Día de los Muertos

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Girl with Day of the Dead makeup on

My inner eight-year-old is smiling wide these days. Never would I have imagined making it to Mexico City for Día de los Muertos, but I finally did. It was everything I thought it would be and then some. Since as long as I remember, I’ve always been drawn to darker things. They have always been more interesting to me. I think it might have started when I used to sneak downstairs when I was 5 or 6 to watch British Hammer horror and the Roger Corman and Vincent Price – Edgar Allen Poe films. Some of my earliest childhood memories consisted of racing home from school to catch The Munsters or The Addams Family. Wednesday Addams was my first schoolboy crush. All this leads up to my time in Mexico City to experience the week that is Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead.

First, some background on Día de los Muertos. Family and friends assemble over a few days to pay their respects and remember deceased friends and family members. These occasions might be lighthearted as people recall amusing incidents and stories about the deceased. This is not Halloween! I repeat this not Halloween. Although the day or two after, I did witness children going from house to house asking for candy.

Death at the end of a life well lived should be a celebration. Your dead loved ones still exist in your memories. You keep them alive. I think I have always been drawn to Día de los Muertos because these ideals are at the core of these celebrations. The video and photos below certainly confirm this. It was a happy and joyous occasion. Full of humor, laughter and loads of smiling faces. I was 100% in and so happy that I welled up a few times.

Parade video