Jalisco’s florists were dealt yet another blow after Day of Dead commemorations fell flat this year thanks to the coronavirus lockdown.
Authorities closed cemeteries statewide to limit the spread of Covid-19. Sales of flowers plummeted as families were unable to make traditional annual visits to the gravesites of departed relatives.
This was a double whammy for florists, who were hit hard by muted May 10 Mothers Day celebrations during the first lockdown of 2020.
Florists say another nail in their sector’s coffin has been the measure reducing the number of people permitted to attend burials to just ten.
According to florists, tons of seed and flowers have gone to waste during the pandemic, causing a spike in the wholesale cost of products.
“We are living from day to day. I do not see how we can recover,” one florist who works outside the Mezquitán Pantheon, Guadalajara largest cemetery, told a local Spanish-language newspaper.