Days of the Dead

Today, Mr. M and I walked to a farmers’ market held in the garden area of a large nearby hotel. We don’t usually attend this particular market because it mainly specializes in Baja grown wines from the Guadalupe valley. The wines are well known and apparently wonderful, but Mr. M and I don’t drink wine so it is lost on us.

The reason we went today is because they were sponsoring a free Dias de Los Muertos, or Days of the Dead, celebration, including dancers, costumed participants, and an Altar contest. In Mexico, Halloween is not recognized like it is in the US, although some of the more savvy kids here are catching on to the idea. But November first and second are big celebrations here.

Colorfully costumed Calaveras, or skeleton, dancers.

November first is the day families remember Los Angelitos , deceased children of the family, and November second celebrates deceased adult relatives. It is not a morbid idea here. The traditional Mexican belief is that there are three deaths: the first when the body physically dies, the second when the body is put into the earth, and the third is when there is no one to remember the deceased. That is why it is so important to celebrate the lives of family members who have passed on.

The days at the end of October are spent cleaning and decorating the graves of the dead. Altars may be set up in the family home. The altar usually has 4 to 7 layers and is colorfully decorated with playful skeletons called Calaveras, which often represent the favorite activities of the deceased. Objects placed on the altar can include decorated sugar skulls, pan de muertro, a sweet bread, everyday objects with special meaning, candles, incense, photographs, and especially, a special marigold called cempasuchil. Anything that might please the deceased can be added.

The celebration we attended today was a lot of fun! Here are some of the Altar contest entries:

This altar has a display carefully created with natural items like coconut and flower petals.

This altar has a costumed attendant lighting the candles.

This altar is a good example of seven tiers and it has living Calaveras, or skeletal representatives of the dead.

Here is a closer photo of them:

These girls were having a good time  pretending to be dead!

Independence Day!

Today is Mexico’s Independence Day, a grand fiesta and National holiday. We were quite surprised when our trash was picked up this morning, our regular pick up day. I thought they would take the day off. Great work ethic! This is a huge holiday here and I wrote about it previously here.

To celebrate this holiday, which actually started last night, I made a traditional Mexican fiesta dish: pozole.  Perhaps you have eaten, or even heard of menudo, the traditional Mexican New Year’s Day dish (reported to cure a hangover). Pozole is menudo’s elegant cousin.  Menudo is made from tripe and hominy, or pozole, as it is called in Mexico. The dish by that name does have the corn, but also has pork and, in my recipe, chicken, and best of all, no tripe! It can however include pigs feet; not yesterday though because I was making a batch that I could also can for later.

So after all that rambling here is my recipe:

Pozole for dinner and canning

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil (I used olive)

2 small pork loin roasts, cut into roughly 1 inch cubes (about 3 pounds each)

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into roughly 1 inch cubes

1 #10 can of prepared hominy, rinsed and drained; or if you are really ambitious you can prepare about 13 cups from dried nixtamal, but that is a whole other deal

2 medium onions, chopped

1 entire head of garlic, peeled and sliced

10 peeled green chiles, diced into roughly half inch squares. Anaheim or Poblanos or other relatively mild chiles are good

1-2 jalapeno chiles, minced (optional)

Salt and fresh ground pepper

1 bay leaf

Chicken broth, about 10-12 cups

In your gigantic soup pot, heat oil, add the meat and cook until it just loses its color. Add the onions and cook until limp. Add garlic and chiles.  Add the pozole corn. Fill the pot with the chicken broth, depending on how much broth you like in your soups. Add the bay leaf, salt and pepper. Be careful of the salt, depending on the saltiness of your broth.

Bring the soup to a boil. This will create foam on the top; skim this off. Now you are ready to can the pozole. Fill each quart jar about three quarters full with an even mixture of the solids (meat, corn and chiles). Fill the jar with the broth to 1” below the top. Cap with 2 piece caps and can in a pressure canner for 90 minutes. Leave the bay leaf in the pot. Cook the rest of the soup for about one hour, or until the meat and the corn are tender. Remove the bay leaf and discard.

Serve the pozole in bowls with minced fresh onion, cilantro, dried oregano, lemon or lime halves to squeeze over the soup, sliced avocados, or salsa, if desired. (We prefer the first four).

No Sleep Tonight!

Tonight promises to be a noisy night here! Tomorrow, September 16, is the celebration of Mexico’s Bicentennial. Although Cinco de Mayo, the Fifth of May is often considered to be Mexico’s Independence Day, it is not. It is actually the day of a relatively minor skirmish that has been elevated in status by foreigners. Mexico’s Independence Day (from Spain) is Dieciséis de Septiembre, the sixteenth of September.

Two hundred years ago Mexico became it’s own country. This is the Bicentennial year. Tonight at midnight The Grito:  Viva Mexico, will be heard all over the country. It will be generally accompanied by various forms of celebration: fireworks, automobile horns, dancing, shouting and general partying.

Many of the Mexican television networks are showing the amazing Gran Fiesta that is occurring on the Zocalo of Mexico City, Mexico City’s Central Square. It has beautiful cultural dancers, music, a parade, floats, and a huge 20 meter tall figure representing all the deceased Mexican Independence fighters. It was elevated into a standing position by helicopter. Following that amazing thing is a Dance of Fire, along the lines of the fountain at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, only with flames in place of the water. That’s not to mention the fantastic fireworks following the President’s call for El Grito. Does this country know how to party or what?!

Mexico’s Bicentennial is a wonderful celebration of the Independence of a Country that has a rich history and a warm and beautiful culture. Congratulations Mexico: Viva Mexico!

Today is a Holiday

Today is an Official Holiday here in Mexico. It is the day set aside this year to celebrate the birthday of Benito Juarez. He was actually born on March 21st, 1806, the child of Zapoteco Indians. He is very revered political leader. In fact, he was Mexico’s president during Mexico’s Napoleonic war. (One of the major battles was on May 5, 1862, a defeat that is more celebrated as Cinco de Mayo in the US than in Mexico). Eventually, France was ousted and Maximilian was executed, allowing Benito Juarez to become the first President of an independent and democratic Mexico, much like George Washington in the US.

If you travel throughout Mexico, you will discover that nearly every community, no matter how small, has a Benito Juarez street or avenue. It is invariably one of the major thoroughfares. Here in my city, Benito Juarez is the major street through the oldest part of town (which happens to be where I live). This street was the major tourist attraction here.

This is a quiet holiday; one without much fanfare. Banks, schools, and public offices are closed, but any business that is based on tourism is open. I find it so disheartening to see how few visitors we have. When we first moved here, tourism was in full glory. We heard fireworks nearly every night and our weekends were subject to what seemed to be a war of bar noises, escalating all night until around six in the morning. We didn’t appreciate the noise because it made sleeping a little difficult.

Now, almost every night is so peaceful, we can hear the surf on the beach two blocks away; good for sleeping, but disastrous for business. There is a saying here: When the United States gets a cold, Mexico catches Pneumonia. It seems to be true. The terrible financial conditions in the US are having huge repercussions here. Combine that with the warnings that are being publicized about the narco-wars here and business dries up.

Although Mr. M and I cannot save the tourism business here, we do try to do our part to help support the local community. We donate to help support children of a local orphanage. Another  interesting way we help support the local families comes about when we shop at the local markets.

In Mexico, the Mayor of a city is called a Presidente, and his wife is considered to be the city’s First Lady. Our First Lady is in charge of a program that supports the children of the poorest Mexican families. This program pays for their education and, as part of their opportunities, they are allowed to work after school as “baggers” in our local stores. Any tips they receive are theirs to keep. Needless to say, I am a shameless big tipper. It is my way of congratulating that child for his or her good academics, which is a major requirement for participation in the program.

What a huge cultural difference from the US, where children are never allowed to work for corporations while they are in elementary or secondary school. These children are from the most destitute of families, but because they have great academic potential they are allowed to go to public school (which, by the way, is not free here) and to learn life skills while contributing to the support of their families.

Today, no children are bagging at the store. Today is a school holiday. It is a dia del descanso, or day of rest. I hope the kids are outside playing football (soccer to Americans) and thinking about what opportunities they may have. After all, if a child of an indigenous tribe could become Mexico’s first President, what opportunities might they have?