Study in Ethnobotany: the marigold

This time of year I love to find marigolds around the neighborhood. They remind me of Day of the Dead, Dia de los Muertos, the amazing Mexican holiday I studied intensively as an anthropology student at the Colorado College in the 1990's. A unique combination of ancient Meso-American beliefs and fundamentals of Spanish Catholicism, Dia de los Muertos is a time for the living to acknowledge, honor, and accept death and the deceased by inviting back for a short period of time the souls of their lost loved ones to enjoy all that life offered. Art and ritual are the main components behind this annual acceptance and celebration of death among Mexican and other Central American cultures. With offerings, prayers, and feasting, the living welcome back the souls of their deceased loved ones. For a short period of time the dead are reminded of all that they had when they were alive and the living are reminded of the one thing that they can count on, that death will come to each and all in due time.

During October of each year greater than usual quantities of food and art are infused into local community marketplaces throughout Mexico. Artisans, farmers, and even politicians gather their specific creations and set up stalls to offer their goods to the rest of the community. Calaveras, the printed satirical broadsheets loaded with skeletal imagery, circulate through the towns and cities bringing political comedy to the event. Turkey and chicken, chocolate, herbs and spices, squash, and cornmeal are among the most popular foods found in the marketplace during October. Special bread, pan de muertos, is prepared and baked in unique shapes like human bones. Sugar skulls in all shapes and sizes are found in the thousands, ornate and beautiful and perhaps even bearing the name of lost loved ones. Homemade figurines are colorful and whimsical, showing skeletons doing normal everyday actions and activities like using a sewing machine or riding on a bus. Pottery and candles are made in excess as well, continuing the list of essential Day of Dead necessities used to create an elaborate alter space inside the home, the ofrenda, where food and gifts will be offered up to the souls. The smell of copal incense and flowers fill the marketplace air, specifically during Dia de los Muertos preparation. Paper banners and mask are the final objects found in the marketplace before the opening days of November, adding even more color and homemade artistry to the community centers.
Marigolds, the genus Tagetes, are native to the American tropics and subtropics except for some 50-odd species. They are seeded down in Mexico in August so that they bloom right before the start of November. The marigold (Tagetes patula and its many hybrids) is considered by many to be the "flower of the dead". The Aztecs valued marigolds and referred to them by their Nahuatl name, Cempasuchil. They used flowers in conjunction with death rituals because of their naturally ephemeral existence. For rituals regarding the dualistic relationship of life and death the Aztecs thought it just to use an ornament just as ephemeral as human life. Returning to the present, families still believe that the scent and color of the bright orange flower work to attract the dead, and help guide their souls back home for the ritual at hand. Leading from the front door of the home into the house and to ofrenda, where gifts are left to be enjoyed by the dead souls the marigold petals create the trail the dead souls can find and follow to safely return to their living families. Traditionally the family prepares a great feast and sets it out for the returned souls to enjoy. The family then goes to the cemetary and prays through the night, returning home to eventually eat the food, the physical remains of the gifts left for and enjoyed by their loved ones.
This is a great little stand of marigolds around the corner that is still holding on despite the quickly cooling temperatures. As a lover of anthropology, horticulture, ethnobotany, and art I could go on and on about this amazing holiday and these amazing plants people usually only know as reliable sun-loving annuals. But alas, I couldn't transcribe my entire senior thesis because I have Sunday football to watch. For more information about Dia de los Muertos treat yourself to a Google search or two - it really is a fascinating ritual, one us death-fearing Americans could learn something from. Take care.