Día de los Muertos

I recently experienced my first Día de los Muertos in Mexico which provided a good opportunity for some cultural exchanges.  The week started off with English class lessons about Halloween traditions in the USA, which I loved as a kid (and a college student).  I can verify that trick-or-treat is not an easy phrase for non-native English speakers to pronounce, and we had to explain that everyone really just gets treats.  Cindy brought back candy corn from her recent stateside visit and after we explained it was all sugar, no corn, and not fake teeth, it was a hit!  I wore an Arkansas Razorback snout as my "costume" and we played Halloween bingo using giant corn kernels and candy corn.  

Fun fact: the English and Spanish words for zombie are almost identical (zombie, zombi). I think we can all agree that is super important information to know.

 

Display for Día de los Muertos in the main plaza. 

 English class learning about Halloween customs. 

 Artistic bingo photo from Carlos, an English class student. 

The following evening I headed to the central plaza for the Altares de Muertos, Marcha Fúnebre, and Festival Cultural y Kermés, all in celebration and honor of the dead.  Some of the altars were theoretical and designed by local art students and others were in remembrance of members of the community.  Their favorite items were placed on the altar to welcome back their spirits and included things like favorite items of clothing, shoes, foods and drinks, along with photos of the deceased and sweet drawings and words.

  True altars in the main plaza. 

 Artistic display in the main plaza. 

 Altars and art in the main plaza. 

I passed the evening with my new friends Iliana, David and their two little boys and ran into several people I knew, including the super nice woman who cleans the Presidencia, Cindy and her friend Marta, a gentleman who often works with our office, and Lorena, one of the daughters from my host family.  Lorena is part of a local dance troupe that performs traditional Mexican dances in amazing costumes with great theatricality.  This was my second time to see her perform and she did not disappoint, dancing with a lit votive in a glass on top of her head!

At the end of the night I found Lorena in the crowd and we chatted about her beautiful performance, how my Spanish was improving, how she wanted to practice English more, and how all I needed now was a boyfriend.  The next day I heard this song, which is starting to make me feel like Mexico is doing a hard sell on the boyfriend merchandise. 

  With my host sister Lorena. 

   Images from the night walk. 

  Art in the plaza. 

Altar in la presidencia. 

The following night I headed to the Panteón Municipal for an evento cultural and Concurso de Catrín y Catrina Mejor Vestiges.  The street was filled with vendors selling flowers, hot dogs wrapped in tortillas, french fries, and churros, and everyone was headed to the cemetery to celebrate their loved ones.  Earlier in the week there was a workshop on making the lovely Calvera Catrina, and her statues were on display throughout the town.  There’s something really beautiful about this celebration in Mexico.  It's a gift to have the opportunity to glimpse a stranger’s life from their altar and to witness to such a lovely custom in the flesh.  

Catrina art on display around town. 

There is a love of hotdogs here that I will never fully understand.  Last week I had to ask the chef to "hold the hot dog slices" on pizza.