Women of 30 have few teeth and many children. We are glad we brought an offering of sugar skulls with silver eyes in the Tianguis de los Muertos in Guadalajara. No sugar skulls for sale here. We present Esperanza and Raol with white daisies, magenta cockscomb and marigolds to decorate the altar for the adults. Today, November 2, is the D a de los Fieles Difuntos or All Souls Day.
Candles are lit, ofrendas laid out.
They place a photograph of Raul's father, who was recently deceased, and tamales, a candy bar and pulque, a drink made of the fermented juice of the maguey plant. Esperanza and her sisters make tamales, a task which occupies the afternoon. Offerings of corn and products of corn are part of the pre-Hispanic past. All indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica made offerings of corn. For many groups, Maya, Pur pecha and different Aztec tribes it was a god.