On the 1st and 2nd of November, Gran Colectivo Pantitlan in collaboration with Bakkerij de Eenvoud celebrated Dia de Muertos through “Baking an Offering.” The mobile bakery at the Buurtwerkplaats, decorated with orange and purple flowers, candles, and colorful paper garlands, gave setting to bake the traditional “Pan de Muerto” (bread of the dead), and discuss loss, death and memories in an intimate cozy setting.

Pan de Muerto is a brioche sort of bread that is traditionally baked in Mexico in the months of October and November to share with family, those alive and beyond. It is sweet and buttery, with a light taste of orange blossom and aniseed. It is usually placed on an offering to our late loved ones, alongside their pictures and favourite foods and drinks, but also flowers and candles. The altar commemorates their life and invites their spirits to drink, eat, and celebrate once more with us. This tradition is part of the “Dia de Muertos” (Day of the Dead), a festivity that is celebrated in Mexico ever since pre-colonial times. Currently, this tradition is kept alive, inviting people to share memories and making space to collectively engage with our own mortality.

2020 has been a year where we have been confronted with our own mortality exactly. It has been a year of loss and uncertainty. In times of social distancing, grieving processes have changed in society, affected by confinement. From being collective rituals, we have been forced to process loss alone, at a distance, and often far from our families and loved ones. Therefore opening up new spaces for understanding loss, mortality, uncertainty and grieving has never been so relevant.

Baking an Offering presented a space for the creation of collective narratives. During the two days, we hosted two baking sessions where we invited guests to have a conversation, bake bread and make an altar representing loss. These actions were live-streamed through social media channels to engage with audiences outside of the bakery and recorded for the making of a podcast, available on a website designed for the project

www.colectivopantitlan.nl/ofrenda

One host from Colectivo Pantitlan and Peik (baker/artist) welcomed two guests per day. On day one we were joined by Jesper Buursink, a podcast and radio maker who grew up by a graveyard, and Jannete Mark, a graphic designer and artist who investigates through her work the relationship between death, spirits and the natural realm. On day two at the table were Mayra Sergio, an artist investigating how loss is dealt with in different cultures around the world through her latest project “performing loss”, and Sussanne Duijvestein, a death curator and expert researching our relationship to loss, decomposing and life-death cycles.

While kneading, shaping, exchanging, and baking, we created a story which transformed the baking table into an offering over the course of two hours. At the end of each session, each participant presented an object that represented loss to them and placed it within the offering. To celebrate this exchange we ate the warm bread, drank hot chocolate and a little sip of mezcal while the autumn evening light shone through the windows.

  

Gran Collectivo Pantitlan is a cultural Collective based in Amsterdam creating bridges through informal exchanges, aiming to produce and promote collectivities by creative programming, enhancing dialogue, and cultural exchange. 

www.colectivopantitlan.nl 

Credits:

Special thanks to Bakkerij de Eenvoud, Buurtwerkplaats Noorderhof and Peik Suyling for supporting and hosting Baking an Offering. To Jesper Buursink for the podcast equipment and advisorship. And our guests, Jannete Mark, Mayra Sergio and Susanne Duijvestein for sharing their experiences and knowledge.

Gran Colectivo Pantitlan: Vanessa del Pozo (host day 1 and program design), Despoina Kortesidou (communication and program design), Ana Lucía Vargas (website programming and program design), Mariana M. Balvanera (host day 2, experience, spatial and program design), Moriz Oberberger (graphic and website design).

Photographers: Darío Fernández (day 1), Carmen Gray (day 2)