All Saint’s Day, celebrated November 1, is a day of honoring and remembering ancestors and loved-ones who have died.  In San Lucas, preparation for the day begins a week early as families take time to go to the cemetery and paint the large, colorful tombs and burial markers.  Signs appear all over town, offering orders for the traditional meal of the day – “fiambre,” and colorful kites emerge, hanging in stores, waiting to be sold for the celebration.

Celebration in the Cemetery
Early on the morning of November 1, families begin making the walk to the cemetery with flowers, buckets of water, paper chains, crosses and other decorations with which to adorn the burial sites of those who have died.  The streets directly around the cemetery quickly become packed as the townspeople slowly make their way to the cemetery weaving through vendors who have set up to sell flowers, fresh pine needles, pre-arranged decorations, and a variety of traditional food – tamales, chuchitos, tostadas and atol. 

By mid-morning the cemetery is littered with fresh pine needles strewn all about, vibrant with a plethora of colors, and packed with people as everyone awaits the morning mass.  The people gather to hear the names of the deceased read before and during the mass.  However, throughout the day, visitors come and go from the cemetery, often at meal times bringing a meal to share with the deceased. 

Fiambre
The popular dish of the day is called “fiambre,” which means “cold cut meat.”  Fiambre is a vegetable medley of radishes, carrots, lettuce, cabbage, peas, mushrooms, beats and other vegetables harvested at that time.  The medley is then topped with every class of meat: beef, chicken, salami, hot dog, turkey and sometimes includes tongue.  Fiambre is easily recognizable for its pinkish tint that comes from the beats and only eaten this one day during the year.       

Kite Flying
As November marks the beginning of the summer season and brisk winds, on this day in particular the cemetery, the streets and the lakeshore are filled with children running about, getting their kites off the ground to fly with the others.  While other towns are more famous for their elaborate and gigantic kites, in San Lucas there is no shortage of lively, multicolored kites of all sizes in the air.  Though to some it is simply a tradition to fly kites on this day, historically the kites have been used as a method by which those here on Earth can send message to their loved ones in heaven.

Evening Celebration
In the evenings, the children also participate in a symbolic act similar to the American tradition of trick-or-treating.  Children and teenagers, usually young men, march through the streets dressed primarily in all black outfits and sheets with their faces covered by gruesome or scary masks.  They go from house to house and ask those they encounter in the streets for elote (corn on the cob) and huiskiles (a potato-like vegetable).  As the tradition is told, the children going from house-to-house represent the spirits of those who have died.  When they arrive at a house, the people are to share with the spirits of their ancestors and deceased family members what they have collected from the harvest. 

After collecting their vegetable treats, the masked young people conclude the day of remembrance and honor with a bit of fun, participating in a dance competition held in the town square as the townspeople look on in celebration of the day’s festivities.