Day of the Dead

Last weekend, November 2nd, was Dia de Muertos, or Day of the Dead.  I wanted to give you all a little history in case you didn't know that much about it.  Then, I will show you the pictures.....

The Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico can be traced back to its indigenous pagan cultures. Rituals celebrating the deaths of ancestors had been observed by these civilizations perhaps for as long as 2,500–3,000 years.  In the pre-Hispanic era, skulls were commonly kept as trophies and displayed during the rituals to symbolize death and rebirth.  In most regions of Mexico, November 1 is to honor children and infants, whereas deceased adults are honored on November 2. This is indicated by generally referring to November 1 mainly as Día de los Inocentes (Day of the Innocents) and November 2 as Día de los Muertos.

People go to cemeteries to be with the souls of the departed and build private altars containing the favorite foods and beverages, as well as photos and memorabilia, of the departed. The intent is to encourage visits by the souls, so the souls will hear the prayers and the comments of the living directed to them. Celebrations can take a humorous tone, as celebrants remember funny events and anecdotes about the departed.  Sometimes people drive their cars into the cemetaries and play music, drink and dance on the grave sites of loved ones in order to honor and remember them.  

Alter set up at the mall

No one at the house build any alters, but I went to the mall in the afternoon and there was a big alter set up to honor various people of Jalisco.  















You can see the candy skulls and the Mexican marigolds which in Mexican tradition has always been a flower that attracts souls of the dead. 

Then later in the night we went to a cemetery and got to heal all the legends and ghost stories of Guadalajara.  The cemetery that we went to is one of the oldest in the city.  It was a real cemetery where they buried real people, but it became full and they stopped selling plots in the 1800s.  It was really cool to see all the decorations, but unfortunately they didn't allow anyone to take pictures.  The next day, I went downtown to the Plaza de Las Armas and saw a skeleton art exhibit.  They were skeletons made my students from many of the different universities around Guadalajara.  Here are some that I thought were the best!! :)

HAHAH!  Just kidding, these are real people, not skeletons!!  Fooled you! 

Thought the painting on this head was really cool!

Its like pirate skeleton means zombie skeleton. 

I want this dress, but I don't think they make it in my size!  jajaja..

Creepy.. but cool!

PEACE

Watermelon Theme

This one has the world in one hand the a dove in the other.  (The dove is also a skeleton)

Long Time

Hey all,

Its been a long time since I've written anything new... I know I know.. I'm a slacker.  I dont know if it was delayed culture shock or just a few bad experiences in a row that threw me off.  If you ask my dad he will tell you flat out.  "Amanda, she just lost her mojo!"  hahahaha.

To make a long story short, there was a lot of stuff happening at school, a few things going on at work, some things going on at home and a bunch of stuff going on with friends.  Somewhere a long the line of all of this, I managed to lose my confidence (i.e. my mojo).  It wasn't anything bad, I didn't get hurt, school is still going well, but something changed and I just started having a really hard time with EVERYTHING.  Everything from the bus driver wasn't understanding me, I had to explain to my teach literally 15 times how to spell AMANDA and various other exceedingly small super frustrating situations.  So the month of October has been to say the least a trial in pacients and self preservation.

Then, I had a long conversation with myself (the voices inside my head participated equally) :) and came to the conclusion that I needed to do something to get my mojo back!!  So, I called up a friend and decided to take a trip to Mazatlan for the weekend.  It was the best decision I could have made.

Maybe she was hanging out with her!  :)

I found my mojo, apparently she missed the sun and the sand, because she was right there on the beaches of Mazatlan!  Confident, full of life and energy and ready to come with me back to Guadalajara for our next adventure!!  :)

I left after class on Saturday.  Went out with a friend on Saturday night, met some new friends on Sunday, spend the day on Monday on the beach and by the pool, and then came back to Guadalajara on Tuesday morning.  It was super fun and super relaxing!! 

This weekend is the day of the dead, and there should be lots to talk about, from visiting cemetaries to decorating alters and semaforo parties!  :) I will have lots more pictures and lots more adventures to tell you about on Monday!  See you then!!