Flowers in the Medellín market in Colonia Condesa, Mexico City; copyright free image courtesy of "Stellarc" made available through Wikimedia Commons.
The above fine image tells the whole story: Mexicans love to adorn their homes, altars, and lives in general with freshly cut flowers. In Mexico today about a million people are directly or indirectly involved in producing and selling flowers. About 60% of the production work is done by women. The three main flower types being produced in 2020 were these, a gross of flowers being 144 individual cut blossoms:
- Chrysanthemum: over 11 million gross
- Roses: over 8 million gross
- Gladiolas: over 5 million
- Zinnias are native Mexican.
- Caléndulas, or marigolds, also are native Mexican. They're especially important during the Festival of the Dead, which coincides with our Halloween. Once I was with a Nahuatl speaking family in lowland San Luis Potosí during the festival. Of bamboo and wire, in the corner of their house, they constructed an arco, or homemade altar, about six feet high, and adorned with palm fronds and marigolds. On the altar they placed pictures of deceased family members, burning candles, and items the dead people liked to eat and drink, such as tamales, chocolate drinks, and whiskey. From the altar, through the house and across their front yard, they dropped marigold petals, making an orange trail. Out front, the trail met the village's main footpath, which was a superhighway of strewn, bright orange marigold petals. I was told that wandering spirits would see the bright trails and follow the correct one to the altar, where they would comprehend that the family was honoring them, and offering them their favorite dishes.
- Dalias, or dahlias, are native Mexican, introduced into Europe in 1789. Dahlias are Mexico's national flower.
- Gladiolos, or gladiolas, are members of the Iris Family. The big-flowered variety sold in mercados is horticultural, growing nowhere wild. The original parent stock came from the Old World.
- Azucenas, or Easter lilies, of the Lily Family, are horticultural varieties derived from wild stock in Japan.
Day of the Dead altar en Actopan, Hidalgo; copyright free image courtesy of "RubeHM" made available through Wikimedia Commons.