El Día de los Muertos

People are getting excited! The First and Second of November are getting closer. At a meeting the other day the leaders of the four youth groups that operate here in the University Parish completely lost me. We were planning for this weekend’s extra activity – our celebration of All Saints’ and All Souls’ days. We’re celebrating it early All Souls’ day is known here as “El Día de los Muertos” - the Day of the Dead.

It’s all a bit confusing. To start with All Saints’ Day seems to have disappeared! Then there are the various celebrations around El Día de los Muertos. It seems we’ll offer Mass for the souls of the faithful departed known to the people who come here. There’ll be a box on the altar with their names in it.

Afterwards there’ll be a festival of “Calaveras” – Skulls. These are skulls made of sugar or chocolate and richly decorated. They’re exchanged and eaten. I’ve bought mine in readiness to exchange. It’s sort of like chocolate Easter Eggs and Secret Santa rolled into one!

Sometimes mocking poems – also called Calaveras - are read out. They usually mock authorities and the rich and famous – reminding them their earthly wealth and power wont last beyond the grave.

A highly decorated sugar skull

Las Calaveras originally were used as offerings to the souls of the dead on All Souls’ Day. Each household set up an altar. On the altar were placed food and sweets, especially the favourite ones of the deceased. These remain untouched during the day while the souls have an opportunity to come and enjoy the foods and sweets they enjoyed while they were alive.

A chocolate Calavera

Later the living are able to enjoy what the dead leave behind. One of the seminarians told me in all seriousness that food left on the altar is not as tasty as the same food left somewhere else – the implication being that the souls do take something with them – the taste! He quickly realised I had a somewhat sceptical look on my face and pointed out that it may be because the food and sweets are at room temperature all day and that might account for a lack of taste!

An Alfeñique Chook

The custom of altars and offerings on November 2^nd is a mix of pre-Columbian indigenous traditions and Christian practice. The Aztecs (and other cultures) celebrated the ancestors by offering sacrifices – of fruit, maize, grains, animals – and humans. This practice was “baptised” by the missionaries and joined to the All Souls’ Day commemoration.

As part of our celebrations each of the youth groups is going to make “offerings” according to the tradition of different local indigenous tribes. I’m not entirely sure what these might be – and whether they’ll be offered during Mass or at some other time. Remember I got lost during the discussion with the youth leaders!

Alfeñique Deer

Skull and Bone sweets

I went to the Feria de Alfeñique in the centre of town today to buy my Calavera for the exchange. This is an annual event here in Toluca. There are about a hundred stalls set up selling all sorts of macabre sweets and handcrafts related to the Day of the Dead. I bought several Calaveras and chocolates in the form of bones. Alfeñique comes from Arabic and is a type of spun sugar used to make sweets. Most of the sweets in the stalls aren’t alfeñique – there were even some made from kumara! I’ll have to go back again!

Kai - in Mexico!

Food in México is a little different from NZ. Well, a whole lot different. Mexicans are very proud of their culinary traditions – as well they might be. Some of the things seem a little strange – like pork cracking. Except the whole dish is pork crackling (no meat) covered in green chile sauce... Probably not the healthiest meal…

Chilli is a constant – both cooked into the dishes and served as a salsa. The salsa, usually in a small dish on the table so you can add the amount you wish, is made of fresh chillies. There are a confusing number of varieties – with varying taste and hotness. This leads to the occasional mistake – one accompanied by tears and an immediate burning sensation – and a burning sensation a lot later too. The hottest chillies burn twice as the saying goes…

Pozole - maize (Elote), Jitomate (tomato), chilli, pork etc..

 Chilli makes even ‘blah’ food interesting. Yesterday we had soya – I guess a sort of tofu? What made it tasty was the red chilli sauce. And the day before it was ox tongue. Again made delicious by the green chilli sauce.  Neither was too spicy either.

We had an interesting experience while visiting an indigenous town. Every year a group from the University Parish does a mission in a village a couple of hours from Toluca. The Indians are Mazahuas. The men are known as traveling salesmen and range as far as the United States selling almost anything. The women stay at home and raise the kids. 

A great line-up! A shared meal Mazahua style.

After the mission group had done their catechising, we all shared a meal. The pots and plates of food were lined up outside the church, I blessed the meal and then visitors hoed in. The mission kids didn’t hold back either. It was traditional Mexican food with none of the processed stuff you get in the cities – with the exception of fizzy drinks!

Mexicans eat tortillas with everything. The Mazahuas are no different – except they raise their own maize, grind it and cook it themselves. The tortillas were fresh! And they had purple ones too – which tasted of wheat, rather than the maize they were made of.

The tortilla and chorizo on the hotplate.

Recently I was travelling near Puebla, to the south of Mexico City. We stopped on the side of the road for a quesadilla. These are tortillas filled with something – usually queso (cheese), but many other things too. I had queso and chorizo toluqueña (sausage from Toluca). 

Quesadilla (with a bite gone!)

The green stuff is the chorizo

Toluca is famous for its chorizo – not the least because some of them are green! There’s nothing so tasty as fresh artisanal bread stuffed with fried chorizo!

We also had mushroom soup. None of the cream of mushroom with tame lily white farmed mushrooms. This soup was a meal in itself! The mushrooms were wild, meaty mushrooms gathered locally. And no, no one had hallucinations or died!

Mushroom Soup

What we and the rest of the world know as tomato is called Jitomate here. Tomate (tomato) are green tomatoes that never turn red as they mature. They have a covering of green leaves almost stuck to the skin – and of course have a very different flavour. They seem to be used universally in green sauces, mixed with chillies. I haven’t seen them used uncooked.

Tomate (the green ones) y Jitomate (the red one)

 Mexico also has a great variety of fruit – both temperate and tropical. I tried one called Zapote. I was told to sprinkle it with orange juice – it was a dark brown colour inside, slimy textured and tasted of – orange juice! The larger variety is tastier, I’m told. I’ve since discovered it’s mildly narcotic... 

And this strange fruit is a pitaya dragon fruit.

There’s a lot more too – but I’m getting hungry. I’m off for a nice dish of Punta de Res  (Ox “foot” in green chilli sauce). A bit of meat, bone and sinew! Just kidding… There are some dishes I had which are unrepeatable!

I did notice these in the fruit bowl the other day...