The fields of Comonfort are flooded with cempasuchitl flowers.

Published October 24th, 2021

Just 30 minutes from San Miguel de Allende is the magical town of Comonfort, in this season of Day of the Dead its fields are colored with cempasuchitl flowers, velvet, cloud, and Mal de Ojo.

La Cantera Community (also known as La Canterita) is located on the Comonfort to Escobedo Highway, 500 meters from the traffic circle that welcomes visitors to this recently named magical town for its cultural, gastronomic, and historical contribution to the national identity.

In this small community, at the foot of the road, in the month of October the fields of cempasuchitl, quelite (also known as Cresta de Gallo, velvet flower or lion’s claw although its scientific name is celosia cristata), cloud, and Mal de Ojo (Zinnia Elegans) can be observed blooming.

The farmers begin to sow the lion’s claw at the end of June or the first days of July, shortly after that they sow the cempasuchitl and finally the cloud, although the soil must be prepared two months in advance, as 92-year-old Don Refugio explained to us.

“In this we take risks, but it is something we have been doing for many years, it feels really nice to see the field full of flowers. There have been years when we sowed and earned something, others when we didn’t even earn enough for the helpers, but we always do it. A few years ago I already had the flower ready, the field was so stupid, look, it just looked colorful, but on the 31st we had a black frost and everything was ruined, the next day the people were already here with their cars and I told them, don’t pay me anything, ay ta your flower, but there was one who wanted to hit me, I told him, they are things of God, I planted and the flower was beautiful, but he wanted me to give him back the money he had given me to put aside and I told him, well I don’t have it at hand but if I pay him, his daughter, who is a lawyer, told him, no, leave him the money, that’s the business, the flower is there, nobody took it from him, that’s the risk, he apologized and left. The following year the gentleman was back here and thank God we all did very well, his daughter even told him, let’s see if this year you bring him a little extra money like you wanted to charge him last year, but he just laughed”.

For Comonforense families, the cultivation of cempasuchitl is a tradition, this last year, due to the pandemic, some have decided to plant corn so as not to risk not making a profit due to the uncertainty of the opening of the cemeteries on November 1 and 2.

People from Celaya, San Miguel de Allende, Dolores Hidalgo, Querétaro, and Juventino Rosas come to this point and others in the magical town to buy their flowers for the Day of the Dead offerings or for resale. The farmers offer to sell by the bunch, whose price ranges between 60 and 80 pesos per armful, or by the furrow, whose price ranges between 2,000 and 3,000 pesos depending on the quality and type of flower.

“Besides planting and watering, our plants receive love, for us, it is not a business as such, it is a tradition, we know there is a lot of competition, including Chinese flowers that are apparently prettier, but nothing like the flower that is grown with love, our flower lasts several days, it does not wither easily,” said Mr. Enrique, who for 12 years has been in charge of his father’s crops.

On the Libramiento a Celaya, there are more cempasuchitl and lion’s claw plants, mainly. Currently, the municipality of Comonfort is one of the main producers of Day of the Dead flowers.