I grew up in the Valley and I swear, I never heard a word about Dia de los Muertos...I think I got that right. Sure, we had Halloween and we'd go to the school carnival and trick or treat all the way back home. But I don't remember anyone even mentioning Day of the Dead. More recently I'd heard of it but figured it was just the Hispanic version of Halloween. My mistake.
My cousin and I went to the Pt. Isabel museum to check this celebration out. Here's what we learned. First, we went upstairs and decorated a sugar skull about the size of my fist with icing. Supposedly, these treats are made for the holiday and children eat them. This season is truly a dentist's dream.
Then we went to another part of the museum and watched children making altars to their dead relatives and in some cases, pets. You make your altar using the elements of earth (usually flowers), wind (those placemat looking things with designs cut out or some fringe...things that would move in a breeze), water (a glass or vial of water) and fire (a candle). Place pictures or heirlooms or little trinkets representing things the deceased loved along with their favorite foods and beverages. Seemed like beer and tequila play a part. The flowers are usually marigolds as the scent of these open a pathway to the spirit world and make it easier for the deceased to return. The candles or incense leads the spirits back home. (Up until now I thought this was just like a 3-D scrapbook...didn't know about the spooky stuff with dead spirits and all.) Many use little skeletons dressed in costumes with the most notable being the Katrina...a skeleton in a dress and hat representing a woman...usually one of loose morals.
Then Cousin and I went to a lecture where the whole thing was explained. In many nations, death comes more often and people could lose several friends or relatives a week. To cope with this, they began rituals mocking death which have evolved into the celebration today.
We saw some strange things and I'm still amazed that this whole thing has come into place right where I grew up and I never knew it.
Tune into my next blog to get my opinion of this and how it relates on another front.
Boo!
1 comment:
There were countless vendors here in San Antonio selling those gaudy ribbon and flower thingies on the side of the roads; the ones that you place on the graves or on the side of the road where they lost their loved one. They believe that if they decorate the grave, the dead friend/relative won't come back to haunt them. Who would wanna come back from Heaven? And if the destination was hell, it's not that much hotter there than it is here in July!
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