The altar, full of “ofrendas”, is the focal point to observing the Día de los Muertos. In Mexico it is build at home and/or at the grave side. Entire families construct altars as an annual commitment. The altar consists of four levels and four sides, representing the four stages of life, the four points of the earth, the four seasons, and the four cardinal points upon which the pyramids were built. Based upon this concept of four points and elements, the following items are used: four of the main principal seeds used by the Mexicas which were tomatillo (green tomato), cacao, chile, and corn. Also are used the symbols of the four elements of life which are water (water), fire (candles), earth (seeds), and wind (flags, flutes and conch shells). The four stages of life and of the elements are also represented through corn: fresh corn, cooked corn, dry corn, and liquid corn as in the traditional atole. Corn is used for the ofrendas because it has been the main staple food in Mesoamerica for thousands of years: tortillas, tamales, pozole, atole, totopos, and esquites among many others.


TRADITIONAL ALTAR OFFERINGS:
Tamales * Mole * Chile * Bread of the Dead * Sugar Bananas * Altar Arch * Personal Mementos Atole * Oranges * Toys – Gifts * Corn Flowers Glass of water – a must! * Baby’s breath * Milk Cempasuchitl (marigolds) * Beans * Clay censer Apples & nuts * Calaveras (skeletons) * Cocoa * Sugar skulls Chicken in Mole * Photos of the deceased * Candles * Toy coffins * Papel picado (cut paper skeletons) * Salt