[In an attempt to backdate a whole pile of entries, in chronological order, I have taken this excerpt from the following article I wrote for Lafayette]
...As American Halloween infiltrated the country, we traveled to Morelia and Pátzcuaro for the Day of the Dead celebrations on Nov. 1 and 2. The offerings and cemetery vigils to remember passed loved ones was something I had learned about in class for years, but never really grasped the concept of until I experienced it first hand. During the day on Nov. 1, offerings are created in the form of small altars or large public displays. Orange flowers and candles decorate the ofrendas, surrounding life-size images of passed loved one, along with all of the food, drinks, and usually cigarettes that the person enjoyed during their life, so that they could indulge once again on the night their spirit returns. The offerings could be found anywhere – in a public square, a restaurant, a hotel, or the entrance to a department store.
That evening, we went to the cemetery on the island of Janitzio near Pátzcuaro for the vigils that people kept at the tombs of their loved ones. More elaborate altars were created including guitars, sugar candy skulls and games, and people from all walks of life were wrapped in wool blankets, waiting for the spirits of the deceased to return that night. It was an overwhelming experience, and I tried to understand how the indigenous pagan practices melded so perfectly with the traditional Catholic beliefs brought to this country centuries ago...
The rest of this article can be found here.
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