People hold candles over a tomb decorated with flowers at a cemetery in Atzompa, Mexico, late Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023. In a tradition that coincides with All Saints Day on Nov. 1 and All Souls Day on Nov. 2, families decorate graves with flowers and candles and spend the night in the cemetery, eating and drinking as they keep company with their dearly departed. (AP Photo/Maria Alferez)
By María Teresa Hernández
Ana Martínez is eager to welcome her deceased loved ones back home.
Martínez and others in southern Mexico's Oaxaca state wait with anticipation for Day of the Dead celebrations every Nov. 1, when families place homemade altars to honor their dearly departed and spend the night at the cemetery, lighting candles in the hope of illuminating their paths.
“We preserve the culture of our ancestors, and that is why we make our altars,” said Martínez, 41, who lives in the town of Santa María Atzompa.
Each Oct. 31, Martínez builds a three-level altar on her terrace. First come the flowers, a type of marigold known as cempasúchil. Martínez ties them in an arch over the altar.
“For us, that arch is a portal so that they (the deceased) can reach our house,” she said. “We also create a path of flowers to the door as a welcoming sign.”
Next, she lights copal, an incense which is believed to guide the souls, and places foods such as apples, peanuts and bread. Chocolates are for her grandma, she said.
“She was like my mother, so everything I’m going to offer is with the hope that she can be here," Martínez said.
On this date, Oaxacans don’t honor death but rather their ancestors, said the local secretary of culture, Victor Cata. “It’s a celebration of those with whom we shared a time and a roof, who were flesh and blood like us.”
Santa María Atzompa traditions are embraced from childhood and passed from parents to children. Martínez’s 8-year-old daughter asked if she could help arrange the fruit on the altar, and her mother assigned an additional task: Make sure the candles stay lit in the afternoon so that our deceased don’t lose their way.
As soon as the sun sets, locals gather at the cemetery to light candles over their family tombs and start a vigil known as “vela."
María Martínez, 58, paid a visit to her late husband by noon. “I do feel that they are returning today but I also think they are with us daily, not just on this date,” she said.
Oaxacan traditions vary among the 16 indigenous groups and the Afro-descendant community, but according to Cata, there’s a shared ancient knowledge that relates to the land.
“October and November are the dry season, when the land languishes,” Cata said. “But it is reborn, so there is this thought that the dead return to enjoy what they loved in life.”
Felipe Juárez, 67, offered mezcal and beer for one of his brothers. For other family members, his wife cooked Oaxacan delicacies such as mole, a traditional sauce.
It will be a long night, Juárez said, until they go home at 6 a.m., but these are joyful times.
“On the day we die, we will meet them again,” Juárez said. “We will reach that place where they have come to rest.”
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Amazon is betting that ammonia could be the fuel of the future, participating in a Series A round for the Brooklyn-based company Amogy in December. Amogy aims to de-carbonize transportation with a clean energy system that uses ammonia as a renewable fuel. Amogy is partnering with Amazon on its first commercial product - an ammonia-powered cargo-shipping vessel. Amogy CEO Seonghoon Woo joins Cheddar Climate to discuss.
One of the world's largest transport companies is kicking off Black History Month with a new initiative aimed at the next generation of business leaders. Today, FedEx announced the launch of its Student Ambassador Program. Participants selected from eight historically black colleges and universities will receive career guidance from FedEx executives. The program is part of FedEx's ongoing commitment to HBCUs and will also help the company expand its pipeline for diverse talent. Cheddar News welcomes senior vice president at FedEx, Jenny Robertson, and Jerryl Briggs, President of Mississippi Valley State University, to discuss.
"Sing 2" has overthrown "Spider-Man: No Way Home" as the number one film at the UK box office. The animated sequel brought in $8.1 million, in just its two first weekends. However, "No Way Home" is still on track to beat "Avatar" as the number one grossing movie of all time.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has been a driving force for youth mentorship since 1904. The nonprofit organization is launching its annual Big Draft campaign this month in partnership with the NFL, and Artis Stevens, the first Black CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, joined Cheddar to discuss the push for adding more "Bigs" as mentors on his one-year anniversary leading the non-profit organization. "While the NFL is recruiting and drafting more players, they're also helping us to draft more mentors and, particularly, men all the way from across February to all the way to April of this year," Stevens explained.
The Supreme Court will reconsider race-based affirmative action in college admissions. The court will examine admissions policies at Harvard University and The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, which count the race of applicants as a factor in admissions. The court has upheld affirmative action policies in the past, saying it helps to create more diverse student bodies. However, the conservative Supreme Court could be skeptical and even possibly hostile to such policies. Nick Anderson, Higher Education Writer, Washington Post joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
The value of most cryptocurrencies have plummeted in recent months since reaching all-time highs in November, wiping out more than $1 trillion in value globally. The steep crash has some talking about the possibility of a crypto winter, a term referring to a prolonged bearish period where asset prices persistently fall over many months. This all comes as the Fed is expected to raise interest rates, and the Biden administration is working on an executive order to regulate Bitcoin and other assets. Josh Goodbody, COO of Qredo, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the crypto crash, and how the industry might recover from it.
Recent data reveals that streaming giants are struggling to retain subscribers in the months following a major release.
According to data from Antenna, subscriber trends show that users will subscribe to a given streaming service just to watch a particular show, and then cancel those subscriptions shortly after. This comes as the streaming space continues to heat up as new entrants crowd the space. Jon Christian, Founding Partner + Digital Supply Chain Leader at OnPrem joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
The EU relaxed its Covid travel restrictions for vaccinated individuals among the union's 27 member states, doing away with testing or quarantine requirements for travelers. This comes soon after the World Health Organization said the omicron variant could help make the pandemic more manageable. The new rules take effect February 1st. Bryce Conway, Founder, 10xTravel joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
If you're in China you may have noticed that the 1999 film "Fight Club" which features Brad Pitt has somehow got itself a new ending. In the new ending on the streaming service Tencent, the narrator is killed and the explosions are replaced with a black screen saying "the police arrested criminals".It's unclear as to exactly why the changes were made. However, it is the latest example of China playing by its own rules when it comes to entertainment and attempting to control everything its citizens watch. Media Reporter at Axios, Sarah Fisher, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
