Having never had much interest in Halloween nor having really heard of Dia de los Muertos, the weekend of the 31st was certainly different for me. Working at a school with a lot of American teachers (or gringos, as the Mexicans unkindly call them - based on the American Forces green uniform ... "green go") there was obviously a halloween party organised on the Friday. It was a lot of fun and, as you might imagine there was a lot of 'in school' gossiping and drama - it seems that teaching in a school is not much different to going to school (obviously I am happy to share the gory details via msn ;) )
Sunday 2nd November is the main celebration of the lives of the dead, a trdditional Mexican Festival where it is believed the souls of the dead are able to visit most easily. Families usually make offerings to their dead in their homes. These usually incude food and drink which that person particularly liked during their lifetime. There are different days to celebrate the lives of those who died young and the disabled and I imagine these are quite sad, yet Dia de los Muertos was very cheerful.The festival was begun by the Aztecs and later influenced by the Catholics who moved the date from August to All Souls Day when their attempts to ban such a sacilegious festival failed.
While the festival is most keenly celebrated in the more indigenous parts of Mexico, there was still no lack of enthusiasm in D.F. We went to the historical centre (the Zocalo, above) to watch tradditonal dances (see below) and view the many public offerings made in the plaza.
Below is a photo of one of the many offerings. The orange flowers are tradditional for this festival as are the chocolate skulls.
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