Pan de muerto will be distributed after all Masses on Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Mass Schedule:

Chapel of the Immaculate Conception will be 8a.m., 12:30p.m., and 4:30p.m.

Stuart Hall 9p.m.

Pan de muerto (bread of the dead)  is one distinct type of food offering that loved ones may make and place on an ofrenda for their loved ones during días de muertos (Days of the Dead). It is a type of bread that has been baked into specific shapes, such as crosses or bones on top of a loaf. The bread may be baked into the shape of a person if the celebrants do not have a picture of the deceased loved one.3 One piece of bread can represent the entire human body with its round shape, while the shapes of bones on the edges of the bread and along its ridges symbolize arms and legs, and the button-like, round center of the bread symbolizes the head.2 It is very often sweet, crispy around the exterior, and is made to give off the aroma of orange blossoms and anise, which give the pan a distinctive smell to attract the souls of our loved ones (alongside the scent of copal incense and the cempasuchitl, or marigolds).2,3 Pan de muerto specifically is seen as representing the metaphysical element of earth, in its denseness and materiality.

Traditions exist about how pan de muerto may have had its first ancestors in ritual religious celebrations of the ancient Mesoamerican peoples. Undoubtedly, these indigenous religious practices interacted with Spanish Christian practices, both influencing their inculturation in Mesoamerica and being deeply influenced by them.2 These practices eventually came into the form that we know to be a staple of Día de los Muertos today. 

There are clear connections between pan de muerto and the Christian Sacrament of the Eucharist. Indeed, one might say that any time we share bread, we are engaging in daily acts of what is pinnacly  celebrated in the Eucharist - Christ crucified and raised from the dead. In any case, pan de muerto is a manifestation of both native Mesoamerican beliefs and Christian sacramental theology drawn together in a rich tradition that has been synthesized from multiple spiritual and cultural sources .