Dia de Muertos, yes there's there's the celebratory aspect in terms of parades and things
and dressing up but it's also quite sombre, there is a real meaning behind it in terms of
remembering our loved ones. hola amigos and welcome back to Mexico once again
today is November the 1st 2019 you know what that date means dia
de Muertos week and right now I'm in a little place called Ocotepec which is
to the north of Cuernavaca and I have been here for a few hours already
exploring taking a look around and this video is very much gonna be kind of the
opposite of the last one which is the celebratory parade in the central area
we're going to talk about what did and where to us is really about for Mexicans
or at least my interpretation of it as a foreigner so let's take a look around
(MUSIC)
now firstly as I cross the road I just wanna point out, I just met a subscriber!
what are the odds you know you come to these small places that not a lot of
tourists go to I've got children everywhere, Ninos horrible! And you meet
a subscriber so it's absolutely brilliant yeah good if you do see me out
say hello I will endeavour to do my best to say hello as well
Is filming ok?
yeah it's great walking down the street like this you know there's food everywhere
the smell of cempasuchil in the air people selling local trinkets and
candles and things like that and it's packed there are so many people here I
didn't expect it to be this busy earlier I went to the cemetery or or the
Panteon one of the things about coming here is the fact that is it feels like
it's lesser-known and a lot of people say that you know why have you gone
there there's nothing traditional about that place you're going, you should have gone to
Oaxaca or something like that and yeah that was my plan but you know what
sometimes it's okay to go to places that are far lesser known and you know that
haven't been recommended by people but hopefully these videos will do that
because Ocotepec and Cuernavaca are absolutely fantastic for Dia de Muertos it's great, I'm loving it
so let's talk about the cemetery. we've all seen the photos
of small towns in Morelia celebrating dia de Muertos they're spectacular
yes the point of this video is to show you something different a small Cemetery
in a small town locals visit cemeteries on the nights of the 31st and the first
to commemorate the loss of loved ones by decorating graves with flowers and
lighting candles you'll see offenders or altars carefully and painstakingly put
together often including items such as food and drink fruit pan de Muertos and
more whilst strolling around this Cemetery
among the lingering smell of burning candles and orange cempasuchils
I saw locals cleaning maintaining and even painting gravesites in preparation
something I would never see in the UK
nowhere else in the world would I see makeshift flower pots made of old empty
cans of Jalapeños, only in Mexico!
it may not be instagram-worthy it may not be particularly beautiful but by
visiting a Ocotepec I still gained an understanding of what dia de Muertos is
all about on an authentic local and smaller scale
(local shots, no speech)
right so I was just filming outside a taco place
and a woman gave me a cecina taco for free
oh my god
mindblowing, and it tastes even better because it's free. Cecina is the best
(more local shots)
so I'm now outside the iglesia, the local church and this has got a lot more people in
the cemetery now that it's a bit later so let's take a look
(MUSIC)
church bells ding dong so I've gotta be quick because my battery's dying
I've had a wonderful day today I've just me a lovely Mexican family with four children, we were
having a nice little conversation very welcoming and hospitable as always dingdong and behind me
is an ofrenda and the thing about this area from what I've read I might be
wrong and correct me if I am but when a young person dies or someone in the last
year has died they have like a different type of ofrenda, ofrenda nueva I think where they have
various different things on the the ofrenda that represent
their different elements like air, fire, earth and water, there's a trail of cempasúchil petals oh yeah a
trail of cempasuchil petals going from the ofrenda so I think today ust sums up that dia de muertos yes
there's that celebratory aspect in terms of parades and things and dressing up
but it's also quite sombre, there's a real meaning behind it in terms of remembering our loved
ones so I went a wonderful time and Cuernavaca, boom, thank you for watching I
hope you enjoyed this video that we want next from Tepoztlan where you've
all told me to go to so I'm excited thanks so much for watching and I will
see you later
(MUSIC SHOWING THE OFRENDA)