The day of the dead

October 31, November 1 and 2 are very special days in Mexico. I had no idea how special. I live near a cemetary and have seen the preparations going on for weeks now. yesterday we only had an hour of class and we went to the Market and we each had $100 pesos to buy something as an offering. Here you can see the offering we put together to honor the life of Emiliano Zapata a revolutionary hero in Mexico. The idea is that you set up a special "altar in your home in honor of the dead. You place their favorite things on the altar. You also put up photographs and whatever. For Emiliano Zapata we had traditional sweets and fruits as well as coca cola, beer and tequila. Candals are important as well because these are a part of the way light a path for the dead person to help you eat their favorite things, kind of gross I know. In place of doing this in your home you can also do it in the semetary. Tonight people will light candles and stay awake all night at the cemetaries to eat and commune with their dead loved ones. Death is not gruesome here at all, it is celebrated with joy and respect. In a way it is quite wonderful. We bought candles yesterday and gave them as a gift to a family who had opened their door in the historical district of Cuernavaca called Ocotepec. They celebrate this day very traditionally. This family had just lost their mother this past June so their celebration was very special. In return for the candles we received special tamales of chicken and corn and a special fruit drink called puncha (not sure of the spelling). At another home we received bread and the offer (which we declined) of cigarettes and tequila. We went to the cemetary and the church in this part of town. It was really wonderful to experience.
At the school we made papel picada, you can see it in one of the photos, I made the purple one. We also made skeleton faces which we decorated and put our names on. I'm not sure if you can see which one is mine.
We are going on another three day trip to Michoacan, a nearby state. I'll try to tell you all about after I return.