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Our names are Pastora and Silvia Gutierrez, and we are part of the women's collective Vida Nueva. At Vida Nueva, we are a group of Zapotec women from the community of Teotitlán del Valle, in the Central Valleys region of Oaxaca. We are dedicated to wool textiles and have been working together for almost 30 years, with the primary goal of providing women with artistic and work opportunities that allow them to develop autonomously and make their own life decisions.
The Celebration of the Day of the Dead: This is a very special tradition within our communities, as during this celebration, we remember all the people who have passed to another world, honoring them with much love and affection. It's a way to keep our ancestors always present. More than being something related to death, it is connected with memories and the act of gratitude for what our ancestors have taught us. It's a way to honor those who are no longer with us, allowing space for new generations. On the Day of the Dead, we honor memories by building an offering we call the "altar de muertos." Everyone in the community has an altar all year round, but during this time, we decorate our altars with offerings that remind us of our deceased loved ones. We place food, sweets, and photos—anything that brings back memories of those we love.
There are some rituals we perform before the arrival of the souls because the belief is that during this day and a half, the spirits are allowed to leave the underworld, or Mictlán (the place of the dead), to visit their families on earth. Everything begins days before when the men go out to collect firewood and flowers from the fields to adorn the altar and prepare the food. Then, families decorate the offering and finish by filling the house with the aroma of copal, which serves as a guide for the spirits.
The women of the house prepare traditional foods for these dates. One of the most traditional dishes is tamales de amarillo in corn husks, a staple in the town that symbolizes celebration and joy. These tamales are special for festive days and are an essential part of the altar de muertos. Black mole is also prepared, and of course, chocolate, where families roast the cacao, take it to the mill, and finally prepare the delicious drink to place on the altar. Families can also include the favorite foods of their deceased loved ones, such as tlayudas, mezcal, fruit, and the traditional pan de muerto, which is always present in our offerings.
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Temazcal: In our Zapotec culture, we believe that some bodily ailments are connected to the spirit or soul. There are things that Western medicine does not consider, overlooking our beliefs, culture, and health traditions. Additionally, the few doctors who come to our community are from other cities and do not speak our native language, leading to fewer people visiting our health clinic. These doctors do not believe in plants as we do, and many times we are ridiculed when we explain our ailments. For example, women who have had a baby need to "close" their bodies, children suffer from fright or indigestion, and many other cases go unrecognized.
Diseases that traditional indigenous medicine cures have been forgotten or dismissed by Western medicine. That is why, at Vida Nueva, we created a temazcal that will be part of the Indigenous Traditional Medicine Center, where people in our community will have access to health services in our native language to care for their bodies and spirits.
The temazcal is closely related to ancestral knowledge of traditional medicine. For generations, fire and heat have been used to address certain ailments. The temazcal is a steam house that represents the womb of the mother; it is a kind of rebirth ritual commonly used for psychological and emotional problems.
In it, we use medicinal plants whose benefits our grandmothers have taught us. In pre-Hispanic times, plants, fruits, and flowers were the only healing tools our ancestors had. This knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation, and it is something we will preserve in the workshops that will be offered at the medical centre we are building. We are working together with healers, midwives, and traditional birth attendants from the community, who are the holders of ancestral healing knowledge.
The plants used in the temazcal and in traditional medicine in general come from our fields. They are native plants with Zapotec names, like escuanzú or escuangun. However, there are also other plants, such as ruda, basil, and rosemary, which also have healing effects. Some flowers, like roses, bougainvillaea, and cempasúchil (marigold), also offer benefits. These plants and herbs are part of the knowledge passed down by our grandmothers, teaching us which ones are used for tea, ointments, or cleansing rituals.
The Day of the Dead is a celebration of the spirit, a festival for memory and the soul. It is certainly also a healing ritual for grief. In our ancestral cultures, death is a transition to a better place; dying does not hurt when memories are kept alive. The Day of the Dead is the best grief therapy we can recommend for someone who has lost a loved one. We learn to honor life and death as a necessary step of renewal, letting go to make space for the new, always showing gratitude to those who paved the way for us and for those who will come.
Photo credits:
Raquel Duron & Alma Studio Photography
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