El Dia de Muertos


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November 8th 2013
Published: November 8th 2013
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El Dia de Muertos

Its 3am, long past Closing Time, but in the village cementario of San Antonio Arrazola,10 miles west of Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, the party has just begun. This is the first night of El Dia de Muertos, the Day of the Dead. The graveyard is alight with hundreds of tall candles and campfires, tombstones are topped with mounds of newly dug soil ( ominously resembling new graves), covered with heads of large orange marigolds and decorated with family photos of deceased . There are also elaborated painted ceramic skulls, tiny sugar crafted skulls , offerings of fruit, traditional pan de muertos and last but by not means least, bottles of the firey local mescal.
Entire families sit around tombstones, elderly senoras traditionally dressed in locally woven brightly coloured tunics and shawls, their men in straw hats. Mothers are with sleeping babies snug inside slings. This despite the commotion of children tearing around, clutching sweet and savoury snacks from the many vendors. And on a stage erected at one end of the cementario, Mexican bands play the night away..
I was with a diverse group of students from the Instituto Cultural Oaxaca where I was concluding a two week Spanish School hoping to learn some Spanish. By good luck my trip coincided with this, colourful celebration.
We were at the end of a tour of Oaxacan graveyards offered by the Instituto as part of their cultural programme. We had started at a large city cemetary From about 10pm it began filling with families who on this the first night, keep vigil by the gravesides of their departed ones . The following day the dead are invited back home to visit, share food and stories. On the final day they are escorted back to their graves for another year!
Dozens of young Oaxaceans were promenading dressed in goulish costumes, the women (and occasionally men) often in elaborate Catrina dresses with their full skirts, skull masks or elaborately painted faces. Lining part of this panteon was a high wall with niches curved out containing plaques, memorials to Oaxacan families dating back to the mid 1800s.These were candle lit, and the overall effect was magical. Opposite the wall were displays of colourful sandpaintings and altars with sacred images, old family photos, flowers and more decorated skulls.
The next graveyard was more traditional in style and seemed more subdued, grief and loss palpable here. The tombstones were as decorated, tiny figurines a not unlike The Simpsons, and gigantic bunches of red lilies marked the style here.
But for me, San Antonio Arrazola was the most atmospheric. With a fair amount of smoke from the campfires and candles presenting a bit of a safety hazard, we negotiated our way between them and even then I almost achieved a premature cremation!

2 days later I was flying north via Mexico City and San Antonio surrounded by sleepy Mexicans catching up on shut eye. A me tambien!


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8th November 2013

Wendy Steele
Wow Wendy you are having the most wonderful time. It all looks and sounds exciting.

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