Feliz Dia de los Muertos!

[redqueen]

Anyone like this holiday? It's sort of like Memorial Day, only it's for deceased friends and loved ones.

I love the idea of celebrating the lives of those who are gone... and also the calacas, shrines, and the pan de muerto. :)

[kwassa]

1. It makes me so happy

I'm an art teacher, and most of my classes are doing Day of the Dead projects

These are not them, just some images I like.

[redqueen]

2. Oooh nice!

I hope the kids enjoy it. :)

[Parche]

3. Los Gato Is Not In My Casa Anymore

Ok that is all I know..........:hi:

[texas1928]

4. My calendar says it is tomorrow.

today is All Saints Day.

[redqueen]

5. Your calendar is incorrect...

It's the 1st and 2nd of November. (All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day)

[SOteric]

7. Her calendar is culturally incorrect, but liturgically accurate.

The Latino population celebrates on both days, but the Roman Catholic Church divides the holy days.

[redqueen]

11. Buuuuut it's not a Roman Catholic holiday.

:shrug:

[SOteric]

16. Day of the Dead is not a Catholic holiday,

but 'All Souls Day' - which is celebrated as Day of the Dead in many countries, is a Catholic holiday.

[redqueen]

18. Thanks... I did not know that!

I was looking at it through my Mexican filter. :P

[AnneD]

25. So was I.....

and was corrected on another thread...But around here it's Dia de los Muertos ey ey EYH. (cue up the band).

[texas1928]

10. WELL FINE!!!

*STOMP STOMP STOMP...



















































*SLAM

[redqueen]

12. heheheheheheheh

:hug:

[SOteric]

6. I love the holiday.

A few years ago I wrote this introspection on the lives of 4 different people in my life who'd passed.

Dia de los Muertos

You.
I helped you into your underpants. You staggered from the anesthetic and asked me about my visit with ’M’ over and over and over again. Outside, the sky turned an ominous grey and green. Rain soaked my hands as I juggled your purse, the parking pass, a paper bag with two blueberry muffins in it and the handles of your wheelchair. The highway was a black strip of wet ribbon. The next morning, you were puking and puking and puking. I stood over you with a cold wet washcloth and a bottle of Gravol and a plastic cup of flat Canada Dry Ginger Ale. The lights in the bedroom were slanted sideways making this sickness seem even more surreal and frightening. You’re dying. Rotting from the inside out and all I can think of is that picture of you when you were a little girl - in black and white - your big eyes full of excitement and anticipation as you sit in front of a birthday cake. A long time ago. Before you were sick and bruised and broken into unrecognizable pieces.

You.
You are crazy and charming and paranoid and angry. You make me laugh. You make me cringe. Yesterday you said, “Can I interest you in a cup of coffee?” and then you jerked the steering-wheel across two lanes of oncoming traffic and into the drive-thru before I could say yes. I paid. We drove to a cabin in the woods in the middle of a Christmas tree farm. You stayed here, all alone, when your marriage finally fell apart. The wind blew my hair in my face as I sipped my coffee. God felt near. Look how far we’ve come. Look how far we have to go.

You.
I am suspicious of you. You have hurt me so many times that it makes me dizzy and unable to think. On the phone, you said: “I’m not lying, J.” I couldn’t, for the life of me, understand a single word of our conversation. In my gut and my throat and my heart something pulsed on and on - something primordial, something beyond me. After, you carry on and act normal. I don’t. I retreat and feel shriveled up and outside myself. And you weren’t lying. For once, you didn’t lie. And instead of feeling vindicated or joyful or more trusting or learning to look for the lesson in it somewhere, I went cold and silent. Then, I said cruel things and slammed the car door. This morning, you poured the coffee and wiped up the spills and yawned and stretched and asked me if I was ready to go. Your hair is soft and spiky. You need a trim. I want to run my hands through it. Over and over again. I love you. And I’m sorry.

You.
You drive me insane. I let you. In the parking lot, I scolded you like I was the mother and you were the child. I made you promise, promise, promise to call me and let me know the plan. Then, I pushed you and your suitcase in the direction of the main doors. You turned and said: “Give me a kiss.” and I kissed you, right on the lips and got your shimmery coral-pink lipstick on my mouth. I could smell it after you disappeared through the big doors. I drove down unfamiliar streets. The high winds had knocked out the power that feeds the traffic lights. I got lost. I cursed. I felt flustered. Then, it all made sense. After, the fields of brown and yellow and orange and red against the steel grey sky made me sad. The season is winding down. And it made me wonder how many more seasons you’ll see. To me, you are an unstoppable force. Yet you possess an equal amount of child-like innocence and vulnerability. I can hardly believe that you haven’t taken over the world yet. This from the woman who can’t find her way out of the parking lot at the mall.

[redqueen]

13. Calaveras?

Very nice... thank you for sharing those. :hug:

[Capn Sunshine]

8. Muchas Gracias

I LOVE calaveras (skeletons) and the tamales and sopapillas and moles







Btw your calendar is half right- Dia de los Muertos lasts two (someplaces three) days.

[redqueen]

14. Calacas!

Calaveras son los poemas. :)


And yeah... I've noticed a trend toward including Oct 31 in the mix... but I'm against it. :P

[kwassa]

9. Skull-ing

A sport of the holiday

[redqueen]

15. ahahahahaha

:thumbsup:

[SteppingRazor]

17. I was once in Mexico for Dia de los Muertos...

while on acid.

Won't do that again. Parades of skeletons + LSD = :scared:

[redqueen]

19. Sounds GREAT to me!

I watched The Evil Dead II on acid.

:D

[SteppingRazor]

20. Well, there's watching a movie and then...

there's having a group of skeletons come running around a corner right at you while some old lady screams and wails somewhere and some kid tries to pick your pocket, and everywhere you hear the word "Muertos!" again and again, like a satanic mantra, and you can't remember quite how you got here, and then you do, it was a roadtrip, but it seems like it was at least a week ago when you know it's been only a day or two, and that damn kid's at your pocket again, and the skeletons are back for another try, and finally you see the old lady, dressed all in black, with her gray hair up in a bun, right out of some Spaghetti Western, weeping and wailing in the middle of the street as though she just lost her only child, and you're ready to make someone else a grieving parent if that damned urchin comes back again, there's a couple good joints in that pocket, after all, but wait, they're gone! Did the kid take them? No, no, you smoked them last night in a cantina and cashed the last one in with the bartender to pay for the tab, so it couldn't have been the kid but he's still a rotten thief, and would somebody shut that lady up, for God's sake? Christ, where's a beer? What's it take to get a beer? I'D KILL FOR A FUCKING BEER! And then you realize that, instead of thinking, you actually shouted that last line out loud, and people are staring, but no time for them -- follow the skeletons! Maybe they're headed for beer...

[redqueen]

21. Yeaaahhhh...

you just made it sound better!

:bounce:

[SteppingRazor]

23. Hmmmm.... yeah, I kinda did, didn't I?

That's the problem with these sorts of things. At the time, there's always this tremendous sense of panic and paranoia. But after the fact, it always seems like fun. And it makes for a great story.

[rockymountaindem]

27. Hunter S. Thompson, is that you?

:hi:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

22. Mañana es el Día de los Muertos

A few years ago, I had the delightful experience of just happening to visit Olvera Street in Los Angeles on November 2. There were makeshift family shrines set up, and dance troupes made up of schoolchildren performed.

[redqueen]

24. Both days!

:bounce:

It's probably mostly Mexicans there celebrating... so they'll be going at it for both days... it's a big deal. :)

[yellowdogintexas]

26. I love it, having become acquainted with it since living in Texas

and my mom's funeral was actually on Day of the Dead so it is a nice reminder of her..she and I went to a neat presentation about the day at the Fort Worth Modern Art Museum and she was quite fascinated with it

I love all the happy little skeletons the best.

[redqueen]

31. I think the calacas

are a lot of people's favorite part. Who can resist happy, dancing or partying skeletons? :P

[swag]

28. It's a sweet day.

I definitely agree.

[XemaSab]

29. !Viva!

Er... um... yeah. :D

[easttexaslefty]

30. Yes,I have a alter set up for my son

I like the idea of celebrating his life. All the people I talked to about this say the important thing is to behappy not sad on this day. And he did make us very happy and we still love him!

[redqueen]

32. Yes... it's meant to be a celebration of their memory.

And IMO it's also a way to deal with our own mortality. By observing our lost loved ones without a focus on grief or loss, I think we lessen our primal fear of it a little bit... become more accepting of it as just the very natural thing that it is.