In Mexico, Day of the Dead meets Halloween

12:23 AM Laogia57 0 Comments

In Mexico, Day of the Dead meets Halloween


Mexico’s beloved grande dame of
death, a stylishly attired skeleton named La Catrina, her grinning skull topped
with trademark hat, has company in the market stands here: Hollywood
extraterrestrials, Batman and other superheroes, along with sundry witches and
monsters.






Ratas baratas! Diez pesos!
announces a vendor holding a bundle of plastic rodents by their long tails,
each selling for 10 pesos, or just over 50 U.S. cents. “Cheap rats!”
In Mexico, customs originating in Europe and the indigenous
world often meld in a surprisingly seamless fashion.
So it is with Halloween, a tradition
born in Europe and transported here from the United States, and Day of the
Dead, a Mexican remembrance of the deceased with pre-Hispanic origins.
The two holidays — Halloween on Oct.  31 and Day of the
Dead two days later — have fused here into a multi-day, sometimes surreal celebration
and a bonanza for pinata and mask makers, costume fabricators and bakers
specializing in sugary offerings for the departed. At the sprawling Sonora
Market here, the final shopping days are frantic.
On Saturday, Mexico City held its first Day of the Dead parade,
a runaway success that saw the route through downtown jammed with more 250,000
people, many in full Halloween mode, decked out in skeleton regalia, their
faces painted like skulls.
The inspiration was pure Hollywood — last year’s James Bond movie,
“Spectre,” featured a stunning opening scene of an imagined Day of the Dead
street festival in Mexico City.  Officials moved to turn fiction into a
marketing jackpot, creating an extravaganza  of stylized death to draw
tourists and showcase the Mexico brand.
Across all social strata, many Mexicans dress up for Halloween,
also known as Noche de Brujas, or Night of the Witches, then prepare altars
known as ofrendas for deceased ancestors and loved ones.


“My mother liked to put up very big ofrendas with
a lot of decoration,” says Alejandro Diaz Fernandez, 46, a school bus
driver who has arrived at Sonora Market’s “auditorium,” a room the size of an
airplane hangar, to load up on chocolate skulls, incense and marigolds. The
orange flowers, known as cempasuchil, are ubiquitous in the run-up
to Day of the Dead.


Keyword : Halloween,
pokemon go halloween, pokemon go halloween update, pokemon go halloween event, easy
last minute halloween costumes, halloween parade nyc 2016, last minute costumes,
last minute halloween costumes for guys, last minute costume ideas, last minute
halloween costumes for guys, last minute costume ideas, halloween treats for
party, 

You Might Also Like

0 nhận xét: