Dia de muertos: celebrate the dead, for life!

Cemetery, El dia de muertos.

(Day of the Dead) in Mexico.

Janitzio

By: Clémence Denavit Follow

6 min

Cemeteries in the light, music and feasts on the graves, on the altars erected in the houses.

For 3 days - from October 31 to November 2 - Living families come together and meet to eat with their dead.

In Mexico, celebration and death are "one", and form a bridge between the worlds of the dead and that of the living.

Traditions and rites surround the feast of the dead, cultural and culinary.

Did you know ?

The dead hate to be forgotten, and the living love to remember each other by cooking the dishes they loved so much. 

Publicity

With

, chef, caterer and trainer, and

, her son.

→

→

In Gabon, the feast of the dead is celebrated with joy and remembrance, with the family and in cemeteries.

A detour through Libreville.

In images, in pictures

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To go further

by Ryoko Sekiguchi

by Margarita Carillo Arronte, Phaïdon editions

, Keribus editions

- Coco film, by Adrian Molina and Lee UnKrich.

Pixar.

Music

by Angela Aguilar

by Lila Dows

RECIPE

Tamales - corn papillotes

For about 10 tamales 

1 kilo of nixtamalized special “tamales” corn flour (if you cannot find any, you can take tortilla flour, like Maseca), 300 grams of lard, 

15 grams of baking powder, 475 ml of chicken broth, a pinch of salt, banana leaves.

Preparation: 

Start by passing your banana leaves over the flame of your gas stove before immersing them in hot water for 10 minutes, so that they are more flexible.

Then grate your cheese. 

Cut the banana leaves into 30x30cm squares, then pass them directly over the gas flame, or immerse them in boiling water for 5 to 10 minutes, to soften them.

Chop the Oaxaca cheese and chop the acuyo leaf.

Beat the lard to make it blanch, but also to foam.

Then gradually add the corn flour, the pinch of salt, the baking powder and the chicken broth.

Continue to stir vigorously and be careful that your dough is not too runny.

To check if your tamale paste is ready, put it in a bowl of cold water.

It must come to the surface.

Otherwise, you must keep beating her.

Take a banana leaf for each tamale consisting of two spoons of your dough, a handful of cheese, hot sauce, pepper.

Close your ball.

To cook your tamale, take a steamer whose bottom you will cover with your banana leaf.

Arrange your tamales and cover with another sheet.

Cook over medium heat for an hour and a half.

Then let them sit for a few minutes before serving them, while still hot.

Enjoy your meal ! 

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Taste of the world

Dia de los muertos, the day of the dead is a celebration!