Dia de los muertos / Jaanal Pixan

**photos coming soon**

The guide book says it best, Yucatán is the place to see a great display during el Día de los muertos because in Yucatán the celebrations downtown are primarily Maya celebrations of Jaanal Pixan, which is the Mayan Day of the Dead Festival.

So we talked to several different people and it seems that the Festival is three days, October 31, which is (sadly so) turning into an Americanized Halloween with pumpkins, candy, and the like. November 1 is Saint’s Day and the day to remember children in your family who have died. November 2 is the adults day and the day to go to the cemetery to remember your ancestors who have passed on.

The “celebrations” basically consist of family members getting together at a house and eating A LOT of tamales. Pib is used for these days. Pib is basically a hole in the ground with sticks or a screen over the hole. A fire is lit in the hole and the tamales or whatever food you’re eating is cooked on the sticks. It is AMAZING by the way.

Unfortunately it rained all day on Nov 2, the day set aside for going to the cemetery. Señora Ramirez did stuff us full of tamales, however, and some fried massa that was super tasty too (it’s sort of like fried chicken skin without the grease, except totally different) Basically for three days she showed up at our door with a huge plate of tamales in banana leaves (steamed over a pib). We love living here…

Here are a few pictures from the main square downtown. Various towns from around Yucatan built huts on the square and erected altars for the dead. The idea is that when a person dies he or she begins the journey to the afterlife. It is a long way, so he or she will need nourishment, food; some rest, in a hammock; possibly a light for guidance, a candle; etc. (The bowl-looking things are called luuch in maya and are made from jícara a type of gourd. These are used for drinking, should you get thirsty, and for eating your oatmeal-like breakfast).