the table if the dead were adult, so that he or she would be able to climb to Heaven and small wings if the dead were a child. If the offering is suitable, then the spirits arrive at noon and leave at noon next day.

Sitting around the offerings table the family receives guests during the whole night and musical groups play relevant themes. The arrival of Mariachi groups in recent years that move from one family group to another marks the main deviation of old traditions. It is not rare to see a heavily adorned skull placed on one of the cemetery benches with the family standing around it, while a musical group plays a serenade to the dry bones.

Flowers are put over the tomb, if there is one. In La Paz most dead are kept in niches for a few years and then taken away from the cemetery thus most families bring their skulls with them (they are stored in their homes).

Next day, by noon, a farewell ceremony accompanied by an abundant meal is performed.

From journal Skin and Skirts: Carnival in Bolivia

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