All Saints Day-Dia de Todosantos: November 1

A Delicious Tradition

On the eve of November 1, Guatemalans prepared a dish called Fiambre.

Supermarkets and sales of sausages from the capital are busy, people procure products for the making of fiambre, the country's traditional dish for the day dedicated to the dead.

To acquire the ingredients to prepare a dish of fiambre, as it is customary in Guatemala for more than 400 years, has marked the eve of November 1 and 2, while others are directed to visit the graves of their loved ones .

In meat houses, markets and supermarkets, hundreds attempted to buy hams, cheeses and sausages, accompanied by pickled vegetables, the traditional food they enjoy with their families on November 1 and 2, All Saints Day and the Faithful Dead, respectively.

The eve before, people go to a salchichoneria, where they acquired all the ingredients.

Families gather that night, to continue a tradition that holds us together.

In Hiper Paiz and other supermarkets, customers started arriving after 8am, and most go directly to the aisles where they could find the ingredients for fiambre, including a special combo: four pounds of this dish, a bread of the dead, a pound of sweet squash and 2.5 liters of soda a drink, Q155.95, a dish or individual Q65.95.

Visiting Cemeteries

The camposantos also were visited by hundreds of Guatemalans who spent a few hours to clean and decorate the pantheons of relatives.

Young children may accompany adults for the first time to their family gravesites to bring flowers. Families also go to decorate the family vault..

People do this every year, so as not to lose the tradition. It is a way of instilling the values of family.

Origins: Symbolic Food

According to the historian Celso Lara, fiambre represents the essence of Guatemalans.

The origin of fiambre goes back to the beginning of the seventeenth century, when it merged with the pre-Hispanic traditions in Spain, in a saucer to commemorate all the saints and the faithfully departed.

Since then, fiambre took root in the country each November 1.

Lara believes that this is the most delicious dish and exuberant of Guatemala. According to the historian, fiambre is part of an ancient custom, and not a tradition that was born of an impromptu meal, as some legends say.

It is a salad, served chilled, and may be made up from over 50 ingredients. Each family has its own secret recipe and ingredient. Passed down from generation to generation.

Fiambre started out from the tradition in Guatemala of taking dead family members their favorite dishes to the cemeteries for All Saints Day, this is the way it is celebrated in Guate. As all different families brought food to the celebrations, they became mixed, eventually mixing them together to this all-encompassing salad. Ingredients usually include numerous cold cuts and sausages, pickled baby-corn and onion, beets, pacaya flower, different cheeses, olives, chicken, and sometimes even brussels sprouts or shrimp.

This dish varies from family to family, recipes traditionally passed on to younger generations. Because of this it is customary to share your fiambre with other families and relatives.

Some variances are:

* Fiambre rojo (with beets)
* Fiambre blanco (no beets)
* Fiambre desarmado (traditional of the department of Jalapa)
* Fiambre verde (no cold cuts, vegetarian)

See this link for a picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiambre

If one wants to celebrate Guatemala's holiday it should be "All Saints Day" (Dia de Todosantos), which is celebrated on Nov. 1. Folks should know that Mexico's "Day of the Dead" (Dia de los Muertos), is different, these holidays are celebrated differently in both countries.

Guatemalans from Guate City and other urban areas prepare "fiambre" (recent thread on it on the our Forum). Fiambre is the central element of Nov. 1st, and people talk about "celebrating fiambre" or ask "where will you eat fiambre." All Guatemalans visit the cemetery, clean their loved ones' tombs, give them a fresh coat of paint, decorate them, but flowers and have a meal right there.
That is when the kite flying happens (except Santiago Sacatepequez where the kite flying is an event by itself). The air is very festive and children participate in the celebration. Everywhere people prepare special meals to eat with their dead (but no Mexican candy skulls!). Apart from fiambre, some people prepare sweet potato and other warm desserts (it is the onset of the "cold" season). Food vendors go out of their way on Nov. 1st as people who have been in La Antigua for that time can attest to. Most typical foods are sold, including lots of traditional candy.

Todosantos is a wonderful example of how Guatemalans keep close ties with their dead. Visiting the cemetery constitutes a normal outing and Nov. 1st is the most important day of the year to visit and honor loved ones. Eating a meal at the cemetery is a sign of these close ties and the fact that the "frontier" between the living and the dead is more fluid than in other cultures.

Posted by Marie at October 17, 2008 05:47 AM