Day of the Dead

My favorite holiday of the year in Mexico is Day of the Dead. Far from being an old, outdated ceremony or commercialized sugar frenzy like Halloween, the Day of the Dead is an active, dynamic cultural event. The celebration is constantly absorbing outside influences and re-inventing itself. The party lasts three days and involves leaving offerings in the cemeteries, making altars at home, and street parties with marching bands and parading through town until the dancers literally collapse on the side of the road from exhaustion. On Friday we received the neighborhood children from the local day care in the shop, on Saturday we went to Mitla (“the City of the Dead”) exploring some of the biggest tombs in Oaxaca, and on Sunday we went to the comparsa in the small hill town of San Agustin dancing until dawn!