Narrator: Cleaning the dead is a rare
Día de los Muertos tradition in Mexico.
Many say the village of Pomuch
is one of the only places in the whole country
that still does it.
They believe it's a way to care for their relatives
in the afterlife.
For Don Pichu, it's also a way to make some extra cash.
Each October, he's hired to take hundreds of corpses
out of their tombs for their annual cleaning.
But since the pandemic, fewer people
have been visiting the cemetery, and his work has dwindled.
We went to Mexico to see how the tradition
of cleaning skeletons is still standing.
Most people known José Alfonso Hernández Ake
as Don Pichu,
and he'll admit that dealing with corpses
isn't for everyone.
But after 15 years of building graves and cleaning bones,
it's become second nature to him.
Narrator: Today, he's cleaning the skeleton of Juan Cauich Evan.
Narrator: He passed away 16 years ago,
and his family has been doing this ritual ever since.
Narrator: But the pandemic forced the cemetery to close last year,
and some people are still hesitant to gather.
Narrator: Some families ask Don Pichu to clean the bones
in a specific order.
Narrator: The skull always goes on top.
Narrator: The origin of this bone-cleaning ritual is unknown,
but most people say it comes from Indigenous culture.
Ancient Mayans would treasure their dead by adorning corpses
with jewelry or burying them under the floor of their homes.
They believe that the soul lives on
in another realm after death.
That's why families clean their dead throughout October.
They want the tombs to be ready by Día de los Muertos,
or Day of the Dead, when people believe the souls
come to visit.
Families wait three years after death
to open the tombs, and it's against tradition for them to do
the first clean.
That's where Don Pichu comes in.
Even after that, some people still prefer
to hire someone else to do it.
Narrator: Working with corpses never bothered Don Pichu.
He used to help his family clean bones as a kid.
Narrator: In years past, Don Pichu would clean up to 50 graves
on a good day.
But now, he spends most of his time at the cemetery
waiting for someone to show up.
On this day, he only got six jobs
for about 30 pesos each, or a little over a dollar.
Most of his income comes from his full-time job
of grave building and maintaining the cemetery for visitors.
When families do come, they always bring a fresh blanket
to replace the old one.
They say it's like changing the dead's clothes.
A few people in town specialize in embroidering these,
like Rosa María Yam Poot.
She's been making blankets for 60 years
and takes pride in her intricate designs.
Narrator: Rosa sells them for up to 150 pesos, or $7, apiece.
But she's not in it for the money.
She sees her work as an offering for the souls
in exchange for protection.
Narrator: Today, only Catholics carry on the ritual in Pomuch,
even though in most parts of the world,
Christians don't believe in unburying their dead,
but more and more of the younger generation here
are leaving the Catholic church.
Don Pichu's children and grandchildren
are Jehovah's Witnesses and reject the custom.
That's why he goes by himself to clean his uncle's grave.
Narrator:
And Don Pichu says this job takes a lot of strength.
Narrator: Even though he's been doing this for decades,
he still needs to wind down after a long day
of tending to the dead.