| |
|
All
Saints Day - Day of the Dead
|
Location:
All over Peru
Date: November 1-2
On
these days, which are dedicated to the memory of the dead,
Peruvians tend to attend Mass and then in coastal communities,
head to the cemetery, bringing flowers and in the highlands,
food to share symbolically with the souls of the dead. The
worship of the dead was a common and respected custom during
pre-Hispanic times in Peru, and part of that tradition,
combined with Christian elements, still lives on today.
In the village of La Arena, in Piura, the locals head for
the main square in the morning bringing their children dressed
in their Sunday best. Also attending are relatives who have
lost a very young child or niece or nephew. When these people
meet a child who looks like the deceased, they give him
or her small breadrolls, candied sweet potato or coconut
and other sweets wrapped in finely-decorated bags, which
are called "angels". At night, the relatives hold
a candlelight vigil in the cemetery until dawn on November
2. In Arequipa and Junín the bags of "angels"
are replaced by breadrolls in the shape of babies, called
t'anta wawas.
| |
