In the midst of life .....

[bixaorellana]

So I'm back in front of Sto. Domingo, with a prime spot to watch the show. But no, an untimely nuptial Mass in the church means that the show will be delayed for at least an hour. Enough madness -- I'm going home ... well, as soon as I can fight my way through the crowd.

There is yet another comparsa up the street to wade through. I'll spare you the pictures.


Almost home, I snap a neighbor's warmly dressed xoloitzcuintli, a fitting end to this thread.

[Deleted]

Inspired by this report, I did finally go and see the animated film The Book of Life this morning, and it was a perfect complement to a lot of the stuff here. The movie takes place mostly on November 2nd, and it is explained that the joyous "remembered" can filter up from underground to have a party with their loved ones on that day. Naturally, the plot has to have some complications, since it is about two young men in love with the same girl. La Muerte, the ruler of the land of the remembered, makes a bet with Xibalba, the ruler of the land of the forgotten. That land is one level below where the remembered spend their time, and it is a very unhappy place. They bet on which boy will get the girl. Well, Xibalba cheats and makes it appear that the girl (Maria) has died from a snakebite. The better of the two boys -- Manolo -- is bitten by the same snake and really dies so he goes to the land of the remembered. So Maria is going to end up with the other boy (Joaquin) unless the dead get their act together... It is really a lovely movie, voiced by Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana and Channing Tatum. Other characters have voices such as Danny Trejo, Cheech Marin and Placido Domingo...

[bjd]

There was a mention of dengue on one of the photos just before the mosquito.

It may be healthier, but some of these people in masks would give me nightmares. The little kids dressed as devils looked cute, but somhow I find those white faces creepy, not to mention the masks in the picture just above this post.

[bjd]

Ooops - I had the reply box at the bottom of page 3, then my answer went to page 4. I meant the 3 guys in devil masks on the previous page.

[bixaorellana]

Nov 4, 2014 7:31:04 GMT kerouac2 said:

It is certainly a much healthier attitude concerning death than in a lot of countries. It is considerably more appealing to think that the dead can have a non stop fiesta with music and food rather than sitting around playing harps on top of clouds. I was wondering if the evil mosquito was there to transmit dengue or chikungunya to the living.

So much effort goes into decorating some of the tombs that I was wondering if there is an official contest with a prize for best gravesite. You may have already answered this question in past reports, but I have forgotten.

The evil mosquito was there as part of a campaign to educate people about methods to avoid breeding mosquitoes -- no standing water, etc.
No prizes for best tomb. The decorating of the graves is done to honor and welcome the dead, so sincerely done to the limits of economics, time, & imagination, as are the altars constructed in homes and businesses. However, there is an official altar-building competition at the main cemetery every year, which I've covered in previous reports. We must have been there too early this year, as I didn't see any in progress.

[fumobici]

This is obviously an astonishing chronicle of an equally astonishing event. I love that such a celebration can be built around those who we've lost, it reflects as K mentions a very healthy attitude towards our mortality compared to what I am accustomed to as a dour, unimaginative and colorless guero. I would absolutely love to immerse myself in this riotous celebration of color and life some day. For now, this makes a pretty good substitute.

[bixaorellana]

Kerouac, I was interested to hear about that movie. I'd discussed accurate and inaccurate depictions of day of the dead beliefs with a Mexican friend who'd taken her two boys to see El Libro de la Vida. She thought it was well-done, but found it weird that the songs were in English. It wasn't until I read your post just now & looked up the trailer that I realized it wasn't a Mexican movie. And looking at the Spanish-language trailer, I can see how anyone here would be equally confused. I totally love the expression on the guy's face when he turns around in the land of the remembered right after his death.

I'm rather distressed that some of you find the skull faces creepy. They are one of the more traditional elements of the tradition. I see it as not pretending to be the dead, but as an acknowledgement that we mortals are in fact the dead as well, albeit "living" at the moment.
Obviously Halloween and movies have influenced the costuming, but there are certain representations that are traditional -- the revolutionary, the elegant woman, the bride, the friar, the bishop, for instance. Devils are frequent characters in the skits that often accompany the comparsas, generally trying to drag someone off to a deserved punishment. People still living are sometimes depicted in these satirical skits. For instance, when I first moved here ex-president Salinas was often included, with his trademark bald head & bulging money bags.

Re: the reply boxes. Yes, I know! We've tried to fix it so the reply box only appears on the last page of a thread, the way it was before proboards ruined everything. Glad you mentioned it, as I am going to throw myself at the problem again.

[bixaorellana]

Fumobici, I missed your kind and beautifully phrased reply, as I'd wandered off into wikipedia and youtube when making my last response. Thank you!

I hardly see you as dour, unimaginative, & colorless! But I do think you need to get your fun-loving & artistic güero self down here as soon as possible.

[Deleted]

Nov 4, 2014 15:36:56 GMT bixaorellana said:

Kerouac, I was interested to hear about that movie. I'd discussed accurate and inaccurate depictions of day of the dead beliefs with a Mexican friend who'd taken her two boys to see El Libro de la Vida. She thought it was well-done, but found it weird that the songs were in English. It wasn't until I read your post just now & looked up the trailer that I realized it wasn't a Mexican movie.

Well, everything about it is Mexican-inspired and Mexican-created but some people still fall into that trap of thinking that to have a worldwide success in the movies or music, the damned thing has to be in English. This is ridiculous in general but even more ridiculous as far as animated movies are concerned since all of the dialogue is dubbed in every country no matter what. It really would not have been all that difficult to tweak the computer animation for song numbers a little to be able to use songs sung in other languages, particularly Spanish, at least as a courtesy to Mexico.

[nycgirl]

The little jester in #77 is so adorable. His mom looks very proud of him.

Those graves are so beautifully and lovingly decorated. Looking at these photos, I was just reminded of an embarrassing incident at the Père Lachaise cemetery. I sat down to have a rest on what I thought was a stone bench. When a group of European visitors began pointing and throwing disapproving glances my way, I surmised that I was really sitting on plain, worn-out tomb. Realizing my gaffe, I quickly shuffled off. But judging from these photos and others you've taken in the past, it would seem that there's no rule against sitting on and amongst the tombs (taking care to not damage the decorations, of course).

[lagatta]

I deliberately sat at the edge of the tombstone of a late colleague at Père Lachaise, and nobody tut-tutted me, but I wasn't eating anything; I was sketching.

Posada (José Guadalupe Posada) was famous for his satirical calaveras, in particular la Catrina.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Guadalupe_Posada

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Calavera_Catrina

Death as the great equalizer (though in reality, while everyone dies, I suspect a lot more of the poor would have died young than the wealthy).

[lola]

Oh, the exuberant vitality of your Day of the Dead, the wonderful creative flow and joy in being alive. Your photos of young ones especially make me smile, sometimes chortle.

Kind of an odd time to schedule one's nuptials. The priest decides better that than a(nother) day in sin?

My husband teaches inner city English as Second Language to elementary students, lots of them from Latin America. This year he reports that for the first time many students from Latino families are not allowed to trick-or-treat because parents have picked up on Oct 31 as "the Devil's Birthday." So these kids are denied the Halloween fun of their adopted home, while being cut off from the graves of their ancestors. Poor darlins.

[bixaorellana]

Thank you, NYCGirl! Yes, the little jester was precious -- pretty mommy, pretty baby. I asked her what the outfit was called in Spanish & it took me a moment to realize that are-lay-KEEN = harlequin.

Well, tombs strongly resemble benches in terms of height from the ground & ample butt space, don't they? I can't remember where it is, but in one of my DoftheD reports, you can see tombs being used as tables for snacks. One of my favorite graveyard stories was told to me by a guy who did extensive genealogical research in the days before the internet. He had pretty successfully run down most of the family tree, but data on one cousin had eluded him. Driving through rural North Carolina, he & a companion stopped at a tiny cemetery for a picnic. He chose a nicely placed tombstone for his seat. As he dusted off the leaves on it, he saw it was the grave of his elusive cousin.

LaGatta, yes. Even though many of Posada's skeleton pictures were mean as satire or political commentary, through the years the images have become incorporated into day of the dead celebrations and costumes. If you look at the students' comparsa in the first part of my DoftheD report last year, you can see that they were consciously channeling Posada images. In one of the photos, a fake skeleton is wearing a perfect representation of Posada's La Catrina's hat.

Lovely Lola ~~ thank you!

Re: choosing the time for the nuptials -- Sto. Domingo is extremely popular for weddings. I even know of a couple from San Francisco (Calif) who got married there after a visit to Oaxaca. My friends who got married at Sto. Domingo in August had applied for a date months previously, in February, I think. They were given a choice of two dates -- the only two available. That was probably the case as well with the couple who ruined my viewing of the show on November 1. I now know how much it costs & have a rough idea of how long it takes to get a good date, if you should feel the need for a wedding in grand surroundings.

Re: the devil's birthday -- many strict Mexican evangelicals do not observe day of the dead. A lovely woman I know who is an evangelical told me that her preacher said it was a pagan celebration. I asked my landlords, also evangelicals, about that, & they said they thought it was an overly harsh interpretation, that it was fine if people wanted to use this time to particularly remember their deceased loved ones. Incidentally, the woman with the strict preacher once confided in me that she missed the days when she was a plain ole Catholic, and could drink and dance at parties.

[lagatta]

I have friends who were United Church missionaries in Guatemala; that is a protestant denomination here that is the polar opposite of the strict evangelicals; some refer to it as "the NDP (social-democratic party) at prayer". This couple, who had worked with poor urban people here in Montréal and on Native reserves farther north in Québec, were very much involved in supporting the struggles of the Indigenous population and learned the local Mayan family language. And indeed, a major roadblock was the growing influence of fundamentalist evangelicals. They tell the Guatemalan villagers that their clothing (!!!) is pagan, as of course are all the Mayan ceremonies wound up in their Christian religious worship, their ancestor cults etc. So the evangelical Guatemalans wear ugly t-shirts and other clothing donated by the mother church (though I doubt evangelicals say that) in the US, not the beautiful garments Guatemalan ladies weave.

Hope your nostalgic acquaintance converts back. Obviously we know all of what is wrong with the Catholic church hierarchy in terms of corruption, collusion with powerful but unsavoury elements of society (dictators, mafiosi etc) but I think the arrival of the new pope does reflect something among Catholics who remain faithful but who would like to be rid of all that crap.

Of course I don't even think of myself as a Catholic any more, but for some people belonging to the church remains an important part of their lives.

[htmb]

Bixa, I have continued to think about this thread as I have gone about my day. Not only are your photographs fabulous, but the energy you have put into the thread is both inspiring and informative. Thank you again for this gift!

[bixaorellana]

"the NDP (social-democratic party) at prayer"

Htmb, thank you, thank you -- not only for your lovely words to me, but for your attention and encouragement to everyone here. Your feedback, and your example in making interesting, beautiful, & even educational threads are the kinds of things that attract & keep people coming back to this forum.

[htmb]

Thank you, Bixa.

[lagatta]

Yes, 'tis true.

Nothing to do with Mexico, but I think some US posters on food, travel etc forums I contribute to would be rather terrified of the elected parties on all levels in the district where I live!

These are: Federal: NDP, Québec: Québec solidaire and municipal (my arrondissement): Projet Montréal.

[Deleted]

HeaveSteve2015!!!

[bixaorellana]

Here it is almost the end of November. So WHY am I reviving this thread, since day of the dead was almost a month ago?

Well, yesterday evening a friend suggested we go up to the barrio of Xochimilco to see the festivities there. I have mentioned this charming area various times before -- it's a weaving enclave & I also showed pictures of its muertos altar competition in my day of the dead report of 2012.

There are four parishes here that have an extra celebration of the dead after the official time. The four take turns rotating through the Mondays in November. Yesterday, the fourth Monday, was the turn of the parish of Santo Tomás in Xochimilco.

It had turned balmy after a hot day, & you can see the blue light of evening in many of these photos. There was some great wall art on the way to the cemetery ~~

[bixaorellana]

So here we are at the cemetery. Not shown in this first picture: the jolly music pouring out from within, nor the wonderful aromas from the food stands outside the walls, nor the happy, friendly faces of all the people walking past & entering the graveyard.

[bixaorellana]

This bunch were drunk & thrilled to be photographed. They put on a little show for me ::






There were several beer vendors wandering through the crowd. This one is hawking Modelo ~


Of course, there was also solemnity ~

[Deleted]

The art on the walls is fantastic, and I have a sudden urge to write a mystery novel called "Tubas in the Cemetery."

Was alcohol involved in this event?

[bixaorellana]

Thanks!

Re: alcohol -- yes, sold & consumed throughout the cemetery, with some attendees doing more than their share, as you can see by the happy dancers. I suspect one of the imbibers was the source of the Tarzan yell in the video.

[htmb]

Oh, Bixa!!!! This is wonderful!! There's so much to see in each photo.

[bixaorellana]

This lovely family saw me lurking in the gravestones, listening to their music & taking pictures. They all warmly greeted me and invited me to beer or mezcal. I declined the spirits, but took their hospitality as an okay to keep snapping & filming.

[bixaorellana]

Thank you so much, Htmb!

Just a few more pictures to show, and then I think we can really & truly say that the days of the dead are over for this year.

[questa]

Bixa...all I can say is I'd rather be dead in your part of the world than anywhere else on Earth. Party ! Party ! Party !

[bixaorellana]

How embarrassing! Sorry, Questa ~~ somehow I thought I'd already responded to your great comment. Even after all this coverage, until I read your remark, it never occurred to me to decide where I'd like to be dead. ]

[questa]

Crikey, Mate, I wouldn't be dead for quids!


(Aussie jargon)