Day of the dead

[doomsdave]

Day of the Dead - Dia de Los Muertos has just passed and below is a picture of my yearly display.

Basically, it’s Memorial Day for everyone you know who has died.

The number of my own personal flock of the dead is big enough that I‘d likely burn down my house if I lit a candle for everyone, so I light thirteen.

So maybe you do, too?

 

[betsygee]

We celebrate Day of the Dead every year at our house. Some years it's a big celebration with lots of flowers, candles, and photos on the altar. Some years, like this year, are smaller. But we always light candles and toast our dearly departed loved ones. This year Zoe jumped up to inspect the altar and photobombed the picture.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

We've never celebrated it. My best friend lived in San Antonio for a while and it's a big thing there. They went to local festivals and she got me a mug for my birthday from there. I do like the idea of having an annual day to remember the people you love who have passed away.

 

[Jem]

We've never celebrated it, and honestly, there is not much Mexican or Latin influence where I am so I never really experienced or know anyone who celebrates it. I do love the artwork of the skulls and skeletons and have seen some photos of the parades and alters. I've read about it and it's all quite beautiful....visually and spiritually. I love the idea of it.

 

[Lari]

Unsurprisingly, I am alllll about the sugar skulls.

 

[doomsdave]

The first time I experienced Day of the Dead was in the fall of 1985, the year I first came to California.

I'd come from Cleveland Ohio, which does not have a large population of "Latinos" who observed D O D.

I happened to be in East Los Angeles, and Boyle Heights, which is the East Side of LA, which is one of the big Mexican areas in the U.S. on Day of the Dead. Everyone was celebrating. People were carrying candles, altars were all over. At the time I thought it was freaky and creepy.

Nearly forty years and many deaths later, I celebrate too.

 

[noani]

Where I'm from, it's an important day, more so for religious people but also in general. It's much more somber and dark somehow. We don't refer to it as day of the dead, just all souls day.
Usually lots of dressing in black and going to church/ the cemetery to leave flowers, candles. There is a lot of solemn silence and quiet time involved, although it often later on (at home) turns more into fond reminiscing. It's still a kind of sad day and not festive at all though.
I grew up with these traditions and customs, and while not religious, I do kind of find the Mexican//Latin decorations and traditions cute, but they aren't what I associate with that day at all and I sort of prefer the way it is here. I can't explain well why.

 

[susanm9006]

When I went to Catholic grade school, November 1 was All Saints Day, an important religious day and a school holiday.

 

[betsygee]

I experienced it in person for the first time in Oaxaca, Mexico, years ago, before it got quite so commercialized and Halloween-y. Seeing family members tend their loved ones' graves was very moving. It was both somber and celebratory. People brought food and drink, even mariachis to sing. I met an elderly woman who told me she was tending the grave of her grandparents and was sad because she was the last of her family and once she was gone, there would be no one to remember any of them, including her.






In Quito, Ecuador, three years ago, it was a completely different scene. It was very somber and serious, no music, no food or celebrating. Everyone was there to clean gravesites and place flowers, but no big colorful displays. My spouse and I were the only tourists there, and I did not want to disrespect by snapping a bunch of photos. We bought some memorial mementos to honor our two fathers who are both deceased and placed them discreetly.

 

[Elphaba09]

How lovely! I had some experience with the Day of the Dead when I was a child because my godmother (I grew up extremely Catholic) was a first-generation Mexican American. I spent a great deal of time with her, her sisters, and her mother. I think I was 10 the last time I saw them set up for it. I always thought it was beautiful.

"Coco" is a big favorite in our house.

As a pagan with Irish and Scottish heritage, we celebrate Samhain in our house along with a secular Halloween. We have what is called a dumb dinner, which is a silent dinner with a plate set for our ancestors and spirits. We invite them to join us and then set the plate on our altar until the morning. We also make sure that we leave the pumpkins lit until after midnight and let them burn themselves out. This year, it was super windy, so keeping them lit was a bit of a task, but we did it.

 

[Lari]

Gorgeous! betsygee

 

[betsygee]

Oh--this memory just came up in my Facebook feed. This is from a year that we had a Day of the Dead gathering with friends at our house. We invite people to bring mementos or photos of deceased loved ones to put on the altar. When we first started doing it, people thought it was 'freaky and creepy' as doomsdave said. But as time went on, people came to appreciate it.

Everyone eats and drinks and makes merry and at some point, everyone gravitates to the altar. Someone will light a candle for their loved one, point out which photo is theirs, tell a story or two. It's a lovely way to remember loved ones who have passed on.

 

[doomsdave]

The older you get, the less secretive the Reaper becomes.

This past year was tough because I lost two friends from junior high I’ve known almost 50 years. Fraternal twins; one died last December and the second died in August.

 

[doomsdave]

Aw, thanks Lari and betsygee !

You know or will know that the further along we go, the worse this death stuff gets.

HUGS TO YOU BOTH

 

[doomsdave]

Sorry, hate to go off the rails.

 

[margecat]

I found out recently that I am part Mexican, so I meant to celebrate it this year. Then I got busy, and only ended up buying discounted Day of the Dead paper napkins! I also make a big thing out ofHalloween, and I just didn;t have anything to throw together for a meal.

 

[DownTheLane]

We don't celebrate it here, but it seems like a beautiful tradition I'd love to get into once I live on my own. I wouldn't have a lot of candles, only like 3. One for my grandma and 2 for cats we rescued that have since passed