I'm leaving now to meet up with a few friends and make our way to the small village of Naolinco where I've been told the festivities surrounding El Día de los Muertos are the most authentic in the region. The plan is to get there at about 7pm and wander through the city center checking out the dozens of altars (and hopefully getting invited into their homes to eat) that locals have prepared in preparation for the return of the souls of their lost loved ones. The idea of the altars highlights the main difference between Mexico's version of Halloween, and our own. While Halloween began as a means to fend off the evil spirits that annually descend upon Earth, El Día de los Muertos is considered a time for people here to honor the dead by welcoming the several day return of their spirits to homemade altars, adorned with little trinkets as symbols of the lost loved one's life. Anyway, considering that part of the Naolinco experience is passing out in a forest with little protection from the cold besides the accompanying warmth of hundreds of fellow college kids, I'm sure I'll have a good story or two to tell when I get back tomorrow.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
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1 comment:
wow that sounds excellent... i like the whole day of the dead thing... much cooler than the idea of scaring off the dead people.. thats why ghosts in the us are so mean. everyone puts on masks and shit. if we were all like meicans than the ghosts would come out a lot more and be much nicer... so the dead relatives only come back once a year or what man?
hows it going g?
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