All Saints’ Day

Already business starts The main items we brought to trade are LED rechargeable headlamps. So our All Saints’ Day started with trading for textiles. We will have some nice new items for our Etsy shop when we get back in January.

Some people worked. Delfin and Maria started a grass roof shade structure to make weaving outside more comfortable.

Asunta had come from Llachón with her son to help plant. This was extremely hard work with the two teenage boys pulling the plow.

Day of the Dead, All Saints, November 2 We remember our beloved dead, and acknowledge that their souls are with us. Here on Taquile, one custom is to bring soup to special people we had five different soups brought to us! And about 20 people in the house at one point. We told stories about some of our ancestors.

Other traditional foods on this day are quilquiño, a snack made from toasted and ground quinoa, with a touch of pickling lime, pressed into little shapes and steamed. Sometimes so shapes get creative, such as this llama or into bird shapes.

Special breads, sweet bread is made with a little ceramic doll face baked in. It’s called baby bread, or Tantawawa (Wawa is baby in Quechua).