A Reflection on Dia de los Muertos
Feliz Dia de los Muertos!
While I think it's super dope that some of these celebrations have grown to be larger than life, I have a complicated relationship with the idea that its popularity is a result of an American view imposed on Mexican customs (i.e. the party scenes in Coco and the opening scene of Spectre).
Prior to these pop culture moments, Dia de los Muertos was pretty contemplative—dare I say subdued? My Dia de los Muertos celebrations growing up consisted of my grandma cooking all of my grandpa's favorite foods and placing them on an altar with his photo for him to enjoy when he "came to visit us for the night" (very occultish considering how Catholic my grandma is lololz).
Therefore, Dia de los Muertos will always be a food holiday to me. I love this time of the year because I think of the editors (Amanda Hesser! Maria Yagoda! Lex Berko!) who gave me the platform to explore this idea further, and helped me find my voice in the process.
Below are some of my favorite stories pegged to Dia de los Muertos. I'm glad my teenage summers spent at El Mercado de Sonora (Mexico City's witchcraft market) with my aunts were put to good use!!!
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Food52: Day of the Dead in a Spread: Dia de los Muertos is a food holiday!!!
"The holiday is not only a personal celebration of family members who have passed on, but a demonstration of ancestral, pre-colonial pride, an appreciation of our indigenous roots. Nothing embodies this more than champurrado with it’s homegrown ingredients that have largely gone unchanged through the centuries. Said simply, champurrado—and many other corn-based Mexican foods, like tamales—transcend the living and the dead."
Food & Wine: The Dia de los Muertos Tradition That Almost Wasn’t
Atlas Obscura: The Sweet Secrets of a Fifth-Generation Sugar Skull Maker
Food & Wine: The Spirit Used by Ancient Mayans to Visit the Underworld Is on the Rise
Food & Wine: Chef to Celebrate Anthony Bourdain with Barbacoa-Topped Dia de Los Muertos Altar
Food & Wine: How Chefs and Mixologists Find Inspiration at Mexico City’s Witchcraft Market