Party in the Cemetary

I was so excited for my first Guatemalan holiday, and Day of the Dead is a BIG deal.  I had been a little disappointed that in the previous week more of our educational materials at work had to do with the American Halloween than with the Guatemalan Day of the Dead, but the actual day was far from disappointment.

The cemetery was full of color and people. Going into the cemetery at 6:30 in the morning as some of the latest arrivals astounded me. It seemed that everyone greeted everyone with smiles and good mornings. I couldn’t help but wonder, at 6:30AM, how everyone was so happy in a cemetery (and at 6:30AM without coffee mind you).  

If I had to guess, 99.9% of the graves had been cleaned and repainted a few days before. On November 1^st, graves were swept, re-soiled and covered in flowers, confetti, and wreaths of varying colors. Some of the graves were above ground, some were new, others only marked by a wooden cross; some had trees growing out of them (which were well trimmed for the special occasion). When I think of a cemetery, I don’t often think of a place exploding with life and color, but on this day every cemetery in Guatemala filled this description.

Not only did my eyes feast on a scene full of life and color, my taste buds were overwhelmed by the variety of flavors in my food. For example, Fiambre is the name of a traditional Day of the Dead dish here in Guatemala. Almost everyone makes it their own way and almost everyone thinks theirs is the best. Fiambre has everything in it. It doesn’t taste bad, but the concept of turkey, chicken, every kind of sausage, hotdog, green beans, beets, pickles, cucumber, corn, baby maize, lettuce, radish, asparagus, cilantro, beef, lima beans, tomato, carrots, and peas all together in one dish is a little disgusting. 

Another traditional Day of the Dead food is the Mollete. For me, Molletes are like that piece of pie that you could probably, and secretly want to down in about two seconds because it’s so good, but you persuade yourself not to because you’re sad to see it go. I helped my host mom, Marta, make the molletes the day before. They are made with a special type of roll with sweet cream, raisins, and wine inside. After stuffed, they are rolled in really well beaten egg and fried in corn oil on the fire stove. On the second day, a slit is cut in the top and they are reheated in a unprocessed brown sugar and spice water/syrup in a bowl.

Kites are also a huge part of Day of the Dead. Everywhere you look for days leading up to, and after, November 1^st, it is possible to spot at least one kite. In the afternoon I counted at least 35 coming from the same cemetery. Some are the size of my head while others, entered in different competitions, can be bigger than a few people high. Most of the kites are made of tissue paper,  lightweight wood and cost less than a dollar depending on size and shape.

The two moments that I treasured the most this day were flying kites with my host family on the roof of the house and visiting the fair in a cemetery near by my town.  The fair on a dirt soccer field was exciting to witness, not to mention that for the first time since I have been in Guatemala, Julianne (other YAV) and I just happened to bump into some Guatemalan friends we have made! It may sound small, but in a world where everything has been foreign and people don’t often speak English, these two tiny encounters proved that we are beginning to make our place here. We are actually managing to build relationships and to make friends. It was the first time that I was able to recognize that I can, that I am, and that I will continue to build trust and community here in a culture different, yet full of life and color, from my own.