Her Campus’ Leona interviews Paco to find out more about Halloween celebrations in Mexico, Día de Muertos, and how he will be celebrating this event whilst in Nottingham.
Hello Paco, firstly tell our readers a little about yourself.
My full name is Francisco Carrasco-Hernandez, but to make it simpler people call me Paco. I was born in Mexico City but then my family and I moved to live in the State of Mexico, about 30 minutes away from the main city. I am currently doing a PhD in Impact Biomechanics at The University of Nottingham.
Can you tell us a little about how you celebrate Halloween in Mexico?
Sure! In Mexico we celebrate Halloween on 31st October, due to the influence of the USA. Children go around the houses asking for sweets and singing songs about a hungry skull (the bucket you use to collect the sweets) or chanting “we want Halloween”. This is the American tradition of Halloween, but in Mexico we have another celebration at the beginning of November called Día de Muertos.
Tell me more about Día de los Muertos.
This celebration takes place on the first two days of November. It is a special time when we celebrate the lives of the people who have died. On 1st November we commemorate the people who died young, basically only children. On 2nd November, it is a bank holiday as we commemorate the other people who died (the ones who weren’t children when they passed away).
Why are there two different days to commemorate the dead?
The Aztecs believed that in these nights in November, the dead relatives came back to the family house to visit the ofrenda.
What’s the ofrenda [offering]?
The ofrenda is like an altar where you put food, cigars, typical food, desserts, even rum and tequila. Basically all the things that your dead family used to like. So on November 1st, only the spirits of the children come back. If you are making an ofrenda for a child, you have to make sure there are plenty of sweets, toys and things that children like. On November 2nd the other spirits come back to the home to the ofrenda.
How else is the ofrenda decorated?
There is papel picado, a decorative craft made of coloured tissue paper. You cut it to form different shapes and it’s very beautiful. The ofrenda is also decorated with Cempasuchil flowers (Aztec Marigolds) and burning incense. You should also put photos of your dead relatives in the ofrenda.
It’s very different to the Halloween decorations that we have here in the UK!
Well, some Mexicans also decorate their houses in the typical US way with skulls, pumpkins, dracula etc. But the ofrenda is more traditional and specific to the Mexico Día de Muertos celebration.
Do you also visit the cemetery on these dates? Or only respect the dead from home?
Well in the past, all the Mexican families would visit their relatives in the cemetery and they would decorate the crypts, which is amazing to see. There will be Mariachi and Norteño singing here too. But recently, especially in my hometown, the cemetery gets very crowded so we visit on a later date. But every year we decorate our house with an ofrenda with many pictures of our relatives and all of their favourite foods!
What will you be doing this year to celebrate?
I’m involved with the Mexican Society at UoN; I am the Social Secretary and I really love being a part of it. As a committee we talked to people from Nottingham Contemporary and Nottingham Trent University who asked for our help to make an exposition of our tradition.
I am designing the ofrenda and I am also going to play traditional Mexican music which I am really excited about! This music will be inspiration for the exposition. We are going to bake the traditional pan de muertos [bread of the dead], a sweet bun that is very tasty. It’s a big responsibility but also an amazing opportunity for us to celebrate and share our traditions with others.
When and where will this be?
It will be at Nottingham Contemporary, the art centre in the Lace Market area of the city centre, on Saturday 2nd November, 7.30pm until midnight. It’s free so you should definitely come and have a look!
It sounds like it will be a great night Paco, is there anything else you want to mention about Día de Muertos?
The traditional way of celebrating this in my country is truly amazing and full of everything you can imagine – special food and desserts, music and other things. Its roots lie with the Aztecs and we are still following it today. It is our way to laugh about death and it is quite hard to explain this tradition in words, you really have to be in Mexico to understand it fully.
For more information about the Día de Muertos exhibition at Nottingham Contemporary please see http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/event/el-dia-de-los-muertos
Photos courtesy of Paco Carrasco.