All Souls' Day offering: Dia de los muertos

I used to do traditional American for Halloween: pumpkins, scarecrows, etc.

 

 

Then, some years ago, a very sophisticated friend gave me a set of Dia de los Muertos figurines: skeleton nuns playing musical instruments.  I didn’t take good care of them, and they lost limbs along the way; I don’t think any of them are whole anymore.

 

 

And then I found out that, if they were perfect, they would be very valuable.

 

 

Yeep!

 

 

Anyway, broken limbs and all, I started using them in a Day of the Dead display (see above photo).  I supplement it with all kinds of things: photos of my dead relatives and friends,  a business card from one of my dead bosses, the funeral notice from a friend who died last year, lots of little things that belonged to my parents while they were alive . . .

 

 

I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now.  Every year there are more people to commemorate. 

 

 

Every night, through most of October and right up to November 2, I try to light my candle every night, and actually muster up a thought or two for the people who have gone ahead of me on the road.

 

 

It makes the prospect seem less lonely, somehow.

 

 

Happy Day of the Dead.