Small Producers In Xochimilco Prepare For The Day Of The Dead In Mexico
A chef burns corn husks to turn them into ashes (totomoxtle) in Mexico City, Mexico, on the eve of the Day of the Dead, to make Pan de Muerto. According to historical documents and accounts, in ancient Mexico, before the indigenous resistance to the arrival of Europeans, a kind of bread similar to a tortilla is prepared, made from amaranth, dried and toasted corn, and maguey honey. It is called papalotlaxcalli, which means Butterfly Bread, and has a butterfly stamped on the dough. According to the Duran Codex or History of the Indies of New Spain and the Tierra Firme Islands, it is an offering food for the goddess Cihuapipiltin, who watches over women who die in childbirth; although later it appears in the accounts of the Codex as part of a food offering that is placed on the tzompantli, an altar of skulls in honor of people sacrificed in rituals for the gods. (Photo by Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto)
