Day of the Dead Flowers

Chinese Version
11-02-2023, Thursday, Sunny

We live in East San Jose, where has high population of Spanish speakers. In late October, several small tent shops appeared on South King Rd, a main road in East San Jose. The shops were close to the houses on the street, and there were many golden, orange, and dark red flowers outside of the tents, in the open spaces between the sidewalk and the street. They looked like Halloween decorations from a distance. One day, my daughter and I were driving by this area and I commented: “So many flowers on sale on the street, are we starting to decorate for Halloween using real flowers now?” After hearing my question, my daughter said, “These flowers are used to celebrate the Day of the Dead in Mexico, it’s not for Halloween. Do you remember the movie “CoCo”? It was about the Day of the Dead, and there were a lot of golden flowers in the movie.”

I like the movie “CoCo” very much, and I also learned from the movie “Death is not farewell, forgetting is” which I used often nowadays after both of my parents passed away. However the movie did not help me link the Day of the Dead to the name of the gorgeous flower.

Knowing that the dazzling flowers on the roadside were sold for the Day of the Dead in Mexico, I curiously walked from home to the tent shop to take a closer look at the flowers, because I like flowers but I don’t know the names of the flowers for the Day of the Dead.

On a warm and sunny autumn day, while walking to the shop, I played Pokemon Go on the way which made my trip more interesting. Crossing several streets with sidewalk traffic lights, I arrived at the first tent shop. There were many five-gallon plastic buckets filled with flowers on the ground inside and outside the shop. Looking down at these brightly-colored flowers, I felt the enthusiastic and excited. The bucket was crowded with golden, orange, and dark red flowers, exuding heart-warming enthusiasm; looking closely, each flower was clustered by cascading and curved petals, appearing chaotic and lively.

The golden and orange flowers are marigold and the dark red flowers are celosia (cockscombs). The sales lady in the shop pointed to the golden marigold said: “This is the angel.” I found the tales about Mexican Day of the Dead flowers online: “With the bright coloring and potent fragrance, marigolds are thought to attract the souls of the dead to the ofrendas prepared for them. Decorating the altar with dark red cockscombs will bring vitality and joy, and reduce the gloomy atmosphere associated with death; another saying is that cockscombs symbolize mourning and the blood of Christ – a prime example of the syncretism between catholicism (Spain) and ancient Aztec (Mexico) Day of the Dead traditions.” It seems that these flowers convey unrestrained joy when paying homage to the dead in Mexico, unlike the commonly used white flowers which pay homage to the dead in China, such as calla lilies, white chrysanthemums, white lilies, and white carnations. These flowers convey subtle sadness.

Looking at so many brightly-colored flowers, I thought of my late mother who loved flowers. I guess my mother in heaven will say upon seeing these flowers: “Too colorful too crowded.” Because my mother liked simple, elegant, fragrant, and dignified flowers. I don’t really like these kinds of flowers either. I remember after watching “A Little Chaos”, a movie starring Kate Winslet and about the construction of the Gardens of Versailles, I sighed: “ I should go to some real gardens to enjoy real flowers, instead of watching a movie.“. Now I also realized that to enjoy the sight of flowers, you need to be immersed in them to have a personal feeling.

There were also many hanging paper-cuts on the wall and colorful skull decorations and small altars on the shelves in the shop. This was my first time seeing such decorations and I asked the lady in the shop: “Could I take some photos here?” She smiled and nodded her head to show her approval. I took a few photos in the shop and asked the sales lady: “When is this holiday (Day of the Dead)?” She said, “November 2nd.”

I walked from my home to the tent shop on the street for sightseeing. Although the distance was short, it felt like I had gone far to Mexico and experienced the local customs there, because I could more intuitively see the gorgeous flowers and colorful memorial offer the festive atmosphere during Mexico’s Day of the Dead. I didn’t know marigolds when I was a child, but I knew cockscombs as they were common household flowers in my hometown. Now marigolds are more vividly associated with cockscombs, the Day of the Dead, and the movie “CoCo” that I watched with my children in February 2018.

Little Episodes

1. Marigolds and Cockscombs for Day of the Dead：

Medicinal effects of marigold:
It can cure dizziness, colds and coughs, whooping cough, mastitis, gills, etc. Marigold is rich in lutein, an antioxidant that can inhibit the risk of cancer and heart disease. Ingesting foods containing lutein can prevent and treat cataracts and delay eye degeneration caused by age.