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The image also acts as a guide and protection and along with the crucifix, symbolizes the defunct person's request to come back home. Their purpose is to light up the path of their return home so that they don't lose their way in the darkness. The candles are chosen according to the celebrated person's age, small for the young, large for adults. The latter in combination with the stews that are prepared and the fruits, is put in order to quench the hunger of the deceased while the drinks, to quench their thirst. The offerings are made up of seasonal fruits, drinks and favorite foods of the dead, images of saints and photos of the dead, candles and candles, marigold flowers, crucifixes, copal and of course, dead bread. It is customary to put offerings at the home of the deceased, on his/her grave and at church which are the three places that he/she were in contact with in life and death. Instead of the ancient customs of the indigenous peoples disappearing, religious European beliefs were incorporated.
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Today's altars are a conglomeration of Mesoamerican cultures, mainly that of Mexico, with that of the Spaniards.
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As in ancient Greece where the souls were accompanied to Hades, the Greek underworld, by the god Hermes, Xolotl was the Aztec god in charge of this task. The Aztecs believed that as in life, so at death, one had to pass through eight levels or planes to reach Mictlan, where at the ninth level the god Mictlantecuhtli and his wife Mictecacihuatl awaited him/her. To the Otomies, the altar steps stand for the seven capital sins while the Aztecs associated them to the seven destinations to which the soul went to, according to the type of death each person suffered. The more complex, seven story altars, are a representation of the seven stages that a soul is required to go through so that its spirit may rest in peace. On a table that is usually positioned in a room with access to visitors, an altar is assembled that in its most elaborate form, consists of seven levels but is usually of only two or three that represent sky, earth and the underworld that gave its place to purgatory, mixing the conquerors' belief in Catholicism with that of indigenous cultures.
#El dia de los muertos ofrenda how to#
How to Prepare Pork Chicharrón from ScratchĪt the end of October, when the date of the celebration nears, the placing of "ofrendas" or offerings for the "Day Of the Dead" to honor them, is a tradition that we see in almost all friends' and family members' homes.Fulfillment of the Craving for some Tacos de Canasta.Tarascan soup: the confusion of the "sons-in-law".
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Decorations, such as skulls and tissue paper flowers.
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