This year, around and about Oaxaca during Día de Muertos, especially for my skeleton loving grandson. (Click on images to enlarge)
Besos y abrazos, Abue. 😉
Posts Tagged ‘Días de Muerto’
Calacas & calaveras for Leo
Posted in Celebrations, Creativity, Culture, Holidays, Travel & Tourism, tagged calacas, calaveras, Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos, Días de Muerto, decorative skulls, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, skeletons on November 1, 2015| 7 Comments »
¡Prospero año a todos!
Posted in Celebrations, Culture, Holidays, tagged comparsa, Day of the Dead, Días de Muerto, Etla, Mexico, Oaxaca, parade, video, Vista Hermosa on December 31, 2011| 2 Comments »
A little craziness from the November 2, 2011 comparsa in Vista Hermosa…
Muchisimas gracias to all my readers. Thank you for stopping by, your perceptive comments, and your encouragement. Peace and joy in 2012, if not in the world, at least in your heart!
Gracias San Antonino
Posted in Celebrations, Creativity, Culture, Holidays, Religion, tagged celebrations, cemetery, Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos, Días de Muerto, flor inmortal, flowers, Mexico, Oaxaca, panteón, San Antonino Castillo Velasco on November 24, 2011| 1 Comment »
Today is Thanksgiving in los Estados Unidos de América… and besides my wonderful family and friends, I am so grateful to see and experience places like San Antonino Castillo Velasco during los Días de Muertos.
¡Feliz Acción de Gracias a todos!
Labor of love in San Antonino
Posted in Celebrations, Creativity, Culture, Holidays, Religion, tagged celebrations, cemetery, Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos, Días de Muerto, flor inmortal, flowers, Mexico, Oaxaca, panteón, San Antonino Castillo Velasco on November 22, 2011| 2 Comments »
San Antonino Castillo Velasco, a Zapotec community near Ocotlán, is a village known for its flowers. They are, no doubt, the inspiration for beautifully embroidered linens and clothing sold in the mercados and found in museum collections. And, a specialty is the “flor inmortal” (immortal flower), so named because, even when dried, it retains its brilliant colors. They are used to create intricately designed figures on display December 23 in the city of Oaxaca, during Noche de Rábanos and to decorate the graves of loved ones during Días de Muertos in San Antonino.
As I’ve previously mentioned, each village seems to have its own unique traditions for the Days of the Dead. Villagers here mix the area’s very fine dirt with water, cover the graves, use a trowel to smooth it, outline designs and religious imagery into the dried coating, and then use flowers (fresh and dried), to paint the scene. Entire families are involved, young and old, and the atmosphere is filled with joy, purpose, and most of all… Love.
For a very special moment, that is a metaphor the two days spent at San Antonino, see Chris’s post, Moments make a life..
Back to Days of the Dead…
Posted in Animals, Celebrations, Culture, Holidays, tagged cemetery, Day of the Dead, Días de Muerto, flowers, Mexico, Oaxaca, panteón, San Antonino Castillo Velasco on November 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »
San Antonino Castillo Velasco, to be precise. Young and old converged on the municipal cemetery to decorate the graves with the magenta of cockscomb and yellow to orange to rust of marigolds (cempazúchil or zempoalxochitl) grown in nearby fields.
They came by car and truck…
By horse (note wooden saddle)…
By pedal-powered cart…
By horse-powered cart.
And, on foot…
Laughter, artistry, and pride followed. Stay tuned for images of their meticulous labors of love.
Half-alive / half-dead
Posted in Celebrations, Culture, tagged Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos, Días de Muerto, Kurt Hackbarth, La [medio] diezmada, Mexico, Oaxaca, plays, sand paintings, tapetes de arena, theater on November 13, 2011| 6 Comments »
On the eleventh day of the eleventh month at the eleventh hour, I attended a press conference for the official unveiling of the website for a new play. The play, La [medio] diezmada (the half-decimated), will have its world premiere on December 22 at the Teatro Juárez in Oaxaca.
Cast members: Hugo Alberto Díaz Reyes, Mariela Blanco López, Esmeralda Aragón Zárate, and Fortunato Chávez, with Kurt Hackbarth (middle)
One of the inspirations for writer/director/producer, Kurt Hackbarth, was a photo he had seen of a half-alive/half-dead face in a sand painting. In one of those amazing coincidences, I’d actually photographed the very same tapete de arena laid out on the Alameda in Oaxaca during Los días de muertos in 2009.
Here is my close-up of the half living/half-dead face from the tapete above; the same face that triggered Kurt’s imagination…
… and I cropped and used for the website banner.
If you find yourself in Oaxaca on December 22, I encourage you to attend this world premiere! By the way, it’s a comedy!
Whitewashed in Santiago Apóstol
Posted in Celebrations, Culture, Holidays, Religion, tagged cemetery, Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos, Días de Muerto, Mexico, Oaxaca, panteón, Santiago Apóstol on November 9, 2011| 16 Comments »
On the road during los Días de muertos led us to Santiago Apóstol in the municipality of Ocotlán de Morelos…
Entering their Panteón, the play of light and shadow and explosion of greens, reds, oranges, yellows, and magentas against whitewashed graves was stunning.
Unique artistry was evident in each of the cemeteries we visited.
One of the special and fragrant features here was the rose petals scattered atop graves.
Have I mentioned… No matter where one seems to go in Oaxaca, the senses are filled!
More to come…
Too cute for school!
Posted in Celebrations, Culture, Holidays, tagged comparsa, Day of the Dead, Días de Muerto, Etla, Mexico, Oaxaca, parade, Vista Hermosa on November 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »
And then there were the impossibly cute kids taking part in the comparsa…
From the sublime…
Posted in Celebrations, Culture, Holidays, tagged comparsa, Day of the Dead, Días de Muerto, Etla, Mexico, Oaxaca, parade, Vista Hermosa on November 4, 2011| 1 Comment »
… to the fabulously fabulous and ridiculous; a traditional comparsa on the morning of November 2, 2011. After hiking up to the top of the hill in Vista Hermosa (beautiful view), Etla, following the sound of music, a surreal sight unfolded…
We tagged along with the band, dancers, and their friends and neighbors, up and down the hills, navigating steep dirt paths, as they played, danced, drank mezcal, and stopped in front yards for much-needed rest and refreshments of caldo de pollo (chicken soup), pan de muerto (Days of the Dead bread), and mezcal… of course!
By the way, did I mention, these guys and (one) gal, had been playing and dancing all night long?!!
The magic continues…
Posted in Celebrations, Holidays, tagged Day of the Dead, Días de Muerto, Mexico, Oaxaca, Teotitlán del Valle on November 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »
I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the last 48 hours. It’s been a profusion of sensations… sights, sounds, smells, and tastes. Today in Teotitlán del Valle…
Much more to come!
Magical and mystical…
Posted in Celebrations, Holidays, tagged cemetery, Day of the Dead, Días de Muerto, Mexico, Oaxaca, panteón, photographs, photos, Santa María Atzompa on November 1, 2011| 2 Comments »
I don’t have words to express “being” last night in the Panteón of Santa María Atzompa…
Feeling so incredibly privileged.
Bread of the dead
Posted in Celebrations, Food, Holidays, Religion, tagged Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos, Días de Muerto, dead bread, Mexico, Mitla, Oaxaca, ofrenda, pan de muerto on November 1, 2011| 2 Comments »
Pan de muerto is the traditional Days of the Dead sweet yeast bread. It is decorated and placed on ofrendas (altars), along with candles, flowers, fruit, pictures, mementos, other foodstuffs, and beverages, as offerings to the departed.
The intricately decorated pan de muerto are from the Tlacolula Valley, and reference the geometric designs and mosaic fretwork found in the archeological sites in and around Mitla, a photo of which I’m using as browser background on this blog.
Rugs of sand…
Posted in Celebrations, Creativity, Culture, Exhibitions, Holidays, Parks & Plazas, tagged Day of the Dead, Días de Muerto, Mexico, Oaxaca, Plaza de la Danza, sand paintings, tapetes de arena on October 31, 2011| 3 Comments »
The tapetes de arena are finished and cover the stone flooring of the Plaza de la Danza. Always difficult to photograph, the following are an experiment in cropping.
Centro de Educación Artística Miguel Cabrera
Casa de Cultura de Tlacolula de Matamoros
Escuela de Bellas Artes de la Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca
Several other organizations participated and among the unsigned are tapetes de arena from Casa de las Artesanías de Oaxaca, Sociedad Civil de Maestros Oaxaqueños del Arte Popular, and Grupo Colectivo Camaleón.
Walk with us…
And for those in el norte…
A happy and safe Halloween!
Painting the sand
Posted in Celebrations, Creativity, Exhibitions, Holidays, Parks & Plazas, tagged Day of the Dead, Días de Muerto, Mexico, Oaxaca, Plaza de la Danza, sand paintings, tapetes de arena on October 29, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Work on the Días de Muerto tapetes de arena (sand paintings) began this morning…
By the way, this year they are in the Plaza de la Danza and, as I write, the music of the Orchestra Infantil Libertad (a children’s orchestra) is serenading the completed tapetes de arena, the audience gathered at the Plaza de la Danza, and yours truly, sitting comfortably at her desk.
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