Mole - One of my Favourite Foods

Mole (Poblano) over Chicken with Sesame Seeds

One of my favourite foods in Mexico and beyond is mole (pronounced "molay").  Mole is a type of rich, spicy sauce, most often served hot over chicken.  In its normal form, it is a dark brown sauce with a spicy flavour (it has a number of different kinds of hot peppers in it).

Most people buy mole either in a paste form, or in a powder form.  In central Mexico, you can buy both forms of mole in bulk in large markets.  In all areas, supermarkets and little convenience stores sell paste mole in little jars, or ready to serve in tetra packs (you just have to heat it up.)  A very popular supermarket brand is Doña Maria, which I believe is sold in cities the U.S. and Canada as well.  It's good, but it doesn't compare to what you can get in the markets.




From either paste or powder form, it is mixed with hot chicken broth , to the desired texture, and brought to a boil.  After being served over a chicken leg, either sesame seeds or thick cream (similar to sour cream) with onions are served on top.

Another way of serving mole is in enmoladas, which are like enchiladas, but with mole instead of green or red tomato sauce.  These usually have chicken wrapped in the tortillas, and cream with onions on top, often with cheese as well.

Both kinds of mole dishes are very common in all kinds of restaurants, whether they're suburban style chains, or the inexpensive little restaurants that sell meals to go for about $3.

In villages, mole is also made from scratch.  I've seen this being done once.  Although I don't know all the ingredients, and I'm sure the recipe varies from region to region, the ingredients I know of are:

Enmoladas with 3 different kinds of sauce (the onions are usually chopped)

• oil or lard
• bread or cracker crumbs
• hot peppers
• sesame
• sugar
• peanuts
• salt
• cocao/chocolate
• spices like pepper and clove

The pastes and powders they sell already include all of these, ground up and blended.  Women in villages use their stone grinding board to make the paste.  One of my favorite moles is made by my wife's great aunt in her grandpa's village; it's dark and spicy, and not sweet at all.  It's served over tamales with beans.



I know some people who go into the markets, where there are maybe 20 varieties mole for sale - some sweater, some spicier, some more bitter -  and try a number of them (the vendors give small samples,) blending different types to get the exact flavor they want. Those who prefer it sweeter will add an extra bar of chocolate or two when preparing it at home.  When I lived near the market in Cuernavaca, I used to do this (except for the blending part - I never developed my mole skills that far.)

Mole in a market - you can see brown, red, orange and green mole

As mentioned above, the most common form is dark brown, but I have also seen green, light brown, red, orange, and black.  Each one, I believe, is based on a different kind of pepper, and has slightly different ingredients; for example, from what I understand, green mole includes pumpkin seeds.

One variety which seems to be a favorite is "mole Poblano" which comes from the city of Puebla, about 2 hours east of Mexico City.  It's very dark (almost black) and very sweet.  There are a few restaurants in the historic downtown of Puebla which are the classics for this kind of mole. (The picture at the top is of mole Poblano.)

For all non-Mexicans, I really suggest trying mole.  It has a very strong, spicy flavor; if you don't like it the first time, try another kind. 
Personally, I've loved every kind I've tried.  I've only had mole once I didn't like much, but that's one out of hundreds of times.  In fact, my wife, who is 100% Mexican, born and raised in the rougher parts of Mexico City, complains that I "make her" eat mole too often.  I always just reply that someday she'll be as Mexican as I am, and appreciate eating mole as much as I do.

Vitamin T - The Mexican Special

Torta de Tamal - or Guagaloto - Double Vitamins!

Once, during my first months living in Mexico, in Cuernavaca, I was giving an English class in the Nissan plant there; the topic of the class was health food.  A couple of the students mentioned different kinds of natural juices, vegetables, etc.  Then the third student spoke:

"I follow the vitamin T diet," he said with a humorous little smile; "Tacos, Tortas and Tamales!"

Tacos al Pastor - a Favorite

The whole group chuckled. You can probably imagine that this isn't the healthiest of diets.  If you're not Mexican, you'll probably recognize tacos and tamales, but maybe not tortas.  I'll give a little description of the three, since there are a few interesting variations.  Most are very delicious, but equally unhealthy

Tacos.  Most people know what these are, but in Mexico they tend to put more meat (greasier and tastier) and fewer vegetables, with only  sprinkle of onions and coriander leaves.  Tacos have many tasty variations, including "al Pastor" which has meat from a spit, like Doner Kebabs, but with Mexican spices.  Tacos deserve several posts on their own.  Around Mexico city small ones can be found for as low as 15 cents a piece (you'll need to order about 10), or larger ones with more expensive toppings like shrimp for up to $3 a piece; one of these could be an entire meal.

A Classic Torta - Lots of Meat

Tortas.  This is a kind of sandwich, like a sub, but on a shorter piece of bread.  The toppings also vary more; it can include many of the different meats they put on tacos, scrambled eggs and much more.  These can have more vegetables, or even be vegetarian, including toppings like avocados, tomatoes or lettuce, or they can be piled high with 5 kinds of greasy meat with cheese melted over it.  You choose.  Tortas vary in size, and can cost anywhere from $1 a piece to $5 a piece.

Tamales.  Mexico City has it's favorite type of tamales, the kind wrapped in corn husk.  These all have the same cake-like texture, but can have a large variety of flavors, from sweet with raisins, to chicken or hot peppers with cheese, or a spicy sauce called mole.  You can even find "tortas de tamales" also called "guajalotos" which are tamales stuck inside of role.  Outside of the central region, they make different varieties, often wrapped in banana leaves, almost inevitably with chicken.  These have a smoother texture.  These have many varieties, and this is a broad generalization. The Guatemalan variety which you can find in Toronto is very similar.  People like to have a hot, sweet drink called "atole" with tamales, especially a variety called "champurado" which is chocolate flavored.  In Mexico city a tamale is about 50 cents, and likewise atole.  Here in Playa del Carmen, they're double that.


(I think there might be a bunch of other t-word foods that fall into this diet, but these are definitely among the favorites.)

If your diet avoids either fat or carbs, vitamin T might not do you much good.  My guess is that this kind of diet has a very close connection to the fact that many Mexicans suffer from gastritis - a word that I can't really remember hearing before I moved here.

BUT all three are absolutely delicious!  I also believe that in moderation, they're nothing wrong with eating this stuff, just not every day, every meal, like that student of mine back in Cuernavaca.

Cafe de Olla - One of my Favorites!

A Typical Clay Pot with Hot Coffee

It's been too long since I've written about coffee.  One of my favorite types of coffee anywhere is the Mexican "Cafe de Olla."  It's a strong, dark and delicious kind of coffee that is very traditional in Mexico.  These are the ingredients:

• 1/2 Cinnamon Stick (ground cinnamon doesn't work as well)
• "Piloncillo" - this is a hard cone of raw sugar (see picture); in it's absence you can replace this with about 1/2 cup of raw sugar
• 4 liters of water
• 10 tablespoons of ground coffee; I've usually seen that they use a dark roast, medium grind; but I've also made it with fine grind
• A clay pot, if available - see picture. (If not, any pot will do; the word "olla," actually refers to the fact that it's made in a pot rather than a coffee maker)

             (These are the quantities I use; they can be reduced, or adjusted to taste, but if you're using the piloncillo, it's really hard to cut.)

"Piloncillo," Cones of Raw Sugar

• Place the cinnamon stick (broken up into pieces) and the piloncillo or raw sugar in the pot of cold water.
• Bring the water to a boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar is entirely dissolved. (At this point your kitchen will have a wonderful cinnamon aroma, and in fact it could be drunk this way as a cinnamon tea!)
• Add the coffee while the water is still boiling, and turn off immediately, covering with a lid.
• Let the coffee "brew" for a about 4-5 minutes, or until the coffee settles to the bottom. I've found that stirring it once after about 3 minutes, and leaving for a few minutes more helps it settle.  After the grounds settle, DO NOT STIR IT. You want to make sure the grounds and the cinnamon stay at the bottom.
• Served with a ladle as soon as the grounds settle, being sure to scoop out only the liquid, not disturbing grounds from the bottom.  (Of course, you'll probably get a ground or two in the coffee, but if you're careful, this can be pretty much nothing.)

Traditionally, it's served in little clay cups, which are very typical in rural areas in central Mexico (see picture.)

A traditional clay cup.

Although it breaks one of the basic rules of coffee, that water shouldn't be exposed to grounds for more than 4 or 5 minutes, it's a very delicious kind of coffee!  Every rule has at least one exception; Greek and Arabic coffee likewise break this rule.  Some people also add cloves, I guess along with the cinnamon and sugar at the beginning.

Give it a try at home. If you like coffee, I'm sure you'll like this variation.

Tomorrow, or another day, I'll write about the places where I first tried "cafe de olla."

My son learns to pedal a trike!

Using the Trike as a Scooter

Well, this post comes after almost a week of no posts - a bad cold and catching on missed work from that cold.

Today I have exciting news; my son finally learned to pedal his trike!  in less than 2 weeks, he'll be 3 years old.

He's had his trike for some time now.  The trike is about 16 years old; our former land-lady's daughter, who is now about 17, just getting ready to move out and go to university, used the trike when it was new.  Since then she passed it down through younger cousins, and children of cousins to use.  While the trike was well used when it reached us, it still works just about perfectly, except that the back wheels wobble a little, but not enough for the driver to notice.

My son's trike riding experience started with him sitting on it, and us pushing him around - a tiring activity, for us.  He then progressed to standing on the back, holding onto the handles (which are high) and using his foot to push it, using it like a scooter.  This is where he had been for the past few months, and now and then I would convince to try sitting down, and I would help him push the pedals with his legs.  About 2 weeks ago, he advanced about one wheel turn (half a meter?) and then I got busy and didn't try again for a while.

Tonight I was finally outside with him in the evening again, and I convinced him to try the trike sitting down; once he got started, he got into a rhythm using the pedals and kept going the whole length of our small block, about 50 meters.  I was delighted!  My wife was watching the neighbors' 2 year-old girl, and came running over (with the girl) to see.

Later in the evening he showed some of our friends; I had to convince him with a candy, since now and then he's kind of shy about performing in front of people.  I think I was that way as a kid.  At other times, though, he quite happy to show off.

This was an exciting day for me!

Can you trust Evangelicals more than Catholics?

Can you trust Evangelicals more than Catholics?

As absurd as I'm sure the question would sound even to most Evangelicals in Canada, I've now met a number of Mexicans who seem to think it's true.  While some seem to be Evangelicals giving preference to their own congregation members, there are other cases in which I have good reason to believe that they are either atheist or passively non-religious.

For example, one guy I know who runs a little store beside his house (definitely not Evangelical), explained to me that he felt more reassured leaving his store in the hands of new employee, since she was "Christian" instead of Catholic, as opposed to his previous employees who he says were stealing his money.  (I've also realized that many non-Catholics exclude Catholics from being "Christian" - a point I don't agree with.)  In this particular case, he later suspected that she too was stealing.  Personally, I believe that has more to do with where/how he hired & trained his workers rather than their religion or denomination, but that's a different point.

In another case, a neighbor, who also for various reasons I suspect is not Evangelical, recommended a builder.  The recommendation was based on the fact that he did good quality work, he charged low prices, and because he was Evangelical, again implying we wouldn't have to worry about him stealing things from the house while he was working.  Based solely on the first two points, I took the recommendation, and he worked out really well this is the worker who built the closet I wrote a blog about back in October (click here to read about the closet); he did a great job, and he certainly didn't steal anything, nor did he need supervision to ensure that he didn't steal anything.  In this case, I believe this worker needs to charge more for his time, since, despite his excellent work, he seems to be living in rather impoverished circumstances.

The point isn't how well the idea of trusting Evangelicals over Catholics works - the two cases show that it can work sometimes, and not work at others.  The point is that this idea actually exists in Mexico, and people seem to believe it.  I've given some thought to figure out why people might believe this.  I'm definitely not an expert on religion or prejudice based on religion, and here I hope to give a balanced view on both sides.


First of all, in most parts of the world, there are many more choices within Christianity, but in Mexico, if you belong to a church, you're either Catholic by default ( your parents are Catholic, your entire village/community is Catholic, you were born Catholic, you were baptized as a child, and so you're Catholic), or you're a recent convert to an Evangelical denomination (Baptist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, etc).  I believe the root of this concept about who you can trust lies in this fact, rather than in any distinction of beliefs.

Since just about everyone is Catholic by default, that means petty thieves, irresponsible people, poor money managers and bad employees are, by all likelihood, going to be Catholic, just like priests, business men, house wives and shopkeepers.  Of course, this doesn't mean these people are truly devoted Catholics, or that they attend mass or confession more than once a year.  But if you were to ask their religion, they would probably identify themselves as Catholics.

Evangelicalism, on the the other hand, is relatively new to Mexico.  I don't know how long it's been around; I'm sure that it made it's way across the border much earlier, but by and large, those who are Evangelical in Mexico have made a conscientious choice at some point in their adult life (or teenage life) to convert.  This means that they consider themselves an example of the branch of Christianity they have chosen - a feeling which I guess would compel them to behave in a way to protect the image of that particular branch.

It seems unlikely (in theory) that someone who habitually steals from their employer or client would go to the trouble to convert to another denomination, and continue their habit. By the same token, I suspect some converts change denominations because of their dislike for the misconduct apparently condoned by Catholics, hopefully meaning that they should be less likely to participate in that misconduct.  I've never met an Evangelical who said they left because Catholics were dishonest, but I have met a few who said they couldn't tolerate that Catholics are drunkards.  (Given the Mexican love for tequila and beer, and the "Catholic by default" idea described above, it's hard to argue against this point, even though I don't believe that the Catholic church condones either drunkenness or theft.)  Of course, there are a lot of Evangelicals who have a true and authentic disapproval for dishonesty, and would refrain from it, even if they didn't have their church's image to protect; however, I believe I've met as many Catholics, atheists and others who are likewise authentically opposed to dishonesty, and would refrain from behaving dishonestly.

A few points I've considered about this situation are:

• As time goes on, and a generation of Evangelicals shows up who were born into these denominations, there will be more people who are "Evangelical by default," and will be no more reliable than those who are "Catholic by default."  I believe the case of Canada or the U.S. demonstrates this; I don't think I know many Canadians (Evangelicals or otherwise) who would truly believe that hiring an Evangelical would be a good safeguard against dishonesty; at least I never would have believed that.
• The story of my neighbor who hired the Evangelical employee shows that even now people can't fully rely on the idea that people who have chosen their own religion will be more honest, nor that being Evangelical will compel you not to steal.
• There is a group of Catholics who are often overlooked; Catholics who have decisively chosen to live as Catholics, following the doctrine of that church.  These have to be distinguished from the "Catholics by default" who do not truly live their life following Catholic teaching.  While Evangelicals would certainly disapprove of their religious practices, I don't think anyone could deny that these Catholics are just as likely to want to protect the image of their church, or to have an authentic disapproval for dishonesty, as the dedicated Evangelicals.  I don't think even Mexican Evangelicals would deny this; from my experience most tend to focus on the difference of beliefs rather than difference of action.  Also from my experience, truly dedicated Catholics I've met are at least as morally opposed to dishonest behaviour as dedicated Evangelicals, if not more so.

Perhaps this belief about trusting Evangelicals more than Catholics is less widespread than it seems to me; I certainly hope so, since I believe it's absurd.  I would never base my trust or distrust in a person based on their choice of denomination or even religion.  The idea is similar to that of the parable of the good Samaritan.

I find the Catholic/Evangelical distinction here in Mexico fairly intriguing , and I have a lot more to say about it, but I'll save the rest for other days.

If you're Mexican, do you think this idea exists?
Whether your Mexican, Canadian, American or "other" please share any theories, stories, disagreements or insights; they would be appreciated.

Mexican Pizza - Everything Done Right

After the last post about pasta, and my disfavor towards putting it in soup (as Mexicans like to do) I'll balance it with another kind of non-Mexican food that I think Mexicans do particularly well; Pizza.

There are three main kinds of pizza that deserve honourable mention; American fast-food style pizza, the Mexican variations of this, and Italian style pizza.

American Fast-Food Style Pizza.  If you love having good, hot pizza delivered right to your door, you would be happy in Mexico.  Besides the American chains, (Dominos, primarily) which I believe are the same here as there, there are many local pizza chains and independent pizza shops that serve great pizza with a variety of toppings. Even the supermarkets have excellent pizza (prepared on order, and served hot.)  Cost is about $10 for two medium pizzas (I can't remember if that's good or bad compared to Canada.)

As for delivery, like the rotisserie chicken shops, Mexican pizza shops use small scooter-style motorcycles to deliver, which can weave between traffic and get to your house quickly.  Of course, this is dangerous, but it's the way people drive here...

Slices can also be found easily enough, for about $1 - $2/slice.

The Mexican Variations.  Besides the jalepeños which you can also get in Canada, you can get a range of other Mexican toppings on your pizzas, including different kinds of Mexican sausages; I think I've seen "al pastor" which is one of the favorite taco meats, shaved off of a large spit of meat that rotates in front of a fire - like the mid-eastern doner kebabs, but with Mexican seasoning.  There's even one style that's called "a la Mexicana," but I can't remember the toppings.  Mexican flavors work well on pizza.  (Health may be an issue, but generally people who eat pizzas or Mexican food aren't worried about health; so if you like both of these, I suggest trying them combined.)

Italian Pizza.  I'm definitely not an expert on original or Italian pizza, but here I'm taking the word from someone whose taste I trust more than my own.  During the year I lived in Mexico City, one friend introduced a group of us to a bar/restaurant La Condesa - a beautiful, and trendy, neighborhood just a bit southwest of the Historic Downtown.  I can't remember the bar's name, but I think it had lots of black, and the name was somehow connected to being bad or tough or something like that; not the place I would suspect for authentic Italian pizza.  My friend assured us, however, that this pizza was the closest to thing to authentic Italian pizza in Mexico or the U.S.  I believe he's a trained chef, so I took his word for it.

Two things I noticed about the pizza. One, it was different; the crust texture, the style of toppings, the type of cheese, were all noticeably different (unfortunately, I'm not very good a describing food.)  The other is that it was delicious.  If I get a chance, and I can remember the name/exact location, I'll definitely go back.  On top of everything, the large, square slices were only about $2 a piece (25 pesos.)

I could write a lot more about food in Mexico, and I will include a post now and then as time goes on.  I love Mexican food, and food in Mexico!

By the way, my wife, who loves all kinds of pizza, says that her favorite is the pizza my dad makes.  It is delicious!

Mexican Pasta - Everything Done Wrong

To be clear right from the beginning, I love Mexican food.  95% of it has amazing flavor, and I guess about 50% of it is at least somewhat healthy.  (The other 50% is definitely not healthy, but is really, really good.)

There are, however, a few gripes I have about Mexican cooking.  On a day to day basis, in homes and in standard Mexican restaurants there is one thing which Mexicans have a knack for doing entirely wrong: Pasta.

Do you now any rules about cooking pasta? If you do, most Mexicans will probably break all of them, and the consequence is not good.  Step by step, I'll explain how Mexican's cook pasta, and how that contrasts to what I imagine is right.

1.  Fry the dry pasta with onions.  Not conventional but so far, nothing horribly wrong.  The only problem is that Mexicans don't know how to use a low flame on the stove; they will always have the heat on the highest flame possible, and then wonder why the food burns in the 30 seconds that they're not watching.  Needless to say, too often the pasta comes out burnt around the edges.  If they would keep the flame low and stir it enough, this step may not be the worst thing in the world.

2. Boil the pasta in water.  Normally, this part is OK, but several times I've seen people put the pasta into cold water, and boil it from that point, making the pasta mushy (the general negative outcome of Mexican pasta.)

3. Add raw vegetables to the water.  This is where everything begins to go really down hill. The vegetables could include garlic, carrots, zucchini and chayote.   The problem is that these vegetables take much longer to cook than pasta, especially considering the fact that Mexicans like to overcook food - a point which works well with tacos, and other typically Mexican dishes, but not with pasta or vegetables.

4. Add tomato paste to the water/vegetable broth. Of course, tomato paste on pasta works well, but not when you add it to the same water that you boiled the pasta in.  Seasonings such as coriander (cilantro) and salt also get added.

5. Boil until everything becomes mushy.  Because of the love for for over-cooking, everything - veggies and pasta alike - get cooked much longer than the 7-10 minutes that are sufficient to cook pasta.  By the time the carrots are soft and mushy the way they like them (20 minutes or more), if you used macaroni, it would be the size of your thumb, and completely textureless.

The result is a watery, tomato-y mush full of soft vegetables and way over-cooked pasta, which is usually falling a part.   If there are left overs, it turns into a big lump in the fridge, or the pasta just falls apart completely.

Mexicans like to call this soup ("sopa.")  In fact, the word "sopa" generally refers to what we call "pasta;" for example, if they go to the grocery store and buy a package of macaroni, they will say they are buying "sopa."  It can also refer to really thick stews.  What we call "soup," they would call "broth" ("caldo.")  Even though I have no right to try to change Mexican Spanish, this is one point where I refuse to give in and use their terminology.  I believe that the use of the word is directly linked to this cooking monstrosity.  So, I resist, and emphatically tell people that I am buying or cooking "pasta", "spaghetti" or "macaroni" but I NEVER call it "sopa," hoping that this will reflect my intentions not to boil it into a mush.

To be fair, if done carefully, and the vegetables are left out, it can be OK, only when served immediately after cooking.  But I've only seen this happen two or three times.  This is also not isolated; I've had this kind of pasta-soup in homes and in restaurants in different parts of the country; it's a wide-spread problem.  Of course, if you go to a specialized restaurant, the pasta will be done correctly, and it can even be really good!

The frustrating part for me is that with the exact same ingredients, you could make a delicious pasta dish with a vegetarian sauce.  My chances of winning this battle are slim, since I'm resisting decades of habits for 100 million people.  But I won't give up, for the sake of Pasta and all those who love it.

Have you ever flushed your phone down the toilet?

This post is for the person who I love the most in the world!  For everyone else reading it, I have a few questions:

• Have you ever flushed your cell phone down the toilet?
• Have your glasses fall off down into the lower level of subway station, while you were admiring the artwork below?
• How about turning the image on your computer screen upside down while trying to lower the volume?
• Have you broken an AC adapter/charger just by touching it?
• Maybe you've discovered the circuit board on your camera was burnt out by invading ants (which were also fried in the process)?

If you are like most people, I assume you would answer "no" to all or at least most of these questions.  My wife, Cecilia, would answer "yes" to all of them and many, many similar incidents.

Last night, I heard a scream coming from upstairs, followed by "Jacob, you're not going to believe this."  Not knowing exactly what I wasn't going to believe, and thinking we would be making a trip to the hospital (she's 38 weeks pregnant right now), I went running up the stairs to find her looking down into the toilet, and saying "My cell phone!  I flushed it down!  Ahhh!!"

My worry disappeared in a moment, and I began laughing uncontrollably.  She started laughing too, mixed with crying.  I hugged her, but couldn't keep from laughing.  Our 2 year-old son looked on with confusion, not knowing whether to be worried or to laugh with us.  When I stopped laughing, he took me by the hand, and re-explained the situation to me (since he had been informed first) pointing into the toilet to make it clear to me where the cell phone had gone; in his eyes, I hadn't understood the seriousness of the incident.  He then took me downstairs to find my cell phone and ensure that it was safely away from the toilet.  Meanwhile, my wife continued laughing/crying upstairs.

Because of this kind of event, we buy those $30 dollar cell phones that come with $20 of free pre-paid credit. (To be fair, I also lost one - it fell out of a new belt-clip case that I had bought the same day, on the bus.)

Four years ago this toilet incident would have surprised and concerned me.  In fact, about a week after I met her, when she lost her glasses in a Mexico City subway station, I was very surprised and concerned.  Knowing what I know now, it all makes sense.  She has some sort of bad luck with technology, electronic items and glasses.

This is a part of my wife's personality, a part of who she is; and I love this part of her!  Going through life together, she is the greatest motivation, support and inspiration for me, and it's a great joy to be with her every day, so I can definitely live with cell phones being flushed down the toilet, cameras being eaten by ants, and all the rest of it.

I love you, Cecy!

(Tonight, as I finished this post, my son came to ask me for my cell phone to lend it to my wife; again, he took the time to explain to me why she needed to borrow mine ...)

Day of the Dead - An Altar for my Grandparents

Our Altar for Various Friends and Family

For the first four years I spent November in Mexico, the Day of the Dead was a rich cultural experience, in which I saw many traditions, and even participated, visiting homes and altars, and talking to families who had lost a loved one.  This year, the day had a much closer significance; the first and most important altar we made was for someone very dear to us, who had passed away this year. Yesterday's post was dedicated to this very difficult memory and and the altar we built for him. (Click here to read it.)

My wife and I also made another altar for others who had passed away.  The significance of these two days for us was to remember these people.  So, here I will tell you who they were.

My wife's great aunt and uncle.  Tia Lalita and tio Benjamin were brother and sister, and had passed away in 2009.  When my father-in-law was a child, he lived in their home for many years.  When my wife was a child, they were like grandparents to her, and with several other family members, they were among her closest and dearest relatives.

Ulises and Jorge.  These were two very close friends of my wife.  I believe Ulises passed away in a car accident before I met my wife.  Jorge was her best friend for many years.  He passed away the same year that my son was born, and so my wife choose to give our son his name; I agreed to this since she has very good memories of him as a close and caring friend, and a hard-working and dedicated person.  Unfortunately I never had the pleasure of meeting him, since he passed away only shortly after I met my wife.

My wife's cousin.  I can't remember her name at the moment, but my wife and this cousin had been close many years before.  I know her sisters and parents.

My Grandma and Grandpa Wall.  I have a number of memories of my Grandpa, who passed away over a decade ago.  One is when we went to visit their small home in the town of Walsingham, Ontario, he would go to his bedroom to get candies - I think he kept them in his dresser.  Later on, when we visited my Grandma, and during the time she stayed at my parents' home, I remember her asking frequently why I wasn't married yet.  I believe she would be happy now to know that I finally did get married!  Maybe a little disappointed that I've forgotten how  speak Low German; but one day I hope to fix this too.

A close up of the altar.

My Grandma and Grandpa Janzen.  I only got to know Grandma Janzen.  Grandpa Janzen passed away before I was born, and I've only seen pictures of when he was young (like the passport photo we put on the altar,) so I imagine him as a young man.  I remember visiting Grandma at her home (we put a picture of the house on the altar as well,) and seeing her talk with my parents, aunts and uncles.  I remember her as a serious lady, with the impression that she was dedicated to doing things correctly and traditionally.

For me this year's Day of Dead not simply about following a tradition, but much more about honouring and remembering the lives of people.

To read about the first altar we made this year, and who it was for, click here.
If you would like to know more about some of the traditions involved in the Day of the Dead, click here.

Remebering Someone Dear to Us

Our altar for a baby who is dear to us

It's really nice to find information, visit as a tourist, and write about the rich traditions which Mexico has for the Day of Dead, but it's something entirely different actually to participate, and create your own altar.

Two out of the four Novembers which I've been in Mexico, I've helped my wife set up a little table with a few candles on it, but this year we set up a more elaborate altar with most of the traditional elements (click here to read a post about some of these elements).  This changes everything, because now, instead of looking from the outside, making nice observations about how great it is to commemorate the deceased, my wife and I now have our own altar, with pictures of people we knew and loved, and items to commemorate their lives.  These next two posts, I'm going to focus on who the altars were for.

An Altar for a Baby

This year something happened in our lives which has been very difficult, especially for two close friends of ours.  Only a month and half after their baby was born, he passed away.  I admire them for dealing with this very difficult time much better than I believe I would be able to in their situation, but, needless to say, it has been very difficult for them.

The first altar we put up two nights ago was dedicated entirely this baby.  My wife had the fortune of spending a lot of time with him; although I would have liked more time, I also greatly cherish the hours that I was with him.  Yesterday, we sat in front of the altar, with the candles lit, sharing our memories of his short life, the joy that he brought, and the pain that came with his parting.

The altar included a glass of water, a small cup of milk, some toys which our son chose and a picture of him in addition to the marigolds, cross and candles.

This is not a cultural experience, like many of my other posts; this is a real way of remembering someone dear to us.  We placed the altar to remember him, to accompany him and to comfort him.  We know that now he is with God, in whose arms he has more comfort than those who were left here without him.  When we enter the church were his ashes are kept, our 2-year-old son tells us that up above the church's altar, he sees our friends' dear baby in the arms of the Mother of God ("Mama Dios" - these are his own words, not ours, and he was never prompted by anyone to say this.)  We believe this is true.