Viko Ndiyi: “La Fiesta de los Muertos”. Señales, reencuentros y ofrendas rituales entre los mixtecos

Abstract

Tracing ethnographic data, it points out gaps in the celebration of All Saints Days in the Mixteca Alta. Based on the belief in the return of the dead, it analyzes the effectiveness of the symbolic body-soul-death triad. From the analytical-descriptive field it discusses signs that herald death, burial rituals, apparitions and reunion with the dead, the transformations of households, and offerings made throughout the celebration, rituals performed in the church and community cemetery, and ties between compadres that develop at the culmination of the ceremonial cycle. This article attempts to show the particular features that the Mixtecs contribute to the conceptualization that they have made of death.