GRIOTS REPUBLIC - AN URBAN BLACK TRAVEL MAG - OCTOBER 2016

families gather to eat fiambre, a traditional
salad-like cold dish that consists
of assorted cold cuts, pickled vegetables,
meats and is so complex it can
easily include 50 or more ingredients.
Many people, especially in rural areas
visit the cemetery cleaning the graves
of their loved ones, honoring their ancestors
with flowers and incese and
sharing a pic-nick of fiambre, tamales
and sometimes booze with them at the
cemetery.
The most spectacular Day of the Dead
celebrations in Guatemala occurs in
the towns of Santiago Sacatepéquez
and Sumpango. Here giant kites or barriletes
gigantes, reaching diameters
of almost 30ft, made of bamboo rods
and colored paper are assembled in the
cemetery. On November 1st a big festival
takes place and these giant kites
with intricate designs attempt to take
flight, most of them never making it.
Sometimes some of the smaller ones
(15-18ft in diameter) take off briefly
only to come crashing down, occasionally
landing on the crowd below. All
through the month of November kites
dot the clear blue sky and although
most people have forgotten the original
significance of this as a means of communicating
with the dead and showing
them where to come down to visit their
family members, flying kites is one of
my favorite family traditions.
Now that we are living in the United
States we enjoy both Halloween and El
Día de los Muertos blending traditions
and making new ones in a way that
makes sense for us.