In Mexico, the celebration of the "Day of the Dead" (November 2nd), is a great tradition that has a pre-Hispanic origin, but with a strong charge of syncretism with the Christian evangelization of the first missionaries.
The meaning of death for pre-Hispanic cultures was to complete a life cycle that led people to cross a threshold into another reality beyond. For this reason, the exhibition of the skulls of dead people was a common event in rituals as a reference to the cycle that ends and the one that begins.
With the arrival of the Spanish missionaries and coinciding with the Christian celebration of "All the Souls", new cultural nuances were added that led to the replacement of human skulls by edible handmade skulls to be placed on the altars where homage was paid to the deceased. From here, the sugar skulls arose, or commonly called "calaveritas".
Originally, the calaveritas are made in molds with the technique called "alfeñique", which consists of a mixture of sugar, egg whites, lemon and a plant called "chaucle".
However, sugar of European origin is not the only main ingredient to make the calaveritas. There are also other more Mexican ingredients that enhance the preparation of the skulls. We are talking about amaranth and chocolate.
Please, buy your sugar, amaranth or chocolate calaveritas directly from the Mexican artisans. Let's support the Mexican tradition by strengthening the local economy.
