Dia de Muertos

This week has been dedicated to Dia de Muertos, from the 30th of Oct to the 2nd of November. I have uploaded some photos to our Flickr page. They are sort of divided up by the altar competition that the city put on for high schools at Jardin Guerrero; the stalls around the edges of Jardin Guerrero that sell candies made especially for this celebration, including candy and chocolate skulls, skeletons, special traditional candies, masks, etc.; the doings at Plaza de Armas where the state has set up a chapel in the main state office building with an Otomi altar inside; and the municipal cemetery where people came to say prayers, serenade their loved ones with their favorite songs, put out their favorite food and drink, clean up the tombs, and decorate them with flowers. The cemetery was jammed. It was an odd mix of sadness for the loss and happiness remembering family members. We bought some flowers and placed them on a child’s grave who died in 1941, but had no flowers.

We took a taxi there and walked back afterward. It was a long walk.