Day of the Dead - Part I

We have been swept up in Day of the Dead fever here in Oaxaca. This is a major holiday with two days off (Nov. 1 and 2) from school. There were costumed parties at school ala halloween, and too many special events, costume and decoration contests, and special performances for this family with small kids to attend. The markets were full of vendors who are not regulars selling special merchandise associated with the holiday. The city of Oaxaca is brimming with tourists, international and national. By my estimation this seems to be a coming-back party of sorts for the city which was marred by violence from political protests and government repression last year exactly at the same date (apparently the federal police moved in on Nov. 3, 2006).

The Day of the Dead is the time when a majority of Mexicans (Dan's old host family who are protestants do not celebrate at all, but I think they are a small minority) believe the dead return to visit with their loved ones. In reality celebrated over at least 3 days, people build altars in their houses and businesses, create sand carpets called "tapetes", give the dead food and items that they liked, decorate the tumbs and joyously reunite with the dead.

The markets start to fill with items associated with the holiday, like marigold flowers (its scent is said to call the dead), sweets, and things used for the creation of altars, over a week prior to the events. Markets get a lot busier with vendors and people buying things. "Pan de muerto" (bread of the dead), made with an egg-rich sweet dough and decorated with a face painted on hard, shaped dough, is the most popular item. There are competitions of altars and tapetes in public. The squares and streets fill with people.

We decided to get into the spirit by creating our own altar at home, dedicated by my father-in-law, and a nephew who died young. Partly this was to be therapeutic for Mai who has been mourning her grandpa for 3 years now. I'm not sure if it served that purpose, but it was fun to make the altar, and besides I feel we participated economically in the festivities in Oaxaca. Just observing the amount of stuff being sold and bought in the local market, I know the economic impact of this holiday is huge. We bought sugar cane to make an arch (for the dead to pass through), pan de muerto, crab apples and loquats for decoration, candles, the incense copal made from the sap of a bush, crepe paper decorations, tamales for the dead to eat, and of course marigold flowers. The photo is shown on top. We lit the candles and incense on the 31st, and it seemed to me the photos of the dead seemed more vibrant, and I hope that they came to be with us.

On the 31st the kids got dressed up to go to school. Mai went as a skeleton dressed-up woman character (called Caterina Huesuda), and Joji was a mummy. Dan took the photo in the morning in front of our house waiting for Mai's carpool. We'll write another blog about other things we did for Day of the Dead.