by Maureen Gilmer
Do-It-Yourself Network
In the Mexican garden there is a single flower that is grown among the edible plants. Mistakenly called African marigold, it is like the chiles and tomatoes, a crop of the New World. Don't confuse it with the calendula or pot marigold of Europe because our Aztec marigold is Tagetes erecta, a true native of Mexico. It is a flower that is as unique as it is powerful, and loved for both its physical properties and mystical ones.
Known as America's most popular annual bedding plant, it is distinguished by its large orange or yellow pompon flowers and sold in garden centers everywhere in spring. The tall forms grow into big, burly plants that make excellent cut flowers, but may need staking with age. Newer dwarf forms have the same large flowers but short stature for mass bedding effects or use in smaller gardens. If the flowers are clipped off the plant promptly after they wither, they bloom abundantly until the first autumn frost.
It is still widely grown in Latin America as a cut flower for its role in honoring the ancestors through very ancient rites that still exist. The original species is a wildflower of Oaxaca, Mexico. These plants contain potent oils that release a rather pungent scent, which has long been used as a natural insecticide. Early on, Mexican farmers realized that vegetables growing near the marigolds suffered less from hornworms and whiteflies. For this they have become a mainstay of the traditional Latino garden and is shared by organic veggie growers. The marigold plants are grown mixed into the rows with other food crops.
In pre-Columbian Mexico, the Aztecs recognized many days when ritual flowers and foods were offered to dead ancestors for their journey through the underworld. It was believed that the dead can recognize the marigolds by sight and smell, and this flower became a sort of lure in decorations and offerings. They are known as cempasuchil (sem-pa-soo-chee) in the Aztec Nahuatl language, or flor de los muertos in Spanish.
The Spanish missionaries suppressed the rituals of the Aztecs, instituting their own two feast days of remembrance: All Saints and All Souls (Nov. 1, Nov. 2). Over the centuries, the ancient Aztec traditions of grinning sugar skulls and bright flowers have become integrated into these Catholic rites. Known today as El Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, it is a celebration that helps the living cope with grief through humor and festivities. On these days the families decorate the graves of loved ones with marigolds just as the Aztecs did. They spend the night in the flower-filled graveyards with no light but that of bonfires and beeswax tapers as they keep company with the wandering souls.
The family also creates an altar in the home decorated with fresh marigolds to lure their ancestors to the ritual food offerings such as sweet bread and mole. Marigold petals are sprinkled in a path from front door to the altar to guide the nightly visitors. The altar combines family pictures of the deceased with requisite tequila and cigarettes (no longer a health problem), all enjoyed by the dead who energize the "offerenda" on these special nights. At the end, family members consume much of the ritual food, thus becoming reunited with ancestral souls through the energy left in them.
El Dia De Los Muertos may someday eclipse the dark European legacy of Halloween with cheerful Hispanic traditions in the West. Perhaps the legacy of a once-mighty culture of ancient Mexico will help us rediscover a distinctly American plant. It deserves to be recognized for its many virtues, but most of all as a healing flower that helps the living grieve and remember their dead.
(Maureen Gilmer is a horticulturist, landscape design consultant, and author of 14 books. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)
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