Mr.Duck on 2/11/2009 at 23:31
HAPPY DAY OF THE DEAD!!!
One of my favorite national holidays for all the folklore that's involved in it. Though I don't really participate (my mom does go to the cemetary to visit her parents' graves) in it I've always liked the whole concept surrounding it and what it represent.
From the altars built for the one day to conmemorate a dearly departed to the vigil people have in cementeries over Mexico, bringing food, drink, gifts, music and other such things that the deceased might have enjoyed in life. A way to remember those that are no longer with us, gone, but not forgotten.
Plus, sugar skulls!
:D
And now, for some pics...
Inline Image:
http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/3703/calaveritas.jpgWould you like a sugar skull, señor or señorita? :)
Inline Image:
http://quintogradomav.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/pamuer.gifIf not, we can always offer you some bread of the dead!
Inline Image:
http://www.egiptoantiguo.org/foro/attc_foro/altar_de_muertos_408.jpgHere's a nice altar of a dearly departed covered with foodstuffs and other symbolic things.
Inline Image:
http://redescolar.ilce.edu.mx/redescolar/biblioteca/expomilen/posa03.jpgIf you mention the celebration of the dead we -must- have Guadalupe Posada's drawings of such!
Inline Image:
http://www.turismito.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/tn_cementerio.jpgPeople in the cementery with their dearly departed.
Ah, going to fetch me a sugar skull...
Happy Day of the Dead, y'all!!!
:D
¡VIVA MEXICO, HIJOS DE LA CHINGADA!
june gloom on 2/11/2009 at 23:34
Glad you're having a good time. :) For me, Halloween isn't over yet- I always reserve at least a week afterwards for scary games and movies.
BrokenArts on 2/11/2009 at 23:35
Sugar rush for everyone!!
Its not over for me either dethtoll, have to hit the haunted house on friday the 13th. (missed it halloween)
frozenman on 3/11/2009 at 00:27
This is a rather speculative post cause I don't feel like searching the internets, and would much rather have a conversation regarding it:
I remember hearing that Halloween in it's current machination is a hybrid between All Hallow's Eve and Dia De Muertos, and that one of ways this is obvious is from the colors orange and black. Is it true that the significance of these colors come from the Monarch butterfly, and that old tyme Mexicans/Aztecs/whatevs believed the spirits of their dead sometimes took flight in these butterflies?
MrDUCK??? :D
Aja on 3/11/2009 at 01:06
I said this last year but it's still true: I really wish we celebrated The Day of the Dead here. Maybe I'll go play Grim Fandango.
demagogue on 3/11/2009 at 01:13
I really love these nighttime holidays ... Hallowe'en, Dia De Muertos, and Japan has Obon ... Days where you celebrate the fact we're mortal and there are things out there we don't understand or can't control, and for one night we turn that from a fear into a kind of festival.
And they also have some of the most evocative traditions ... the jack-o-lanterns, the candles, the paper lanterns, the candy and sweet offerings. On Obon they sometimes put the paper lanterns on little boats to float across the river to lead the spirits along their way, and you see dozens of them quietly flickering with light and floating downstream.
I have yet to see any Day of the Dead festivities in person, but someday I hope to.
june gloom on 3/11/2009 at 01:35
Quote Posted by demagogue
Days where you celebrate the fact we're mortal and there are things out there we don't understand or can't control, and for one night we turn that from a fear into a kind of festival.
This is one of the most positive descriptions of Halloween I can imagine. Maybe I'll try that one on my mother, who as far back as I can remember has hated Halloween because it's "negative." (Though, to her credit, that didn't stop her from making my Halloweens special by putting in lots of hours making elaborate costumes- Leonardo from TMNT, Tails from Sonic, a Michigan wolverine, Donald Duck when I was
really little, the list goes on. I don't do costumes anymore but that doesn't stop me from having a fondness for Halloween and the excuse it gives me to play/watch a bunch of horror stuff.)
Mr.Duck on 3/11/2009 at 01:57
Quote Posted by frozenman
This is a rather speculative post cause I don't feel like searching the internets, and would much rather have a conversation regarding it:
I remember hearing that Halloween in it's current machination is a hybrid between All Hallow's Eve and Dia De Muertos, and that one of ways this is obvious is from the colors orange and black. Is it true that the significance of these colors come from the Monarch butterfly, and that old tyme Mexicans/Aztecs/whatevs believed the spirits of their dead sometimes took flight in these butterflies?
MrDUCK??? :D
Hrrrrmmm....dunno about Halloween being a hybrid of Dia de los Muertos, but if memory serves, it does have its roots in All Hallow's Eve. About the color significance, I couldn't say, but I have heard something about the spirits of the dead (dunno if slain warriors in battle...or just regular dead) being in small flying creatures (butterflies and hummingbirds, I think).
I think it was the Aztects.
Mind you, Mexicans only apply -after- the Spaniards came in, conquered us -and- assimilated us (thru breeding and such). Before that it was Spaniards and Prehispanics (whole bunch of cultures...), plus other groups like the African slaves and such...
And now I want a sugar skull...
:)
¡VIVAN LAS CALAVERITAS DE AZUCAR, BOLA DE CABRONES!
Tocky on 3/11/2009 at 02:32
We are all the bastard sons of war eh?
Death is one scary bastard and indeed this is a healthy way of embracing it before it embraces us. Have fun Ducky, I wish I could be there to carouse with you.
PigLick on 3/11/2009 at 02:32
It wouldnt be ttlg without a day of the dead post from the estimable Mr Duck!
