00:06
Hey guys, welcome back to me through Daily.
00:08
I'm Jenny. I'm Alejandro.
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I thought I was Lincoln Bio.
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I was like, don't get in your hair,
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don't get in your head.
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I always do that too.
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It's because we've done so many episodes of Lincoln Bio.
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so I say it without even knowing I exist.
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Sorry for the Y se guys.
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But it was me too da just as you might have heard
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It's very it's a little different today.
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Yes. But before we get into it,
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just wanna remind you guys today,
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we're brought to you by the Mitu newsletter.
00:40
Sign up at, we are me through.com to stay up to
00:42
date on Mitu news events and more.
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And now let's get to the episode.
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Let's dive into something.
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Mui espe Dia de Los Muertos.
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It's not just about colorful Calaveras.
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Andreas. There's some serious history behind this holiday.
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Oh, yeah, that's right.
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Dios Muertos, our day of the dead,
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right? Goes way back to ancient mesoamerican cultures like the Aztecs
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and NAA people, they believe death was just another part of
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life. It's like saying,
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oh yeah, death is this a part of life?
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It happens and there's still more to go.
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Exactly. And I like how it's seen as something to be
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celebrated. Like I feel like us as Latinos,
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we find, we find the silver lining and things,
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we find the positive outlook and things and this is very much
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what this is. So they believe that when someone died,
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their spirit didn't just poof disappear.
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Instead they went to the afterlife and came back once a year
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to chill with the familia and catch up whatever,
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we enjoy what they like and it's cool to see like the
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stuff that people put on the because that's what they liked that
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unique. Yes, exactly.
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No. Yeah. Fast forward to when the Spanish arrived in
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Mexico in the 15 hundreds.
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They tried to, you know,
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convert everyone to their traditions and they saw this festival honoring death
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and said, how about we put it closer to All Saints
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Day? And that's how we actually ended up with the Los
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Muertos on November 1st and second.
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But what makes it so unique?
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And so ours is the blend of both Catholic and indigenous traditions
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We still have the schools,
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the Marigolds and the Frida,
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but it's like a remix of old and new vibes.
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No. Yeah. And speaking of a friend those are that
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are super important, right?
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So like you said earlier,
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family set them up with photos,
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food drinks and just like the things that remind us of our
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loved ones. Like I would want a naive,
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I like minions, you know,
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they like cute thing my little fos but you know,
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Charlie like oh man.
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But yeah, so you'll see.
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Find the Muerto, right?
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The special bread marigold Jose Paz.
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The scent of those flowers is set to guide the spirits back
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home. And I mean you smell them very strong,
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they have a very strong smell and you can't forget we got
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the calaveras or sugar skulls.
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People think they're just decorations.
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But no, they're a reminder that life is short and sweet
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just like baby girl,
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Izzy. They're your baby girl.
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You guys always hype her up so much.
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So I know your baby is so cute,
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so sweet. I'm like she's a demon.
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Yeah, but let's talk about like Katrina.
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She's that fancy skeleton lady that you see everywhere you're like,
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wait, how is this connected?
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There's so many moving parts to this.
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Yeah. So she has a big hat and she was actually
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created by an artist named Jose Gua Lupe Posada.
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In the early 19 hundreds,
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the Latina became a symbol that says death is for everyone.
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Even the rich and famous,
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right? So no matter where your roots where you're from like
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you can look, you know,
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you have to present yourself like this.
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So you present yourself like this.
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So the Los Muertos is this amazing mix of indigenous and Spanish
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influences that celebrates life by honoring death.
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It's about remembering and reconnecting with those we've lost,
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letting them know they're still a part of la familia and they
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haven't been forgotten. No.
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Yeah. And me personally,
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I didn't grow up doing the Alfreda neither.
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It was in the later years that I started to learn more
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about my culture and stuff like that.
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oh, the meaning behind these things is so unique and significant
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You don't think about it.
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You see the Pan de Muerto,
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my mom would buy it.
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But I'm like, but what's all this about?
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learning that once we pass out,
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obviously, we're sad,
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but then there's still more to it.
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You can still honor them and be happy about all the memories
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you're celebrating that they graced your life.
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They were a part of your life than they were here.
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They made an impact on your life too.
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So tonight as we celebrate,
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let's take, come on for all those who came before us
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our ancestors and know they're right here with us.
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Probably willing to write out our cheese man,
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right? They're like,
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hey, you just pay Asos but hey,
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you're still here. Cheers to them and to all of you
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celebrating today, Feliz Dia De Muertos.
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Familia. Hi, brother.
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It's 5 a.m. and I'm out here at La Meju Bakery in
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North Hollywood. It's really cold.
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It's really early. And,
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I'm really excited to try Pan De Muerto.
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Yeah. And, and coffee.
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It smells so good in here.
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So, this is La Neo Bakery in North Hollywood,
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California. My parents opened this back in 1999.
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They've been baking since my father was eight years old,
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back in Jalisco. And then what's the significance of the bread
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around Panda Muerto symbolizes life and dead because of the shape and
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then the extra dough that it has on top,
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it means the bones or some people say the tears and then
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they make some with sesame seed and some with sugar.
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The ones with sugar are supposed to be like the Ceniza.
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very tough job. It's a very,
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very tough job. So this is my father Primitivo Lopez who's
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the best baker and right here El Trago the name Trabajar.
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Oh three. Er oh no kidding.
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Yeah, not a ra there.
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Yeah M and a Muerto.
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Mm Alright. So it's Rush hour right now guys.
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So we made it through,
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we are at La Mejor Bakery here in North Hollywood and Muchas
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Gracias, a Muchos gracias and back to you Alejo,
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you missed out but I got you a little subset.
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I'm Jesus Sanchez with Sanchez produce.
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And this is my family's merry Gold Field.
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How long have you been growing?
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Semp Paci? We've been doing Semp Paci for the past
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six years, but we've been in the CIA Valley for about
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2425 years. So we did start with the American injury
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We grew up in Oxford.
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so my dad and my mom were selling strawberries out in
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the corner of the street and the truck as years went by
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we started to grow more and we do marigolds
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the last week of the last two weeks of October.
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These are not even blossomed yet.
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And then we have the yellow ones.
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This is a yellow marigold.
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Every single plant actually planted one by one.
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That's what my sister,
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she plants every single marigold one by one.
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Is it true that your sister came up with the idea to
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grow marigolds, you know,
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DACA student and resident,
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she got a permit to go out of this country and go
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visit our grandma. She got to experience day of the dead
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and going to the cemetery and the celebration of life and people
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eating mariachis, literally celebrating the their loved ones who have
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passed and she came back and then her and my dad
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they decided to start growing marigolds.
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the flowers really got known around the community.
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People from the valley started coming and supporting us and we actually
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have three different type of marigolds.
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And we have the T Pero or the moo de pavo.
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There's plenty of different names.
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It's supposed to illuminate and the bright colors,
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bring your loved ones,
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guide your loved ones to your oda.
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So for us, it means a lot.
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We are thankful to be people's connections to our culture.
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So all the hard work being out here in the summer when
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it's 100 and 10 degrees,
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Growing the marigold fields,
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the saucy flowers gives me a connection to my ancestors,
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to my culture, celebrating part of our,
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our beliefs, our traditions especially traditions.
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A lot of people ask why are they so important in your
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culture? And it's to remember our loved ones who have passed
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away and keep them in our memory.
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Hey guys, we are here at the L A zoo and
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we're so excited to finally check out the po Freas that they
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have here. I've been seeing them all over social media and
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I'm so stoked to finally see them in person and just talk
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to the people that were behind them.
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So we're here at the L A Zoo with the zoo Community
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Programs manager, Coral and tell us about the pet arias
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that you guys have here at the zoo.
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We have a very beautiful display back here of the beloved
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pet of friend. It's,
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I believe one of the largest ones right now and it existed
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and I'm very proud of it.
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how many years have you guys done it?
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Like, how many years we started in the fall of
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And what inspired you guys?
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I know. Did you have the idea to do this,
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or, or how did it come about in 2020 19?
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I lose my yorkie of 13 years named Vegas.
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And I had been putting up a Fernando in my house
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since 2002 when my mother passed away.
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well, you know what,
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I'm gonna put one up in the office.
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I wanna honor my dog.
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one at home and I'll do one here at,
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at the office slowly but surely everybody in my department wanted to
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participate. Yeah. So we kept on adding it was very
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well received. So then when zoo Men wanted to
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do one for the public and they asked,
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you know, is this appropriate?
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it's very appropriate. It has had good support from my colleagues
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but we're going to get the professionals to come and help
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us. And that's when I called Plaza La Raza.
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Maria Jimenez, Torres Plaza,
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La Raza. Can you show us around like the Ada
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and kind of explain to us,
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you know what, like the little arches and everything,
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the animals, if you can see they're going,
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they're going, you know,
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right to left, left to right.
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because they come back to us and then they leave again.
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I wanted to make sure that that was clear and I like
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how you added like little fire hydrants and treats all the food
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needs to be because we're outside.
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So everything has to be in jars because little squirrels will take
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us out. There's so many Squires who made this all of
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a sudden. I said we need paper mache.
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We need handmade stuff.
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Who do we got in the department that can help us.
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We're learning an engagement.
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So we tend to do a lot of handcrafts and we tend
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to have a lot of artists in the department.
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This was made by Laura Bernard Frost and this is Cletus.
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This is Cletus, that's her dog in honor of Cletus.
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They're beautiful. I think I saw like a fish over there
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there's other lizards, rat,
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lizards. We've seen,
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bugs, there's been bugs on here.
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There used to be a cockroach and it's also very cathartic for
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we have tissue just in case because it,
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I'm sure I'm sure I don't want,
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I think some people are very,
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they're overwhelmed by this space.
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They can't believe that there's others that feel like them just like
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I did. And to see all this love and dedication.
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It's just really beautiful and,
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you know, surprising they say that the short life spans of
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dogs have to do with the fact that they love so hard
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that they love so hard.
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And that's why they do one of those things.
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That's why when we get a,
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13 years, 50 years is this gonna be like,
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so what time is this gonna be?
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This is this is going to end or wrap up for this
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season on Sunday, November 3rd at five o'clock when we close
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our doors. But we'll be open up until five and we'll
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try to print out as many pictures as we can up until
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that time. And then will this be returning next year and
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then you will see us next year?
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Wow, that's amazing.
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We appreciate what you guys are doing.
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Very special. Thank you.
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Thank you. So this has been Mitu Daily,
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our special episode of Dia De Los Muertos and yeah,
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take it away. Thank you guys for watching and I don't
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know about you, but I'm going to get my Pan De
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Muerto because this like,
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why did you invite me?
17:00
I learned so much about that.
17:02
I had no idea the sugar like what it meant like the
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bones. You didn't want to wake up early.
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You know what funny that day I didn't wake up early because
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the baby was up at four and I was like,
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they pull you out there.
17:13
I saw your post like,
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But anyways next time have a great Dios Muertos and we'll
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see you guys next week.
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