Queen of Souls: La Calaca: Holidays Like...Mini Series

By Kristen Collins

The name's Mictecacihuatl but everyone in the underworld just calls me Mic. I rule Mictlan as the Queen of Souls and my sole purpose is to guide and protect my people.

 

Every year, I navigate the three most important days of the year: Halloween, el Dia de los Inocentes, and All Souls Day. The humans celebrate Halloween on one night but unbeknownst to them, it really lasts until Nov 2nd (also known as Dia de los Muertos and the most stressful time of my year). As the veil thins by midnight of Halloween, the gates of Mictlan are opened and the souls of children are released back into the land of the living to be with their loved ones.

But this year, when the souls of the children fail to return by midnight of el Dia de los Inocentes, I am left with no choice but to take off to the land of the living to retrieve them.

If I fail to retrieve them by midnight of All Souls Day, they will be lost forever! Who took them? Can I find them in time? Or will their souls be doomed to being shredded by the Soul Eaters?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kristen Collins
• Release date: Nov 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215952030

Kristen Collins

I'm a Native Texan, born and raised close to the heart of the great Lone Star state. I was born in January of 89’ and got to grow up during a great time, I honestly don’t consider myself a Millennial, and really hate that title. I Co-Own INDIE/pendent Book Services and a full-time mother/housewife, as well as a Lupus Warrior. Having Lupus, means a life of inside living, and the sun is known as my arch-nemesis, my personal kryptonite. I wanted to leave a legacy behind, sometime my kids could one day look back on and say, yeah my mom did that. Thanks to the encouragement of friends and family, I found a passion in writing paranormal romance books. Anything fantasy usually suits my novels and me tend to be able to reach anyone in multiple genres. Most of my story ideas come to me in the most unexpected time and places, such as my dreams. They will plague me non-stop until I get my rear up and write it out. I like to explore to new types of characters such as Sandmen and Boogeymen for example. I really wanted to give them their own world, such as A Sandman’s Forbidden Love. God has granted me success that I never imagine was possible, which lead me to my obsession with the paranormal. Now, I know shifter aren’t real but Angels are another story. So Angels are also a part of my obsession, I will sit on the computer doing extensive research on both Sandmen and Angels trying to get my facts straight. Then, on the side, I create Art Journals that can be cross generational from thirteen to sixty years younger, My goal with these types of books are to reach people who need that extra feel good in their lives.

Book preview

Queen of souls

La Calaca

by

Kristen Collins

Copyright © 2022 Kristen Collins

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written consent of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Layout and design by No Sweat Graphics & Formatting

Editor: Susette at My Write Hand VA

This book is a work of fiction. References to historical events, real people, or real locals are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Printed in the United States of America

Prologue: Origin of La Calaca

From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity.

- Edvard Munch

Hello there, my name is Mictecacihuatl. It's kind of a mouth full so you can call me Mic for short. Everyone does, but I have been called many names in my time: La Catrina, La Calaca or even just Death. In some cultures, I have been worshipped as a goddess but mostly I’m just a Fairer, a caretaker for souls. There are other Death Angels but I am the sole ruler of death for both my domain and people, anyone of Aztec origin. When they die, they go to Mictlan to spend eternity.

The way humans dress up and put makeup on these days is, in a way, a symbol of who I am. My entire body was covered in ink, black to shade my skin and white to make me look like a skeleton from head to toe. Although in the beginning, our clothes were of that time, as civilization advanced on earth, so did we in Mictlan. The entire land was built era on top of each era that had passed since the beginning of time. I have been pleased with the way the souls of my people have been able to adapt to the changes that come every few decades now.

During Halloween, the veil between the living and the dead becomes thin, and by midnight the gates of Mictlan open. First, the souls of the children are allowed to return to their families. After they return back to Mictlan by midnight of El Dia de los Inocentes, the adults take their turn back with their families for All Souls Day.

These three days are the most stressful, yet heartwarming, moments I get to experience in my existence. From the moment the gates of Mictlan open up at midnight on Halloween, I observe in my realm the happy reunions and time humans spend with the souls of their loved ones that have left. The souls are forever tethered to me. I can feel if they ever feel a hesitation about not coming back.

To leave them on earth would prove disastrous for them. Soul Eaters lurk in the human realm searching for a lost soul to devour. To protect them, each soul of Mictlan is accompanied by their spirit animal as they wander back to their loved ones, enabling them to spend their time back home without any worries or issues.

Loved ones that still live make ofrendas and light paths to guide the spirits back to their homes. The four elements- fire, earth, wind, and water are required of every offering. They spend all day Halloween preparing various fruits and dishes, setting up their ofrendas.

Salt not only shows purification but encircles the altar and pathway. Multiple tiers hold each of the different offerings to the souls of their loved ones. Of the element earth, crops are the representation. The aroma of the fresh harvest feeds the souls; birds feast on the scratch and seeds left on the altar. Tissue paper is often the object representing the wind. It’s paper thin and lightweight, easily swaying in the breeze. The Papel Picado, or tissue paper as some humans call it, is cut into the shape of butterflies and other symbolic icons such as sugar skulls and flowers.

Pitchers of water sit beside empty glasses so souls can quench their thirst after the long journey from Mictlan. Of course, lit candles would come to represent fire, although some families build small fires as well in either pits in the ground or fire places. Copal, also known as incense, burns to guide the souls, purifying them after their journey home. Eccentric rugs are freshly made every year and placed on the ground at the foot of the ofrenda for the souls to sit and rest on when they arrive.

The most symbolic feature that is well known are the marigolds that are weaved and placed on the pathway to the altar for the soul’s final journey into the homes. It is said that whenever a soul may become lost, that the scent of the marigolds will guide, or rather lure, them back to the path or an altar that their loved ones have prepared for them. When the souls return back to Mictlan, butterflies flock throughout the villages assuring the