Hola. I have sadly neglected this blog, even though I love it and its concept, due to focusing on my own novel writing, promoting those books, and starting and maintaining two Substack publications -- Cognate Cognizance and Tomes and Topics. I'm going to write a long overdue post now.
I'm in the Yucatan part of Mexico. The above photo is of me at the beach in Progreso and sporting the cool cap that I bought at La Isla mall in Merida. Merida is where I've spent the bulk of my time since arriving on October 22nd because my friend, Silvia, lives there. She's the reason I came to Mexico, but I also chose this particular time, so I could see some of the things they do for Day of the Dead. Even though I taught Spanish for 30 long years, I never got to Mexico during the annual Day of the Dead celebration because I was always smack in the middle of the school year and my obligations for it.
Thus, it's been on my very long list of things I want to see and do for far too long, and I can finally cross it off. Since Merida is in the Yucatan, most of the things they did to celebrate the holiday were steeped in Mayan culture, and even the 10-day celebration was often referred to by its Mayan name of Hanal Pixan.
Due to time constraints, my friend's dialysis that she has to do four times a day, the location of events, and other things, we certainly didn't get to every event that was available -- all free of charge -- during that time, but we attended enough to satisfy my desire to see part of the celebrations.
The first thing we did was attend one of the nighttime tours of the oldest cemetery in Merida, the General Cemetery, which is located near the international airport. Our Didi driver dropped us off on the wrong side of the huge walled cemetery, though, so we began walking. Fortunately, a young man passing by on the other side of the street in his car saw us walking and assured us we were going in the right direction, but we weren't sure how to traverse a very large and deep rain puddle that covered the entire intersection. Plus, it was still quite a trek, so Silvia asked if he'd take us and we could pay him -- he did! He also returned after we were done with our tour and took us to the main square for the next event we did -- he was very nice, and of course we paid him for his time because he was also an off-duty Uber driver.
Anyway, back to the cemetery. When we arrived, the first tours were beginning. Each tour was only supposed to have 50 people in it, and we could see right away that there were way more than 50 people there, but suddenly a smaller group broke away from the large group, and Silvia heard the guide saying that it was the English group, so we just walked over to it. A man looked at me and asked if I was on the list. "List? What list?" I asked, certain that we were about to be asked to wait until the next tour started in two hours, but he just said, "Let me get it." He came back with a clipboard and paper, and had me put my name on it, party of two; so I did, and Silvia and I joined the English group for the very first tour of the cemetery.
It really only constituted a small portion of a very extensive cemetery, and I don't recall all the things the guide told us. I wasn't really there for the history lesson anyway -- I have a strange fascination for cemeteries, especially old, large ones. Thus, I mostly just took a lot of photos. A return trip in the daylight would be beneficial, but I don't think it's going to happen on this trip.
So, here are a few of the photos I took in the General Cemetery of Merida.
After our kind young driver named Manuel returned for us, he took us to the main plaza where the opening ceremony for Hanal Pixan was about to begin. There was a very long line, so we browsed in the Dante bookstore until the line began to move, and then we joined it. Once inside the theater, though, it was hot and crowded and full of copal, a type of incense, that got to both of us, so we didn't stay for the whole thing. Additionally, the speakers were cranked to the highest volume, I think, and it echoed badly in there to the extent that I couldn't understand anything being said anyway. I got enough of the procession, though, to appreciate what was taking place.
A couple nights later, we returned to the street leading to the General Cemetery to view the passing of the 700 ánimas, or reanimated souls, as they came out of the cemetery and reentered the world during the time of the Day of the Dead celebration. The procession was very cool, and the mayor of Merida led it, but afterwards, we had a heck of time getting through the throngs of people to a place where we could arrange a car to come get us. In fact, Silvia's phone battery was exhausted, and my phone wouldn't pick up any service to allow me to arrange a driver, so we had to call her daughter who then sent a Didi driver to get us, but we had to walk a long ways to a spot that the driver could even get to because so many roads were closed for the event. It was crazy and chaotic, and Silvia really needed to do her dialysis, and she was exhausted, so I was on the cusp of panic, but it all worked out as things tend to do.
Prior to the procession, since we'd arrived plenty early, we were able to see many of the altars erected along the route. Afterwards, there were so many people that it was impossible to see anything other than the crush of people around us.
In that last photo, you can see the sign that says "Marquesitas" on it. Prior to this trip, I'd never had one. Now, I've had two, including the one I had from that stand. Here is Silvia with hers before the procession began. It's basically a large, warm ice cream cone type of crust that is wrapped around the filling you want in it. Silvia always just gets shredded cheese in hers, so that's what I got, too, and it was surprisingly delicious.
Love this Tammy! Your photos and explanations—so vibrant!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos and great write-up!! What an interesting time of year to get to visit Mexico! Also, I enjoyed your article in the Norfolk Daily News!!
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