Take Us Out to Dia de los Muertos!

Well, the last couple of weeks have been a melange of Aztec, Christian, Mexican and American festivities all smushed into a big ball of fun.  We've overseen the return of the Virgin, partied with the dearly departed, and attended that most American of activities -- a baseball game -- that featured Mexican enthusiasm and a gorilla.

Let the Virgin Return!

Please.  Nine continuous mornings (and I am talking 5:30AM) of blasting cuetes and tuba bands is, at first, amusing.  That is year one.  Or predictable.  That is year two.  Or verging on the annoying. That is year three...where we are.  Every celebration of a Saint (of which there are VERY many) involves processions for nine sequential days featuring the aforementioned noisy celebratory elements.  So, with great relief, we witnessed (kind of -- we were late) the reinstallation of the Virgin of the Rosario in her little chapel off the Plaza.  We had in tow Kent and Kari from Austin and we all hit the Plaza for the fiesta following the procession. The photos tell the tale but what they cannot capture is the force of the music being emitted from the stage stretched across the Plaza.  You could feel your spleen reverberating with the beat and trying to force itself out through your rib cage.  Now that's music!

Dias de Los Muertos: AKA Day of the Dead

There is so much to say about this.  I will be brief.  This holiday typifies everything I love about Mexico and Mexicans.  I mean the Aztecs could have been all huffy and just pretended to be Christians and hid their old Aztec ways.  And the Spanish could have just kept killing them rather than compromise on some of their beliefs.  But no.  An accord, of sorts, was reached and Day of the Dead exemplifies it.  The ultimate go along, get along.

Here is the basic premise.  There is a circle of life (cue Lion King), death and rebirth.  At one point in the year, the veil between the living and dead is very thin and the departed can return to earth to visit with the living. Now the Aztecs celebrated this day in August.  But the Spanish thought this concept worked best on All Saints Day so, they switched the day and the Aztecs went along with it.  In turn, the Spanish accepted lots of Aztec stuff as part of the celebration.  Spanish stuff:  Masses; candles; crosses; images of saints and holy figures; three tiered alters representing the Trinity.  Aztec stuff: Paper banners; "Cross" showing ordinal points (you know North, South etc.), marigolds (cempazuchitl); Aztec dancers; Altars of five and seven levels.  So, everybody got something and everybody was happy and the Holiday goes on.

The first day is to celebrate the lives of the Angelinos -- the children taken too early.  We visited the cemetery in Ajijic on that day.  It was clear that families had been at work in advance of the day and the graves had all been cleaned and straightened up.  Now was the time to adorn the graves with the offerings -- flowers, food, favorite items or references to their favorite pastimes.  In the case of adults, tequila bottles are often prominently displayed.  One was half empty begging the question of an early arrival by the spirits (no pun).  We went during the day because Michael wanted to take pictures but at night the cemetery becomes a community party.  There are bands, food vendors and general good times are had.  It's a little difficult for Americans to grasp at first.

On the morning of the second day (honoring adults) we all went to Lake Chapala Society to hear an explanation of the rituals and beliefs surrounding Day of the Dead given by Jim Cook.  He and his wife have traveled all over Mexico for years and his blog makes my blog look like the ramblings of an incoherent kindergartener. Knows his stuff.  I learned many things which I failed to write down and now can't remember.  Sorry. From there it was off to Chapala to see the altars.

Now that you've been briefed about the mingling of Aztec and Christian elements in Day of the Dead, you can take a look at the photos and see what you can pick out.  Kind of like those "Can you find the 12 squirrels in the picture" things we did as kids.  I loved those.  These altars are made mostly by high school kids and they are impressive.  But what is REALLY impressive is that high school kids actually DO stuff like this.  You see 16 year old boys sitting on a bench in the Plaza patiently sticking pins in carnations that will be stuck into a giant cross.  They work side by side with adults with no eye rolling, smart ass comments or electronic devices.  It is mind boggling.

We bought some Day of the Dead bread and meandered among the altars for a couple of hours and then it was back to Ajijic for the "first ever" Day of the Dead Parade.  We were in luck and grabbed a curb to sit on only a half block from the Plaza.  We had to wait (of course we did) for about an hour but the people watching was superb and the weather fine.  Eventually, three horsemen came into view.  Well, not exactly.  First a woman on a horse.  Then a baby tied onto a horse.  Then two young boys on a horse.  They sat in front of us for quite a while. Now Charros put babies on horses all the time.  But they sit NEXT to them.  They pay attention.  We couldn't even figure out if that baby belonged to the woman.  Or the boys.  Very unsettling.  Kari is probably still not over it.  But soon the remainder of the parade made its way down the street and our attention was distracted by young men rushing into the crowd, scooping up people, and tossing them into the air.  They caught almost all of them.  It had been a long day......

Dia de Muertos is not complete without a trip to the Panteon to view the brightly decorated graves.

Sometimes the decorations include flowers in the sign of the cross...

and other times the creativity is evidenced in more colorful decorations...

as in this case using colorful straws with cutout flowers.

Some of the graves are overwhelmed with flowers, with the ever present marigolds,...

while others incorporate fewer flowers , but also include the decorated skull.

Wandering through the Panteon, you see people in the process of bringing wreaths to decorate the grave of their loved one.

The Mexican cempasuchitl (marigold) is the traditional flower used to honor the dead. The marigold petals are also used in creative ways to create decorations...

and even the favorite toys of this child are used to decorate the grave.

Vendors set up outside the Panteon to sell flowers to decorate the graves as well as food for the living.

Although sometimes the food is also used to decorate the grave, if it was a favorite food of the deceased.

This grave had some very unusual decorations....

where the vampire characters were declaring "caution" and the witch was declaring "happy Halloween"!

This deceased was obviously into "futbol" in a big way.

The graves also receive a fresh coat of paint at this time of year as well.

The children's graves are often decorated with balloons....

the name of the child....

and the favorite toys...

and even their faithful companions of the canine variety.

All of the flower sellers are set up in front of the Panteon for those who need more flowers to decorate the grave.

Even our "gringo" friends get into the spirit of the Dia de Muertos celebration with painted faces.

Face painting is an integral part of the celebration (although some are more frightening than others).

The children do not appear to be fazed at all and even pose with the gringo zombies.

This vey young charro seemed to be a little overwhelmed based on his expression. This is the one no adult seemed to be paying attention to.... it shows.

Everybody gets into the spirit of the occasion, whether in fancy dress...

or fanciful dress...

including the band.

Colored sawdust forms the base of the carapet....

other darker colors are added to form images (Frida Kahlo) in this case...

or Miguel Hidalgo in this case.

The patience involved in adding marigolds one at a time to make this is amazing...

and after wandering around the town for a while, it is almost complete.

This colorful entryway is the beginning of the decorated altars in Chapala.

This altar has three levels,  which in the Aztec world represent the underworld, the earth & the sky. The conquistadors changed this to a representation of either hell, earth & heaven or the Holy Trinity.

This was created to commemorate the 43 students from Iguala in the state of Guerrero who disappeared and are presumed dead. This is a two level altar which represents the division between the earth and the sky, the  fruits of the land and the elements of the sky (air, wind, rain & sunshine).

The sawdust decorations at the base of the altar need to be sprayed with water to keep them from blowing away.

This very young senorita has come to view the altars.

This was a very non-traditional altar...

while this one was very traditional and amazingly decorated.

Next to the altars are often ghoulish individuals, reminding us of our mortality.

This altar had a pony, so a mother took advantage of the situation to give her daughter a seat.

This altar consists of seven levels, which represent the seven levels that a soul must travel through before reaching heaven (or  hell).  Alternatively they can also represent the seven deadly sins. 

The candles are symbols of the love for the deceased, as well as a guiding light for the spirit.

This altar is dedicated to Nelson Mandela. The flower arch above the altar represents the entry into the world of the dead.

To celebrate the arrival of the deceased love ones, a banquet of their favorite food and drink items are placed on the altar.

Stencils can be used to create the elaborate designs at the base of the altars.

The photograph of the deceased has the honor of being at the highest level.

This altar has tequila, Pan de Muerto (bread of the dead), as well as jicama and  an orange (fruits of the season).

The origin of the day of the dead goes back to the Aztecs who in the ninth month of the Aztec calendar held a festival to the goddess known as "The Lady of the Dead". This has now morphed into the modern La Calavera Catrina. The Spanish changed the celebration to All Saints Day & All Souls Day.

The time spent in creating the intricate designs is well worth it, as it is  a visual treat for all.

This is a face in progress...

while this one is totally complete.

The calaveras or skulls are representations of the deceased. The deceased cannot eat the food, but are thought to absorb the aroma and energy from the food. The calaveras on the altar is consumed by the children after the celebration. This is an example of the Mexican ability to celebrate, mock & play with death.

You will also see half-painted faces representing the duality of life and death.

But some of the face paintings are very elaborate.

The jug of water, the bowl, soap, washcloth and towel are left for the deceased to clean up after their long journey back for grooming.

These living calaveras celebrate with food & drink

This poshly decorated Catrina was seen in Tlaquepaque.

This fanciful Catrina on a horse was also on display in Tlaquepaque.

This altar was set up in Tlaquepaque as a tribute to Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The books on either side represent works written by the author during his lifetime.

No Sweet Caroline Here

We were excited to get to see a Professional Baseball Game here in our adopted city so all the gang piled on a bus and headed to Guad.  Our expectations were minimal.  I mean really.  After the Red Sox...come on. But it was FANTASTIC!  First of all, you have to love a league in which a team can be called the Tomateros (Tomato Growers) de Culiacan. Second, LCS had a deal with Santo Coyote (chic, chic restaurant where all domestic and international Presidents go) so we had these way cool seats with tables, couches et al practically on the field.

OK.  So close your eyes.  Picture an American game.  Now insert the following:  1) Girls wearing "go-go" outfits on stage who dance for 45 seconds, stop, leap down and take your drink orders, back up on stage, dance, repeat; 2) Eating tacos and drinking beer while the Mexicans around you forget the tacos and drain tequila directly from the bottle; 3) nobody in the stands at the beginning of the game, full house around inning 6 (so Mexican).

So that is just the background scenery.  Like the rest of the stadium our VIP area began to fill as the game progressed.  The Charros de Jalisco (our team) was hitting about 1.75 runs per inning while the Venados de Mazatlan(who knows what that means) were dead in the water.  A large group of Mexican guys came in and sat in back of us.  They politely came up to us and said, "We are going to party and we will be very loud and drink a lot.  Is that OK?"  We assured them that was more than OK and they became our new best friends.  Just about then, the gorilla that had been cavorting on the side lines near us decided to jump the fence and join us because we were clearly having so much fun. He kissed all the guys for starters and then assaulted both the stage and the dancers.  This excited our new best friends who yelled various instructions (some of which I clearly understood and resented) to the gorilla concerning the dancer/waitresses.  Meanwhile, Ricardo, a member of the Mexican posse, recently returned from El Paso, was tormenting the poor Venados outfielder with a variety of insults and jeers.  He demanded Alex provide him with an insult and the best she could (or would) do was to say "you throw like a girl".  Interestingly, even in English, that appeared to be the only insult that annoyed him.

Well, our Charros won 16-0.  And the quality of play was surprisingly good.  Well, at least on the Charros part.  We all agreed it was a great way to spend an evening but we're almost afraid that it could never be that funny or good again.  We'll see.

Our luxury area at the baseball game. Note the couches for viewing the game.

Our friends Vicki & George with their favorite beverages.

Our waitresses also provided between inning entertainment.

At one point during the game the outfielder ran into the fence and knocked it over. These individuals are holding up the fence until a more permanent solution can be devised.

George poses with one of our waitresses and the Charro gorilla.

The gorilla was very fond of George!

He was best buds with our friend Michael...

and posed with Alex & Vicki also.

Making the Adjustment

A year or so ago I noticed that there was a subset of people who indulged in a strange variant of dog walking.  While driving along in La Floresta (a quiet part of town) I would occasionally see someone driving with a dog frantically running beside or behind the car.  At first I thought that there were an awful lot of dogs that chased cars here and worried for their health.  Then I saw more of them and I'd notice the person driving talking or calling to the dog as the dog ran along or darted in front of the car or leapt unto the sidewalk or whatever.  I was appalled.  What a crazy thing to do!  The dog would surely miscalculate one day, or die of heat exhaustion or something.  Well, the other day I saw a Lab running exactly two feet to the left of a driver's door.  One hand motion from the driver and he'd turn left.  Another, he'd turn right.  All I thought was, "Wow.  Cool.  I wonder how he taught him that." I'm making the adjustment.

Que es Eso?

Somebody built a sweat lodge (we don't know who) on the shore of the lake (we don't know why) but we thought you'd like to see it.  It is all made of reed mats that are locally woven and used for...well, about everything.

So, that's it for now.  House tour, Mexican Revolution Day, Feista de St. Andres and Thanksgiving coming up on us hard. Will report.