I chose to celebrate my father and should be finished building his altar this weekend. Will post pics, of course. It is not very big, since it will sit on a small bookshelf in my living room. I am making a bunch of tissue paper flowers since I can't get a hold of any Aztec Marigolds. I was unable to find papel picado in the valley when I went home last weekend so my aunt sent me some from San Diego. While I was home this past weekend, I raided my moms albums and brought home pictures of my dad. Today, I am going to see what I can do about setting out his favorite foods. Making real sugar skulls is very tedious, so I made some out of clay and they actually turned out very nice. Another year when I am not so busy, I will make the real thing.
In Mexico, Day of the Dead is a national holiday and people build and decorate alters and have parties to remember their deceased loved ones. Like I said, I have never celebrated it before, so my knowledge of this Mexican holiday is limited, but here are some things I do know:
- You celebrate the memory and life of a loved who has died.
- It is not like Halloween. Day of the Dead is not supposed to be scary, but celebratory and whimsical.
- You are supposed to create an altar for your deceased loved one and decorate it with sugar skulls (which signifies the sweetness of the person), candles, favorite foods, objects, symbols, etc. that the person liked, colorful flowers--specifically Aztec Marigolds (which can be real or fake--it is popular to make tissue paper flowers), papel picado (which is tissue or metallic paper with intricate designs cut out).
- A central symbol when celebrating Dia De Los Muertos is the calavera which represents the acceptance of death as part of life and how even though dead, our loved ones are very much alive through our remembrance of them (I just added that last part, but it makes sense and that's what to means to me :).
- A poem is written for the loved one you are remembering (did someone say poem? I'm in!). You can also write a riddle.
- It is considered disrespectful to cry for the loved one by the altar. You are supposed to rejoice about thhe life they had.
- Dia De Los Muertos has inspired many artists.
- There are other things, but I don't feel like going on and on, so...get more info here.
Well, I must get back to work now. My apologies if this post seems rushed; I have a bunch of tissue paper flowers to make and need to stop by the dollar store to buy more paper.
besitos y abrazotes,
Nayelly
