The Day of the Dead. November 2nd. “Are you ready to dance?”
Dance the night away.
One, two. One, two…
One, two, Three.
Day…
And night…
La Dance Macabre…
Dance, dance, dance…
Turn, turn, turn…
“Thank you for dancing with me… Until next time…”
My heartfelt thanks to the Ollin Yollintizi dance company for a spectacular show. As I watched them dance I thought some or many of these young dancers were probably born in this century…
Equinoxio 
I loved this time of year. Once, a friend and I drove to a village outside of D.F. and walked through the carnival booths lining the streets, the noise and paper flowers, food for sale, etc, and we came to an old cemetery beside an even older small church. The graves were about 12″-14″ above ground, surrounded by a cement boundary all around, tops all decorated with flowers in representations of the Virgin. Tall candles set at each corner of the graves. I remember vividly a grandmother sitting on on a grave, leaning against the simple headstone, and a sleeping child, head in her lap, legs sprawled alongside the grave top. It touched me deeply. Grandmother was keeping vigil. I was not so rude as to take a photo although I had taken a shot of the banners and market street and the church.
I still have some small pieces from Day of the Dead: a dancing skeleton against a bare tree, a small candle stand with flowers and skulls. The sugar skulls in the marketplaces were interesting. Somewhere i have a photo of a line of them with names across the foreheads. Each year, the festival reminds me not to fear death.
Hi Janet. Do you remember the name of the village? Mixquic? 🙂 We went to the graveyard in San Juan del Río once. Floods of people pouring into the cemetery. The old women with their braided hair. All graves decorated and people sitting and chanting on them. Candles as you recall… The sugar skulls indeed.
Mexico has been a keystone in your life hasn’t it? 🙂
Yes the festival reminds you of that. But, somehow I wonder about this fascination Mexicans have with Death.
Be good. 🙂
Ah, yes. And the bone corner behind a stone wall in a back corner of the cemetery. I forget what that’s called. An ossuary? No. I don’t think that’s the Mexican word. Remind me please.
Osario? Nicho? Colombario? Aren’t you thinking of the walls with the urns of the cremated?
Powerful and beautiful post! Reblogging to sister site “Timeless Wisdoms”
Thank you Ana. Much Honoured. 🙂
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Merci pour ces jolies photos
Pas de quoi Amélie. La Fête des morts est qqc de très particulier ici. (De fait, j’ai tellement de “matériau” que je vais probablement poster plus sur le sujet. Bonne soirée.
En voyant tes photos, on s’en rend bien compte
Bonne soirée Brieux
🙂
We are always dancing with death, whether we know it or not. Death is a great dancer.
Great photographs.
Thank you. I don’t normally do many “people” photos. With exceptions such as these. And an I-phone is not the best for people and movement. But, I’m glad this selection seems to have come out ok. (More to come) Cheers
Nice photo’s Brian!This surely looks macabre.
A bit. But it is a very strong tradition here.
That skull make-up looks so real… hope I don’t have nightmares!
I hope you didn’t. Have nightmares. 🙂 I’ve grown used to the make-up. And the context and the smiles beneath the make-up. on week-end.
I love how refreshingly party-ish the Dia de los Muertos is, compared to my memories of All Saints in Italy. For starters, it’s not raining. Then, you’re not going to the graveyard to pretend to be thinking about dead people you’ve never met…
E vero. So Italy, like France (or vice-versa?) celebrates All Saints. 🙂 It always rains there too. And that weather is called “un temps de Toussaint”.
Yes, it is part-ish here. It did rain rain though. All the shrines outside were washed out.
Buon finale di settimana Fabrizio.
I would love love love to be in Mexico for this. I just celebrated my first Halloween in 20 years. So fun. I got used to celebrating Toussaint in Eastern Europe, which is beautiful, but less exuberant.
Exuberant is the word. 🙂
Though it must have been quite an experience to “relive” Halloween at home. I’m not sure I’d like the cold but you’ve been used to that in Eastern Europe. 🙂
I would love to be in Mexico for this. I just celebrated my first Halloween in 20 years. So fun. I got used to celebrating Toussaint in Eastern Europe. Less exuberant, but still beautiful.
🙂
I probably should plan exploring East. The furthest East I’ve been in Europe was Praga. Liked it very much, language barrier notwithstanding. 🙂 I speak close to half a dozen languages but Slavic tongues are a mystery to me. Need to learn one. ;
I’ve never seen anything like this. Does it happen all over the city or is there a particular place that much of it is centralized?
Not everywhere. Probably also in Coyoacán, and in Reforma. But where we now live, Tlalpan, used to be a distant village from Mexico. And in the centre, 80% of the buildings are colonial, 16th, 17th century. So Tlalpan “City Hall” always organizes celebrations on this day. I’ve also seen – and posted – dances with masks on the street similar to what still happens, very high in the Sierra.
Looks like a fabulous day Brian, and a lot of fun. Another year passes and it’s still on my bucket list to be in Mexico DF for Day of the Dead.
No worry Paul, some day, some day…
All well in Berlin?
All well, thanks Brian. The winter is starting to take hold now, many cold, grey days ahead.
I can imagine. November to February are the dreary months. But that doesn’t affect the beer. 😉
Unless you still insist on drinking lukewarm beer? 😉
Lukewarm in a cold winter!
And on another subject, looks like the divorce has been signed between the UK and the EU. (Pending House approval and all that…)
It does feel sad…
(But I still have all my English Rock records in working order!)
It’s utterly tragic, Brian. I find myself still holding on to a sliver of hope that common sense might prevail…sadly I think it’s a fool’s hope. I can barely bring myself to talk about it these days, the ‘wound’ is still too raw.
I still can’t believe it either. But then, hopefully… Someone new (neither Johnson nor Corbyn) will come and move things back. I understand the economic impact has already been significant. So, fingers crossed mate. 🙂
I’ve spoken to people who voted for Brexit, and the sad part is that it’s like we inhabit different universes. Meanwhile the NHS stumbles from crisis to crisis, and the people who promised it an additional £350M a week once we left the EU are all millionaires who don’t give a damn. I doubt I’ll see stranger times in my lifetime!
Don’t hold your breath. I hope we won’t see worse… 😦
But your remark is quite true. I have felt the same in many a discussion. On all sides. People increasingly live in different universes. And Reason is not an argument anymore. Facts? Figures? Even form the most reliable sources? Swept away. That is what frightens me most. Strike frighten. Concerns me most. Ignoring facts is the open door to arbitrary.