Madeleine's Adventure: Marigolds and Monarchs

Marigolds and monarch butterflies have been associated with the Day of the Dead for a long time.

Monarch butterflies begin to arrive in Mexico around the Day of the Dead, after their long migrations from Canada and the United States. Legend says that their wings carry the souls of the dead. Marigolds, bright orange fragrant flowers, are used to decorate the ofrendas (altars) and show the souls the way to the ofrendas, so they can return to their families. Beautiful.

Marigolds also have other meanings in Mexican folklore.

In one story, two Aztec children, Huitzilin and Xochitl, grew up together and explored a nearby mountaintop. While there, they offered flowers to the Sun God, who, in return would “smile from the sky with warm rays”. As adults, they fell in love and swore eternal love to each other. Sadly, Huitzilin died in a war. Devastated, Xóchitl returned to the mountaintop and prayed to the Sun God to be reunited with her love. Then, a ray of sunshine kissed her cheek and transformed her into a flower as bright as the sun. Suddenly, a hummingbird touched the flower, and the flowers' petals opened. According to the story, their love will remain as long as marigolds and hummingbirds remain on earth.

Another legend states that a marigold grows where each innocent victim of the Spanish conquest fell.

Cempasúchil is the Spanish word for marigold. It comes from the Aztec language, the Nahuatl, and means twenty petals flower.

Pictures

1) I went on a group day trip to a small town called Comonfort about 30 minutes away from SMS. There, we visited a large field where they grow marigolds, and a few other flowers for the Day of the Dead. This is me, and Moishes, a retired cowboy who came on the trip.

2) One of the men cutting the flowers for customers. At the end of several of the rows of flowers had a stake and name on it. Yep, these people had pre-bought that row.