On November 1 the people of Muylaque, together with the people of other villages all over the area celebrate All Saint’s Day. Preparation begins on the last day of October, when, in the early morning, all the single adults go to the graveyard, in the mountains surrounding Muylaque, and clean the area, hacking away the overgrowth, raking the leaves and placing lose rocks on the wall delineating the parcel of land. The next day, after breakfast, people begin to file in carrying offerings: buckets of fermented corn drinks, firewater, butchered pigs, and traditional thixti, a fried bread made with cornmeal. Those who have lost a family member or friend in the last year wear black, the rest dress in nice clothing, the women and girls appear in their brightest outfits, their hats adorned with flowers.-
Vigil is kept at the graves of the families, those relatives of the recently deceased set up little booths from cloth and large sticks and from there they distribute cigarettes, sweets, food, and drink to those who come to pray or sing. A few drops of each alcoholic beverage must be poured onto the grave for the dead before consumption. Candles are placed around all the graves, even those which have no family present, or whose name has been smoothed away with time, are given candles and prayed over. 
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In the afternoon, the brass band arrives, they play funeral marches and sing Catholic songs to dispatch the souls to the next world. The general atmosphere is one of merriment, children playing amongst the graves visiting at the make-shift booths with open hands to receive sweetened puffed corn and candy, adults drinking liberally and chatting with one another, and musicians making music and singing. If it wasn’t for the decrepit stone church, the eerie crude wooden crosses, and the above-ground tombs, it would almost seem a carnival.
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As the evening progresses, gallons of chicha are poured over the 
graves of loved-ones as offerings, the rest of the food is given out, and the community files out of the graveyard and into the village. From there, a small group of 10 or so people go to a few houses in which small altars have been set-up. There, they sing and pray before a cross and adorned with flowers, and after the house-owner distributes sweets and fruits to the children and cigarettes, bread, and alcohol to the adults, bringing to mind Halloween in the US. Once every house with an altar has been visited, the ritual is complete and people return home, stuffed and exhausted.
graves of loved-ones as offerings, the rest of the food is given out, and the community files out of the graveyard and into the village. From there, a small group of 10 or so people go to a few houses in which small altars have been set-up. There, they sing and pray before a cross and adorned with flowers, and after the house-owner distributes sweets and fruits to the children and cigarettes, bread, and alcohol to the adults, bringing to mind Halloween in the US. Once every house with an altar has been visited, the ritual is complete and people return home, stuffed and exhausted.
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1 Español 5 IB – El blog de la maestra Ossenkop // Feb 10, 2010 at 2:04 pm
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