Entre festivales y huesos. La politización de los rituales mortuorios en México

Abstract

In this article I explore the politicization of mortuary rituals in Mexico from the ethnographic case of the rituality of bone cleaning in Pomuch, Campeche, through its patrimonialization and its massive dissemination in the “Festival de Día de Muertos Pomuch para el mundo”. My objective is to understand how the relationships are woven between patrimonialization as a process, in which heritage, market and consumption are linked, and local mortuary rituals, which have been politically adjusted, since the post-revolutionary period, to a national discourse and identity about the Mexican. In the text, I analyze the definition of patrimonialization, and how it is linked to a national project with respect to mortuary attitudes and practices in Mexico; the history, actors and conflicts of the Festival; the Patrimonial Declaration of the cleaning of bones; and the impact of the Festival on the relations of the Pomucheños with their deceased.