Días de los Muertos
Los Días de los Muertos (Days of the Dead) are celebrated in Mexico on November 1st and 2nd. It is believed that on these days, the souls of deceased family members return home for a "visit".
This belief stems from ancient Aztec customs. The Aztecs viewed death not as the end of life, but as a continuation of life's journey. Instead of fearing death, they embraced it during a month long celebration in the ninth month of the Aztec Solar Calendar, which coincides approximately with our month of August. The Spanish conquistadors, feeling that the practice was sacriligious and barbaric, tried to eradicate it, but were never completely successful. They did manage to move the dates of the holiday to November 1st and 2nd, so that they coincided with the Christian celebrations of All Saints Day and All Souls Day.
Traditionally, November 1st is the day when the souls of departed children visit and November 2nd is reserved for adult souls. Family members may spend the day or the night, or both, at the family plot in the cemetary. For weeks beforehand, graves are cleaned and decorated in preparation for the holiday.
 Special altars are also set up inside the home to welcome the visiting spirits. The altar is decorated with flowers (usually marigolds), candles and incense. It contains an ofrenda (offering) honoring the departed with food, drinks, candies, and photographs. These displays are laid out in a very elaborate manner.
 One of the foods usually included in the ofrenda is "Pan de los Muertos", a sweet bread which is sometimes baked with a small skeleton inside. It is said that when the bread is served, whoever bites down on the skeleton will have good luck.
If you would like to make your own Pan de los Muertos, here is a recipe for you.
Pan de los Muertos
5 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 packets dry yeast
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbls. anise seed
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup butter
4 eggs
glaze (recipe below)
In a mixing bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of the flour, yeast, salt, anise seed, and sugar. Mix thoroughly.
In a small pan, heat milk, water, and butter almost to a boil.
Stir warm liquid into the dry mixture until well blended.
Mix in the eggs, and add remaining flour a little at a time, until the dough is soft but not sticky. You may not need to use all of the flour, or you may need to add a tiny bit more.
Knead dough on a floured board 10 minutes. Place in a lightly greased bowl in a warm place and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
Remove dough from bowl and sculpt into desired shape. You may also add a small toy skeleton at this time, if you wish. Let the sculpted dough rise for an additional hour.
Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, until golden brown. Add glaze.
Glaze
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup orange juice
2 Tbls. orange zest
colored sugar
Mix 1/2 cup sugar, orange juice, and orange zest in a sauce pan. Boil 2 minutes.
Brush glaze lightly on bread and sprinkle with colored sugar.
|
Alebrijes
