Dia de los Muertos
Day of the Dead Bread Recipe

Dia de los Muertos is often confused with Halloween, but is has nothing to do with dressing up in costumes and asking for treats. The Day of the Dead is a celebration where families honor and remember their relatives that have died. People in Mexico and Hispanics in America celebrate the day by cleaning and decorating the graves of loved ones. The custom is a merging of the ancient Aztec and the Spanish Catholic cultures.

The Aztecs believed that life and death were part of one another and that the spirits of the dead could affect the living. According to their culture, a dead persons spirit must make a journey through nine levels of the underworld facing dangerous challenges along the way. To help the dead make the journey successfully, friends and relatives buried their dead with personal and household objects they felt would help the on their way. The dead persons spirit would make their way to the level reserved for that persons station in life. Once a year, the spirits of the dead return to earth to visit friends and relatives. Dead children would visit in the ninth month of the Aztec Solar Calendar and adults would visit in the tenth month. To celebrate this, the friends and relatives pay their respects by preparing favorite foods to make offerings to the visiting family members.

When the Spanish invaded Mexico, they brought their own customs honoring the dead to the New World. The Catholic customs of All Hallows or All Saints' Day on November 1 and All Souls' Day on November 2, were days dedicated to praying for the souls of departed saints, family members and friends.

As the Aztec and Spanish Catholic traditions already overlapped on the calendar, the two cultures merged and over time the Day of the Dead became the celebration in Mexico. All Hallows Eve eventually became the secularized into Halloween.

Day of the Dead Traditions
From October 31 to November 1, the custom is to clean the grave sites of any debris and weeds. Decorate the grave with Marigolds. It is believed that the strong scent of the Marigolds with lead the souls of the dead back to the grave to visit with living relatives and friends. Candles are used to illuminate the pathway to the grave. The favorite food and drink of the departed is served so the souls can eat the spirit of the offerings, leaving the actual food for the living. A photo of the dead person is displayed so the souls can recognize its previous physical form. A piece of clothing and a favorite tool or object from the deceased also adorns the grave site.

In Mexico the people also build altars or ofrendas in the homes. This is a table that holds all the decorations and offerings that will later be placed on the graves for the all night vigil on November 1.

PAN DE MUERTOS, DAY OF THE DEAD BREAD
OR ALL SOULS BREAD

This bread can be made into the shapes of angels and animals.

Ingredients

1½ cups of flour
½ cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of anise seed
2 packets of dry yeast
½ cup of milk
½ cup of water
½ cup of butter
4 eggs
3 - 4½ cups of flour

Preparation

Mix the dry ingredients together, EXCEPT the 3 - 4 ½ cups of flour. Heat up the milk, water and butter and mix. Mix into the dry ingredients and beat well.

Mix in the eggs and 1½ cups of flour from the 3 - 4½ cups left out. Beat well. Little by little, add the rest of the flour. Knead on a floured board for 10 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl and let it rise until double its size, about 1½ hour. 

Bake for about 40 minutes for 350 degrees. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar or colored sugar.