El vecino gallo and other stories

Dia de muertos

8:45am, November 1
Like any annoying neighbour, el vecino gallo is never around when you actually need him and I slept in. Today is the first day of dia de muertos and I’ve got places to be and things to see! Pinche vecino gallo.

A few things:

1. Dia de muertos is a celebration which dates back to Aztec times. If you have seen Coco, you probably have at least a Hollywood idea of what it is. (If you did not cry during Coco, I will judge you – you know who you are Hector).
2. Dia de muertos is not Halloween. If you dress up as a Catrina for Halloween, that is offensive to some Mexicans. Probably better to dress as a slutty something or cut some eye holes in a sheet.
3. Because the original inhabitants of northern Mexico (including Sonora, where I live) have different traditions, the celebrations here are not as big as what they are in Central and Southern Mexico. It is relatively new to celebrate the holiday here. We went to the local mercado to look for sugar skulls, but the only place we found them was in the supermarket.
   

Hermosillo does not have huge parades or fiestas like some other cities in Mexico, but the students at the University of Sonora have a parade and it’s a lot of fun.

Mexican humour tends to be a bit black and not particularly concerned about offending anyone (eg. a girl dressed as Mexico getting fucked by a guy dressed as a corrupt politician) – I’m all for it!

I’ve added some photos of the parade – I need to get better at taking more photos more often!

Pan de muerto – if this is how death tastes, sign me up

“They probably don’t have very good sweet food in Mexico…”

– Someone who was very wrong, circa 2011

The person who said that to me has:
a. never been to Mexico and/or
b. has never tried pan de muerto (or with my terrible pronunciation of R – pan de mueto).

Pan de muerto translates to bread of the dead. It is a bit like Cadbury Creme Eggs or hot cross buns, only available in the weeks before Dia de Muertos.

Wait, what?!

Unlike Cadbury Creme Eggs and hot cross buns, pan de muerto is actually only available in the weeks leading up to Dia de Muertos.

Pan de muerto is eaten on Día de Muertos, at the gravesite of a relative or friend or at an ofrenda. 

The bread is sweet and has an orange and aniseed flavour. It has the consistency of a cloud when you bite into it. I limited myself to 2 (or 3 if I count the one I bought in the supermarket that, while still reasonably delicious, had the texture of a stale kitchen sponge, only harder (foreigner fail).

It is said that the spirits do not eat the bread because the dead do not eat, but they absorb its essence. I on the other hand, absorb ALL the carbs and sugar, so, it’s not a bad thing you can only get it for a few weeks a year -although, I can assure you that there are plenty of other delicious windows to weight gain in Mexico to tide me over until next year!