Guanajuato.- To eat or not eat them foods of the offering of Day of the Deadthat is the dilemma, and like all tradition it has several possibilities once the dead have finished their visit to this world and everything returns to the normality of daily life.
It can be said that there two criteria to proceed with food after the day of the dead is over and the souls have returned to the afterlife, the first is the criterion metaphysical and the second is the criterion daily.
Regarding the first criterion, Alessandro Lupo, Doctor in Ethno-anthropological Sciences in his trial “Eating (with) the deceased: the edible offerings of All Saints and the logics of the commensal between the living and the dead in the Sierra de Puebla, recounts how the interaction of the living and the dead with food is perceived in this festivity.
let see that exist so much towns where the living eat the food with the dead, as populations in which food they should not be eaten Until the dead are gone.
Contrary to what happens in other Mexican indigenous contexts, where no commensality is recorded between the living and the dead and the offerings dedicated to the latter are not eaten by the former, among the Nahuas of the Sierra the living do not hesitate to eat them, although only rigorously after the passing of the deceased and despite the fact that they consider that they have already lost much of their fragrance”, he explains.
In a sense metaphysicalreports that the dead possess the foods to be able to consume their essence and therefore they should not be manipulated by the living until after the date.
Past this time the living can eat food but these will no longer have taste or smell and will have lost their body because the dead took it away.
And the second criterion respond only to common sense and to everyday logic, since food is a product that can be perishable or non-perishable and consumed in poor condition will harm the Health.
That is, if dishes were placed on the alatar as enchiladas, pozole, mass or any other stew preferred by the deceased, the recommended thing would be throw it awayfor a matter of health, the same as any product that has been outdoors, exposed to wind, fauna and dust.
On the other hand the foods that No be perishables such as fruit with the skin, or candies with wrappers, these yes they can be consumed by the living, and the same criteria would apply to drinks.
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In conclusion, the foods of the Day of the Dead offering should be treated in the same way as the foods of a celebration among the living; While the guest is eating, it is not correct to remove the plate or take food. Once the leftovers on the plates are gone, they are disposed of for sanitation and the rest can be consumed if they are kept protected from the elements.
Tradition does not mark a special ritual to dismantle the altar, nor to proceed with the elements of the offering, so it is left to personal discretion.
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