Meals for Muertos by Suanay Hernandez

I never knew a life where Santería wasn’t part of my environment. While I’ve always practiced for as long as I remember, it wasn’t until I held a misa in my home that my muertos urged me to have my own altar. 

As a daughter of Elegua, an offering I find easiest to show my appreciation with is candy. I don’t really have a sweet tooth, but I always find myself receiving or purchasing some. Perhaps not having a sweet tooth is a way for Elegua to hoard my sweet gifts for himself. My grandmother, en paz descansa, also had a penchant for sweets. She always had a hard candy in her purse. So now I try to always keep a hard candy on her altar, her favorites being the strawberry-shaped ones and the deep amber ones.

A shot of Cuban coffee is always a winning offering amongst the living and dead. It’s said that speaking out loud to your muertos and santos can be very calming and healing; sometimes I let the sound of my cafetera speak for me.

One of my muertos loves to drink. I keep those tiny liquor bottles in my bar cabinet and let him indulge from his coconut shell. I’ve given him whiskey, vodka, and pisco. While not food or a drink, I find a small nug of weed or a cigar, along with the liquor, goes a long way.
When someone in my family would celebrate their cumpleaños de santo, the spread was like any other birthday, just with a lot more flowers and arranged on straw mats. Each santo had their own offering, and I would fix my plate to match. Two croquetas with a little bit of frosting stuck to them, two cheese pastelitos, and one cangrejito or beef pastelito. And a few hard candies shoved in my pocket for good measure.

A practice I wish I would remember to do is one my grandmother would do often. For most meals she would make, she would separate a small serving for our muertos and santos. I always loved seeing the food dry up because it looked as if someone was really consuming it.

It’s no surprise that one of my influences with food comes from my relationship with Santería. As I become closer to my practice, my relationship with food deepens as I continue to use it to connect with people from this realm or another.