Freaky Photos from Day of the Dead

Although today and tonight are the “day” in “Day of the Dead” (Dia de los Muertos), the holiday really goes on for days. Events started last week where I’m living and the stands selling related sweets went up before that. The kids have a four-day break from school. More on the holiday below, but that long window has given me plenty of time to round up photos that are fantastico. Hopefully you’ll find that this is a slideshow worth watching.

As I’ve noted before, especially with this visit to the Museum of Death in Aguas Calientes, Mexicans have a special relationship with death. Some of the traditions go back to Aztec and Maya times, others (like the Catrina figure) have only been around a century or two.

Then there’s the influence of Halloween, which has added yet another element to the Day of the Dead events. Here kids knock at a few doors, yes, but they get most of their candy from the stores. Here they just walk into a convenience store or ice cream store and say “Dulce o Truco” and out they come with candy.

There’s nothing somber about remembering the dead here. Sure, a few people in the cemetery were saying prayers and lighting candles, but most were chatting away and laughing, some texting on their cell phones. Music was playing in the cemetery and kids were walking around with costumes on, complete with blinking devil horns or lucha libre wrestling masks. just outside were vendors selling tamales and hot dogs. What a trip.