Día de Muertos @ Ikal Tulum
From the 31st of October to the 2nd of November of 2021, we celebrated Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, here at Ikal. We celebrated life & death the traditional Mexican way, by making Catrina masks, preparing Altars, making offerings and lighting candles under the moon. Day of the Dead (Dia De Los Muertos) is a two day holiday that reunites the living and dead.
Families create ofrendas (Offerings) to honor their departed loved ones that have passed. These altars are decorated with bright yellow marigold flowers, photos of the departed, and the favorite foods and drinks of the ones being honored. The offerings are believed to encourage visits from the land of the dead as the departed souls hear their prayers, smell their foods and join in the celebrations! Day of the Dead is a rare holiday for celebrating death and life. It is unlike any holiday where mourning is exchanged for celebration.
We started our celebrations with an opening ceremony and by making our offerings. The offering is a ritual which is done to share food and drinks with those who have passed on. The following elements are often given as offerings during the day of the Dead in Mexico : water, salt, candles, and incense or copal.
Water is the source of life. It is offered to souls to quench their thirst after their long journey to this world and to be strong when they return. Salt represents purification. It is used as protection so that the body is not corrupted on its journey towards other realms. Candles guide souls so that they can reach their old home without losing their way. Copal and incense are used to cleanse the house of evil spirits so that souls can enter it without any danger.
On the following day we received wisdom from our Elders’ during a talk, listened to their sacred words and stories of death from an ancestral worldview. We then did a traditional Mexica Dance & Offering to the Mictlán, expressing our gratitude towards life as well as our humbleness towards death. On the final day, we enjoyed a sublime meditation guided by none other than Bobby Klein, and ended the celebrations with a splendid closing ceremony together as a soul family.
We built altars, shared sacred food and offerings, listened to the Elders, sat in meditation, bowed in ceremony, celebrating life and death with our beautiful community. We are so happy with the way it turned out, and so grateful to have these memories:
