Pets are not forgotten during Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations, when even Fido and Tiger get a place at the altars Mexican families set up to honor their deceased loved ones, complete with flowers, candles and photographs.
Although the human dead usually get their favorite food or drink placed on altars, the nature of pet food can make things a little different.
The holiday has roots in Mexican pre-Hispanic customs, as does the reverence for animals. The small, hairless dogs that Mexicans kept before the Spanish conquest were believed to help guide their owners to the afterlife, and were sometimes given special burials.
Photo: AP
The Day of the Dead starts annually on Oct. 31 to remember those humans who died in accidents. It continues on Nov. 1 to mark those who died in childhood, while Nov. 2 memorialize those who died as adults.
Observances include families cleaning and decorating graves, which are covered with orange marigolds. At cemeteries and home altars, relatives light candles, and put out offerings of the favorite foods and beverages of their deceased relatives.
The presence of pets has gained such momentum that now Oct. 27 is considered Day of the Dead for pets and the Mexican National Anthropology and History Institute includes tips on its social platforms for how to include them in altars.
Photo: AP
Mexico City graphic designer Meztli Lizaola makes sure every year that her beloved tawny-coated Chihuahua, Taco — who died two years ago — has a place at the altar on a table in the corner of her living room.
Taco’s ashes are in an urn beside his lively eyed photograph, next to a photo of Lizaola’s deceased father.
The orange-flowered cempasuchil — a type of marigold — is placed around the photos, as well as candles and figurines of skulls.
Taco — as his name suggests — enjoyed tacos (especially roast pork) and other traditional Mexican human foods such as quesadillas and concha pastries.
Because she has four other dogs, Lizaola cannot leave Taco’s favorite foods on the altar; some sneaky pup is likely to snatch it.
For years, elements of Halloween have been mixing into the seasonal festivities, and for pets it is no different. For those who still have living dogs and cats, it is not uncommon to find a wide variety of Halloween costumes at pet shops, including inmate-style “bad dog” costumes.
Ethnohistorian Juan Pablo Garcia Uriostegui of the National Museum of Anthropology said the inclusion of pets and Halloween influences are part of changes in the traditional holiday that have accelerated, particularly in the past three years.
“We are experiencing changes in the traditions. It is happening very fast,” he said.
The large family of numerous children is often a thing of the past, and couples having only pets — dubbed “perrihijos” or “dog kids” — are not uncommon.
“That’s where you see these practices concerning death starting to take hold,” Garcia Uriostegui said. “They are no longer just another companion ... they are living beings who hold memories, and whose memory must be commemorated.”
The admiration for dogs goes way back in Mexico, where hairless dogs known as xoloitzcuintles were common before the Spanish brought their larger, furrier hounds to Mexico during the 1519-1521 conquest.
The pre-Hispanic dogs were often sacrificed or buried near their owners — or represented as carefully crafted ceramic figurines — because the owner would need the dogs’ keen senses to find the path to the underworld after death.
Lizaola still feels Taco’s absence. His face is tattooed on her right arm. The dog changed her life and that of her partner.
“There’s like a before and after in my life,” she said, adding that Taco inspired them to get more involved in supporting abandoned animals and rescuing dogs from the street.
Initially, there was some resistance within her family to including Taco on the altar, a place long reserved for departed family members.
However, as relatives’ pets died they came around and “now it’s more dogs than humans,” she said.
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