In English, Day of the Dead!
Day of the Dead is a Latin American holiday celebrated each year on Nov 1 & 2. The holiday has its roots in pagan ancestry worship. However, some Latin American Christians celebrate it as well, especially since the holiday has been merged (in many areas) with mainstream Catholicism.
November 1 is typically a day to remember children that have died, and November 2 is the day set aside to remember adults that have passed away. There may be more traditions associated with this holiday, but here are the three that I am familiar with:
1. Colada Morada–It is a thick, non-alcoholic drink made from the mora berry. It’s blood red…very reminiscent of actual blood.
2. Wawa de Pan–Bread made in the shape of babies. Creepy, huh? Yeah, well about as creepy as us putting little plastic babies inside a cake, right?! (For those that don’t know, that’s a reference to King Cakes served during Mardi Gras.)
3. Visits to the Cemetery–Okay, being honest here… This is the most disturbing of the traditions to me. Family members and friends go to the cemetery and pray FOR the dead. They set up tables with their loved ones’ favorite foods and memorabilia/photographs of those people. They also decorate the grave sites in hopes that the souls will visit them.
This is so very sad to me. As a Christian, I know that those loved ones have reached their eternal destination. There is no point in praying for them now. And inviting the spirits to come back is definitely dabbling in occultism, very dangerous. So, it’s just another reminder to pray for the people of this country to be transformed by the Truth of God’s Word.
This is how we “celebrated” at Casa de Fe–
1. Colada Morada–Wednesday the kids at CdF helped make this drink, and they drank it Thursday.
2. Wawa de Pan–I don’t think they served this at Casa de Fe, but we’ve seen them in the bakeries here.
3. A trip to the cemetery–A couple of our construction guys went and repainted the graves of Casa de Fe children. Our children took a “field trip” to the cemetery, not to pray FOR or TO the children, but to remember them and to thank God for their lives.
4. PARILLADA!–Yes, friends, at Casa de Fe we celebrate with parillada. What is parillada? In the US, we would say a “cook out” or BBQ.
