Dia de los Muertos

Published on 28 September 2023 at 04:00

Welcome to the new site and my first post on it. This initial experiment is designed for me to learn how it works so bear with me. As we are coming up to October I'm going to use Dia de los Muertos as my first topic. Enjoy!

The Day of the Dead or Día de Muertos or Día de los Muertos, is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. It is widely observed in Mexico, where it largely developed, and is also observed in other places, especially by people of Mexican heritage. Although related to the simultaneous Christian remembrances for Halloween, it has a much less solemn tone and is portrayed as a holiday of joyful celebration rather than mourning. The multi-day holiday involves family and friends gathering to pay respects and to remember friends and family members who have died. These celebrations can take a humorous tone, as celebrants remember funny events and anecdotes about the departed.

My wife and I have attended many celebrations over the years and have created our own altar as well, full of pictures and remembrances of family and friends that have passed. We thoroughly enjoy putting it up each year while telling stories about the loved ones as we place their pictures on the shelves. Unfortunately, as especially as we are aging, it seems we add more and more images of people every year. 

 

I'll start with our own altar from 2020, the year Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away. We felt a need to include her. We have parents, grand parents, friends and family members that left us way too soon. We also have a collage of our dogs. 

If memory serves me correctly we began celebrating our lost loved ones in this manner after I brought home the idea from school in 2009. That was our first altar as seen below.

 

 

 

In 2011 and 2012 we attended the Tucson All Souls Procession. A weekend of celebration capped off with a parade through the streets on Sunday night, usually the weekend after Halloween. 

Tlequapaque in Sedona, puts on a wonderful annual celebration. People go all out in the dress up department and the little Mexican village is decorated to the hilt. 

Then, night falls...

In November of 2019, right before the COVID pandemic shut everything down, we attended two celebrations in the Phoenix area. On Saturday we went to the Desert Botanical Gardens and enjoyed many decorations, face paintings, dancing and a beautiful parade of sorts. The figure below, along with three others dressed similarly, wandered the grounds in silence as though they were floating spirits. 

The following day, Sunday, found us at St. Mary's Basilica in downtown Phoenix. This was a very heavily attended gathering with SO much to see and photograph! I'll let the images speak for themselves. 

I hope you have enjoyed my first post on the new site. I look forward to sharing more!


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Comments

Sara Goodnick Photography
a year ago

What wonderful images! I've not been to one of these celebrations but I feel like I have now. I love your new site, too. The images here and the story do justice to your skills as a photographer and storyteller.

Vicki Uthe
a year ago

Thank you Sarah for your kind words. It looks like you two are really enjoying your new place in Colorado!

Lacey Insel
a year ago

Vicki, this looks great! I too appreciate learning more about Dia de las Muertas. I especially enjoyed seeing you and Ellen in your holiday faces.
Thank you for sharing your photos and the story behind them.

Vicki Uthe
a year ago

Thanks, as always, for your comments Lacey!

Sherry Elnitsky
a year ago

Your photos, while amazing in their own right, always tell such a rich story about whatever your subject is. Love the new site and, of course, your photos!

Vicki Uthe
a year ago

Thank you, Sherry!! I think I'm going to like this new site.

Debbie Finch
a year ago

Love this new site, and especially enjoyed your wonderful photos. Thank you so much for sharing.

Vicki Uthe
a year ago

Thanks for your support, Debbie. I appreciate your comments!

Arla LeCount
a year ago

The new site looks great. I had some problems posting and got an error message saying that it couldn’t load the form and asking me to reload the page. Reloading erased the form contents. I couldn’t see anything that might be problematic. I’ll try again to post this.

Vicki Uthe
a year ago

Thank you Arla!! I really appreciate your support and comments. 💕

Laurie B
a year ago

Love ❤️

Vicki Uthe
a year ago

Thanks Sis!!

Jeff Insel
a year ago

I think you found a good one, certainly the quality of your photos and writings come thru great!

Vicki Uthe
a year ago

Thanks, Jeff. I so value your opinion.