Día de Muertos

Happy November 😊! These past couple of weeks have been all kinds of fun for me! Halloween, Día de Muertos, the beginning of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and, to top it off, my story got published in Drunken Pen Writing (more about that later)!!

But now, let's talk a little bit more about Día de Muertos ("Day of the Dead") that took place last weekend. This was my first time experiencing the 2-day fiesta in Mexico, and I have to say that it was quite impressive! And fun. Actually, I can honestly say that that's the most fun I've ever had with death 😜!

Día de Muertos - What Is It?

So, what is Día de Muertos exactly? Well, in a nutshell, it's a Mexican festival celebrated between the 1st and 2nd of November, and its purpose is to remember the loved ones that have passed away and encourage visits by their souls. However, these visits - it should be noted - do not entail dead people being resurrected Pet Sematary style and turning into monsters. Nope. Unlike Halloween, the Day of the Dead is not a spooky celebration because in Mexican culture, death is considered a natural part of life and something to be celebrated rather than feared (go figure 😉).

Death has never looked more fun!

A central part of Día de Muertos are the ofrendas. Ofrendas are types of altars built by a family to honor their dearly departed. They are composed of a picture of the deceased along with their favorite foods, drinks, and other memorabilia. In Coyoacán, you can find several ofrendas made by different cities during the Day of the Dead festivities. Here are a few of them:

Typically, ofrendas incorporate the four elements: water, fire, wind, and earth. While beverages usually symbolize water and candles fire, earth is often represented by marigolds, orange flowers, which are also called "flowers of the dead" as they represent the fragility of life and are believed to guide the spirits to their altars. Wind, on the other hand, is represented by papel picado, colorful tissue paper cut into different designs. 

Papel picado

Obviously, I wanted to take part in this tradition, too, so Fiancé and I made an ofrenda of our own. This one (below) represents two of our major food groups - sugar and chocolate 😜 

Death by chocolate

What to Do on the Day of the Dead?

Día de Muertos offers different sights and activities depending on which Mexican city you are celebrating it in. A lot of the people I talked to actually opted to celebrate the Day of the Dead in some of the smaller cities as they were told the festivities would be more authentic (or less touristy) there.

However, that is not to say that you can't enjoy Día de Muertos in CDMX as well. First of all, there is the parade. (Fun fact: Do you remember that opening scene of the 2015 James Bond movie where 007 strolls through the Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City? Well, you might be interested to know that in 2015, there was no such thing as the Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City. In fact, the first parade that was held in 2016 in CDMX was inspired by this very James Bond movie - not the other way around.) 

However, as neither myself nor Fiancé are big fans of crowded places, we boldly decided to skip the parade, and instead got up early on Saturday and went to Coyoacán (the south of the city) to marvel at the ofrendas and check out the market where I got a couple more decorated skulls for my skull collection (okay now, kids, it's important that you not take this sentence out of context).

After that, we walked down Reforma street, which was decorated with tall, beautifully crafted alebrijes.

Alebrijes are fantastical colorful creatures that are normally made of papier-mâché or wood. They were originally the product of an artist's feverish dream in the 1930's and that's exactly what they look like - or what do you think about this guy, for example: 

Now, here's a fella I would like to have a beer with!

Interestingly enough, however, although alebrijes were incorporated in the Day of the Dead festivities, their only connection with the tradition seems to be the fact that they were featured in the 2017 Disney movie Coco as spirit animals. Do you remember how at the end of the movie (SPOILER ALERT!! If you haven't seen Coco, stop reading now) Miguel's dog (Mexican hairless dog, which, according to legend, is every newly dead's guide through the underworld) is promoted to an alebrije? It was definitely a visually impressive move (and alebrijes are part of Mexican culture for sure), but what these papier-mâché works of art were doing in the realm of the dead in the first place is beyond me (if you know the answer to this, please educate me).

There are the scary, nightmarish alebrijes, and then there's...well... this.

But whether or not they have a connection with the Day of the Dead, alebrijes are truly something unique and impressive to see!

The Highlight

After seeing the alebrijes, we were just about to leave when something magical - the highlight of the day - happened:

We saw a gentleman with a little bird and a bunch of folded pieces of paper, who asked me if I wanted to know my fortune. Naturally, I said yes!

The man urged me to tell Pedrito the Bird my name (I was at "T for tango" when I realized I was actually spelling my name to none other than a bird), after which Pedrito picked out one of the papers for me with his beak.

I took the paper and, with held breath, unfolded it.

This is what it said:

How about that typing, huh? Not too bad for a bird, eh?

I was enjoying this fortune until I got to the "you will arrive ambulances" part. Excuse me, but what does that mean? Will I live? will I die? Should I be worried about something? What?

Well, I guess only time will tell.

Pedrito the Bird works in mysterious ways. 

Closing words

As I mentioned at the beginning, the Day of the Dead wasn't the only great thing that happened to me last weekend, as my Halloween-inspired short story got published in Drunken Pen Writing (Woo-hooooo!!). The story is actually a (slightly adapted) chapter of a novel I've been working on, so by reading it, you'll get a sneak peak of what's to come 😉. You can read the story here - I hope you enjoy it 😊!

And that's all, folks. All in all, things are good. As one wise bird once said, my life right now is "a chain of happiness" 😍!  

Until next time, friends!