Dia de Muertos, part 1

The celebration of Dia de  Muertos starts several days before Nov 1 with the arrival of special sugar candies  and the influx of craft vendors to the central plaza of Pátzcuaro.  On the day we visited in the last week of October, one whole side of the central plaza in Pátzcuaro had nothing but vendors selling tiny skulls, tombs,  plates of food made entirely of sugar. The diversity of offerings and the attention to detail was amazing! These will be used to to decorate the oferendas or altars in honor of the ancestors.  

I assume that originally the offerings were real food, but these sugar candies look pretty appetizing, too. (especially to Margaret and Sarah).

  

 

     

 




This is the beginning of our little display:





Flowers, especially Marigolds, are an important part of the tradition.  We've seen many trucks loaded to overflowing with bales of flowers heading towards the villages around Lake Pazcuaro.  




Here they are decorating the church with flowers in Cuanajo.








The other interesting tourist attraction are all of the craft vendors that set up shop in Patzcuaro and Tzintzuntzan.   Though we didn't buy much, we enjoyed looking at all of the pottery, textiles, and ceramic figures.


 

 

   



The town of Tzintzuntzin is one of the oldest Tarascan villages in the area and is a center of activity on the Day of the Dead.  On the preceding Saturday they were having a parade where school children made floats that honored the various traditions: