Celebrating Life Of Our Ancestors With Pan De Muerto

"The ground on which we stand is a sacred ground. It is the blood and dust of our ancestors."
   
                                    Chief Plenty Coups, Crow




Halloween in North American culture is a product of commercialism and focuses on costumes, scary decorations and children trick and treating to collect candy. It is definitely an event like no other but somehow I do not feel any spiritual connection to the actual holiday it should represent- to remember the dead ones.




In Poland we observe All Saints Day, which is November 1st and it is a statutory holiday. We visit the graves of our family members and take time to remember them and pray. We light the candles, more than usually and we go back to the graveyards again late in the evening. The sky lights up with the glow of the candles and the cemetery looks beautiful as if life after death was not scary or dark and lonely, but warm, bright and close to those we love. 




In Mexico on the other hand, an extraordinary event takes place that is one of its kind. I have never experienced it in person but visited few events organized here in Toronto and learnt about it through my Mexican friends and family and my passion for this country. For Christians death is a punishment. For Mexicans death is a dual concept which combines life and death and this can be seen in the celebrations called Dia de los Muertos. The Aztecs believed that they should not grieve when a loved one passed away but celebrate their life and return of the spirit to the land of the living once a year. The festivities were observed by the Indigenous people for at lest 3000 years and the celebrations took 2 months in the past. The Spanish tried to eradicate this event, however they had to introduce a shorter 2 day celebration, because of its popularity. It is now observed on November 1 which is dedicated to children and November 2 is dedicated to adults. 

People dress up and put make up on resembling death/skeletons. There are flowers, colourful dresses, sugar skulls decorated with beautiful colours. Death is being mocked and the souls are able to rest at the elaborate altars after a long journey, smell their favourite drinks, foods and connect with the loved ones. One item prepared days ahead of the holiday is Pan De Muertos, sweet egg bread, shared with the loved ones and often eaten by the grave on the Day of the Dead. I decided to introduce this tradition in my house and teach my girls that we have to take time to celebrate the lives of those who are not with us anymore and we can share their favourite things with them. My friend whose father recently passed away told me she saw a ladybug three times on the day of his funeral and something told her it was her father telling them he was free of pain and fear and happy now. I want them to know that we have to take this time to remember and that there is more to Halloween than just dressing up and eating candy and trying to scare people. Mexico does it the best as they connect the fun and the spirituality by making it a work of art with depth of immense dimensions. I am so proud to be so closely connected to Mexico now to share this beautiful celebration with my family.





This bread is a bit similar to Mexican conchas which I prepared before, however more similar to sweet egg bread. The recipe comes from "My Sweet Mexico" by Fanny Gerson.







Pan de Muerto

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons orange blossom water
2/3 cups whole milk
4 cups bread flower
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

Topping

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar











To make the dough, dissolve the yeast in orange blossom water. Add 1/3 cup of the milk and 1/2 a cup of the flour. Whisk and leave in a warm place until it starts to bubble, about 30 minutes.

Put the remaining 3 1/2 cups flour in the bowl of a mixer with the hook attachment and mix in the sugar, salt and orange zest for about 30 seconds. Add the eggs, the remaining 1/3 cup milk, and the yeast dough. Mix at low speed until the dough starts to come together. Add the butter gradually in small pieces and increase the speed to medium. Mix until the dough is no longer sticky and it comes of the sides of the bowl easily. Place in an oiled/buttered bowl and let it rise in a warm place, covered with a towel until it doubles in size for about 2 hours. Refrigerate overnight. Remove the next day and let it rise again for about 2 hours. Remove a golf ball size piece of dough and reserve to make the bones. Divide the dough in two and shape two rounds.Remove a gum size piece of dough from each round and leave on a baking sheet for later use. Place two rounds of dough on baking sheets, cover lightly with towels and let rise again until they double in size. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Shape the large piece of dough into 4 bones. Place two on each round so they are forming a cross and place the small gum size round in the middle. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until it is golden brown.







Brush the breads with butter all over while still warm and sprinkle with sugar.

There are different variations of this bread. See the picture below.




My favourite way of eating it is with coffee and a piece of chocolate. Also with butter or nutella and a glass of milk. Enjoy!






Comments

Popular Posts