The marigold flower is a great representative of life and death, because while it illuminates the path of the dead who cross the Mictlán to share food with mortals, for flower growers it is work and resources to bring food to their tables to distribute with his family.
This is the case of 16-year-old Luis Enrique and his father who at 12:30 in the afternoon are cutting marigold flowers under the sun in San Andrés Cholula, Puebla. “Since 5 in the morning we have been in the flower fields making bunches so they can go to the Central de Abasto or the Jamaica market in Mexico City,” says the young man.
Luis cuts the marigold flower from the root, which can measure up to a meter in length. He does this until he gathers a bunch of eight flowers. The young man learned at the age of six to grow and cut flowers; his passion for the countryside is thanks to his grandfather. “I came with my grandfather since I was little, he taught me to love the countryside and the flowers. Coming here and smelling them reminds me of him,” the young man recalls.
While Luis cuts the flowers he talks with Forbes Mexico his passion for flowers and especially the flower of the dead that is born between the month of August and October, and is cut a week before November 1, when according to Mexican beliefs that day the souls of the deceased visit homes.
“Since July, the land has been prepared to sow the seed of the marigold flower. The seed comes out from the middle of the flower, is removed and is what is sown. In August, September and October it grows, we add its vitamins and fertilizer so that the grasshoppers do not eat it. In the last week of October is when we cut it because we export it to Mexico City and the markets here in Cholula, Puebla.”
“Competition among flower growers is strong.”
20 minutes from San Andrés Cholula, is San Nicolás de los Ranchos, another point of cultivation of the flower of the dead, where Mrs. Emma and her family were cutting marigold flowers, between her husband, four men and her little girls. 12, 9 and half a year filled a truck with the most representative flower of Mexico during the Day of the Dead season.
“Since yesterday morning we have been cutting the flowers, so that at noon the truck leaves directly to the Supply Central. We have to arrive and start selling our flowers, although the competition is weak,” says Emma.
They sell bunches of marigolds for 70 pesos. “If no one buys from us we leave them at 40 pesos, it doesn’t come at that price because we have to pay our workers, there is no other option,” says the lady.
The truck full of cempasúchil that arrives at the Central de Abastos for sale is hope of life for the farmers who make the tradition continue year after year.
They estimate that cempasuchil sales will amount to 350 million pesos
Sales per marigold for the Day of the Dead would reach more than 350 million pesos according to the Mexican Flower Council (Conmexflor).
“With the production (in 2024) we expect an economic benefit for our sector of 350 million pesos from the sale of the marigold flower for the celebration of the Faithful Dead and the Day of the Dead,” said Federico Martínez Martínez, president of the Council. Mexican Flower (Conmexflor).
The manager recalled that the celebration of the Day of the Dead is one of the most important dates for producers of flowers and ornamental plants, since it represents an important part of the economic benefit and income of the year for producers.
There are 2,000 producers of marigold plants and flowers in the State of Mexico, Morelos, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Michoacán, Hidalgo and Mexico City, said the panel. Celebrating life: The value cycle of Mexican offeringsorganized by the Communication Council. At the national level there are more than 20 thousand flower producers.
“We have a slight increase in production of 10 percent, with which we have a production of 10 million potted marigold plants and 1.8 million bunches of marigold flower,” he said.
During this time it is also key for the economic activity of the Central de Abasto of Mexico City, the market that is the largest in the world, with its 327 hectares, commented Pedro Torres Madariaga, former president of the Fruit and Vegetable Union. commercial premises of the Central de Abastos.
“The Central de Abastos receives 500 thousand visitors daily, has a storage capacity of 120 thousand tons of products, and represents the second most important economic unit in the country only after the Mexican Stock Exchange,” he said.
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