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133 THE DAY OF THE DEAD—XANDU’ to remind people that Cheguigo is home to farmers, craftsmen, and fishermen, not the white-collar workers and professionals who inhabit the center of the city. He thinks that biguié’ are more traditional and so more appropriate for that church. Some of the vendors with stalls in the big market made small altars in them decorated with Day of the Dead flowers, candy, and fruit. The Required and the Optional As I wrote in the introduction, the continued success of the Zapotec of Juchitán in charting their future springs from their commitment to community and the considered response to external forces which that dictates, coupled with their willingness to step boldly into the unknown, transforming themselves and their traditions. It is a useful exercise then, to examine Day of the Dead practices in terms of what Zapotec believe is essential and those items and practices that are optional or acceptable. Certainly, the increasing importance of Halloween and its assorted rituals falls into the category of acceptable innovation from the outside. Small and not-so-small children dress up in the same sorts of costumes you find in the United States—the media heroes and heroines of the moment, witches and ghosts, all manner of animals, including lots of purple Barneys, fairy princesses, and butterflies—and beg treats from family, friends, and occasionally strangers. Unlike their neighbors to the north, these children, knowing a good thing when they see it, begin three days before Halloween. Kindergartens and elementary schools allow pupils to come to school in costume and, indeed, sponsor parades so that everyone can enjoy the masquerade. It is a community affair, and like many of those, it indulges the children. In terms of Day of the Dead observances, however, which are those elements that are required, that are not negotiable? Most important, whatever the economic state of the family, a xandu’ yaa and a xandu’ guiropa are required. If these rituals pose a hardship for financial reasons or if the remaining relatives are few or ill, help is extended by more distant relatives or fictive kin. In some rare cases, the first commemoration can be postponed. An altar or biguié’ is necessary whether it is large or small, elaborate or simple. An image of the deceased has to be displayed. I have seen old paintings and hand-colored photographs on altars as well as recent photos. In pre-Hispanic times, small clay figurines, anthropomorphic funerary urns, and tomb murals served this purpose. Flowers of the wild and willow, palm, banana stalks or cocos in some combination are essential as are marigolds. Votive candles, large candles in silver or tin candlesticks, and incense must be in evidence. Food and drink, including the decorated breads—marquesote and roscas—have to be part of the altar. Mandatory rounds of prayers each evening lead up to the day on which the spirits return. Families hosting an altar must provide tamales and pan bollo for guests who arrive with condolences and limosna, in addition to the bread and 134 BECOMING AN ANCESTOR chocolate they give to the women who come to the prayers. Guests must come minimally with a votive candle and a gift of money, even if a token amount. The rules of communal obligation require a person to attend the observances of kin and close friends. Both hosts and guests wear some variant of mourning, depending on the relationship to the deceased. Having listed all those required items or behaviors, I have to say that there is much room for individual choice and much latitude for aesthetic preferences. These choices begin with whether one builds an altar or a biguié’. Decisions are made by some families depending on available labor. But which to build is ultimately a choice reached consensually, based on a number of factors. Families may be honoring past traditions. Aesthetic preferences enter the mix as well. If one likes cultivated flowers, then one will most likely have an altar because it is appropriate to have vases of store flowers on the steps of the altar. Such flowers are rare in biguié’, usually there because a guest has brought them. Earlier, I mentioned the exception to the general understanding about which flowers belong to which kind of altar. When Emma Musalem used all flowers of the wild on her mother’s altar, guests were tolerant, remarking that she also took those kinds of flowers to the tomb as well. It could...

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