Dia de los Muertos

It's coming. The skulls, the ghosts, the TERROR!!!!!!!!!

No. But really. It's DIA DE LOS MUERTOS!!!!! aka Day of the Dead, one of the most celebrated and certainly the most famous of all Mexican holiday celebrations! The official Dia de Muertos is November 2, but the parties start on Wednesday and last ALLLLLLL weekend! And as you can see by the extremely attractive photo above, the markets are already selling things for the weekend....this is a sugar skull. Following is an introduction to Day of the Dead traditions and festivities so that everyone will know what's going on as I add more photos and tell more stories about my upcoming adventures (= .....

• ALTARS: Altars are very important to this holiday. Almost every family constructs altars to worship the family members that they have recently lost and to welcome them back to visit and celebrate the holiday. The altars are adorned with marigolds of orange and brown, photos of the deceased, candles, incense, pan (bread) de muertos, and much much more. The point of the altar is to call and attract and give tribute to the deceased, so the rest of the adornment is usually the favorite things of the relative. For example: cigarettes, favorite food, games/cards, etc. We (the PLU students) are making an altar at the school. I'm excited (= I promise to take pictures.
• LOS DISFRACES/COSTUMES: Dia de Muertos here has Halloween influence also. Thus, on October 31, the kids dress up and go Trick or Treat. At the ICO next week we are making masks...the cool ones that you mold to fit your face!.....because on Thursday we are dressing up to be in a "language school parade" wearing disguises, walking through the streets, drinking Mezcal (provided by the school), dancing to music, and stopping every block or so at a house for mexican hot chocolate and pan dulce. Seriously. These parades are actually very common and used as a form of announcement for weddings, communions, and births.
• LOS CEMETERIOS/GRAVEYARDS!!!! Of course there are going to be graveyards! Of course we are going to visit them in the middle of the night! Yay (= It shouldn't be scary though. People spend all night in the graveyard...decorating the graves of their loved ones, eating, talking, dancing, and listening to music....waiting for the arrival of their dead and celebrating. It's not the somber and frightening cemeteries that we picture. I'm excited to see them!
• LA COMIDA!!! Of course this holiday involves food. I'm in Mexico. I'll probably be in a food coma for a week afterward! Main culprit: El mole negro, probably the richest Oaxaquenan food that there is. Sidekicks: El pan dulce/sweet bread, el pan de muertos/sweet bread with candied skulls baked in, los craneos/skulls...chocolate and candied and sugar, el chocolate/mexican hot chocolate, el mezcal, and I'm sure so much more that I can't even fathom..... (=

I'm really excited as you can tell (=. I promise to take lots of pictures and tell all my stories. It will be a great experience. In fact, the Day of the Dead experience is SO FAMOUS in Mexico that, for the first time ever, President Anderson of PLU is coming to Oaxaca to experience it as well. So basically we all get to help guide and show off Oaxaca and the ICO. Maybe we'll even make it to the home page of the PLU website lol.

I love you!