Happy Day of the Dead, Dia de los Muertos!
I’ve long admired how Mexicans and Chicanos make the afterlife look amazing; creative, fun, and profound — all at the same time! A dear friend recently visited Peru and returned with this “Calavera Catrina/Lady of the Dead” for me.
My gaze riveted to Catrina’s fun feet, I asked, “What? This is from Peru?!” My friend’s answer took a while to sink in. Dia de los Muertos, it turns out, is celebrated all over the world. Not just in Mexico and Los Angeles!
Here’s a quick definition about how it’s celebrated in Mexico, lifted from a longer Wikipedia explanation.
On October 31, All Hallows Eve, the children make a children’s altar to invite the angelitos (spirits of dead children) to come back for a visit. November 1 is All Saints Day, and the adult spirits will come to visit. November 2 is All Souls Day, when families go to the cemetery to decorate the graves and tombs of their relatives. The three-day fiesta is filled with marigolds, the flowers of the dead; muertos (the bread of the dead); sugar skulls; cardboard skeletons; tissue paper decorations; fruit and nuts; incense, and other traditional foods and decorations.
— Frances Ann Day, Latina and Latino Voices in Literature
Here’s how its celebrated around Los Angeles’ oldest neighborhood, Olvera Street…
Totally enjoyed the sharing of your “Dia de los Muertos”💀
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glad you liked – can hardly believe it’s almost that time of year again 🙂
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Fascinating! Never heard of such a celebration, but I have heard of ancestral worship. Informative post, da AL!
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glad you enjoyed it, Jerry 🙂
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Awww, this sounds amazing… informative for me i was not aware of this kind of celebration happening in world ;)… i love this kind of posts in which i discover new cultures and things 🙂
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you & me both 🙂
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I Think our thoughts are same enough 😍 , you are just awesome… I’m gonna be your fan 😀💕
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mutual fans!
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Ahh great. Are you on instagram? 😍
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I am utterly frustrated with post – am trying to work on it – without boring anyone with details, I am signed on but have yet to use it.
Hopefully will soon have it figured out.
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Okay beautiful 😉
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The figure makes me think of the video game Grim Fandango.
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Yes! am sure they were inspired by Dia de los Muertos art
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