Dia de los Muertos -- Day of the Dead

Happy Halloween and Dia de los Muertos to you! The Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico is a huge cultural holiday, and while it is sometimes reduced to the Mexican version of Halloween, it is really really different. Shortly speaking, it's a two-day celebration to remember loved ones who have passed on. November 1st is to celebrate the children who have passed, and November 2nd is for the older people who have passed. Unexpectedly, it's a really happy day: people aren't mourning their losses, but celebrating lives lived. During these days, it's common to see a lot of "ofrendas" or offerings, "catrinas" or skeleton ladies, sugar/candy skulls, "papel picado" or paper cutout scenes, "cempasúchil" or Mexican marigolds, candles, holiday breads, and drinks. During the nights, people take to the cemeteries, and make offerings to their deceased loved ones using their old favorite foods, flowers, candies, drinks, toys (if it was a child), et cetera. While I am for the moment still camera-less, my awesome roommate let me use the camera on her phone (thanks Anabel!) when we went to see the ofrendas competition at the biggest university in Latin America: UNAM. Here's some of what we saw.

I don't know what these guys were supposed to be, but they were interesting to say the least!

The absolutely gorgeous library at UNAM, where we attended the student offerings competition.

Panoramic picture (rearranged some faces) of the crowd at UNAM.

The corn husks on the ground make me think of tamales, another traditional food...Mmmmmmmmm

A Catrina

That's it for Dia de los Muertos pictures this year! I was super-thankful that I at least got to take some pictures of the celebration. Perhaps next year I'll make the trip to Michoacan, where they're famous for their Day of the Dead festivities.




P.S.

Remember when I first arrived here last year and:

Myself with a catrina (that's actually a man under there) by the Bellas Artes Palace.