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With Day of the Dead less than a week away, Mexico City’s cempasúchil production hits record heights

MND Staff
By MND Staff
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cempasúchil
With a more than 50% increase over last year, cempasúchil production is more than keeping pace with the still-increasing popularity of Day of the Dead traditions, which double as a source of spiritual contemplation for some, and for others, a colorful cultural experience. (Estrella Josento/Cuartoscuro)

The Mexico City area has achieved a record production of 10 million cempasúchil plants — a Mexican variety of marigold that is important for Day of the Dead celebrations — marking a 53.8% increase over last year’s cultivation figure, Mayor Clara Brugada announced last week.

The bright orange flowers were grown by producers on chinampas (artificial islands) in the southern Xochimilco borough of the capital, with support from the city government, which contributed over 8 million pesos (US $428,100) to directly support 597 producers. 

altar dead
Whether loose petals, intact flowers or whole plants, the cempasúchil is essential for altars to lost loved ones. (Cuartoscuro)

The government provided technical assistance, distributed pots, compost and seeds, and carried out work to prepare cultivation areas, rehabilitate roads and provide harvesting facilities.

Growing flowers each year provides vital revenue to rural communities and contributes to the preservation of chinampa gardens and conservation land. 

People are advised to purchase plants with a Green Seal, an image indicating that the cempasúchil flowers were grown on conservation land in Mexico City and guaranteeing sustainable production. The flowers are being sold in all 16 boroughs of Mexico City, including markets in Xochimilco, with plants priced at 15 to 30 pesos (US 80 cents to $1.60). 

Xochimilco’s head of government, Cirse Camacho, thanked the Mexico City government for its support of the district’s producers, and emphasized the importance of the contribution to the recovery of the region’s agricultural sector following flood damage. 

Mayor Brugada also highlighted the free cultural events being held across the city over Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) weekend, from Oct. 30 to Nov. 2, including the giant offering in the central Zócalo square, which will showcase a more than 30-meter-tall Catrina figure accompanied by 100,000 cempasúchil plants from the conservation area. A cempasúchil trail will also be set up in Chapultepec Park.

Visitors are also encouraged to go to Xochimilco to see performances of La Llorona or to join the Día de Muertos celebrations in the borough’s neighborhoods, where various cultural traditions will be on display over the weekend, including six theatrical performances at the piers, as well as activities in downtown Xochimilco.

With reports from El Economista and Excelsior

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