For the uninitiated, this holiday may be a complete mystery. For the traditionalists, it is perhaps the most sacred. The day of the dead is a Mexican holiday that, as many Mexican spiritual traditions, has found cult-like status in the cultural diaspora, as we Chicanos continue to spread across the Americas and world.
I drew this two years ago for the occasion
Mexico is certainly a culture that is obsessed with the juxtaposition of life unto death and love unto pain. Suffering is as common of a theme in Mexican folklore, music, and art, as is the reverence of the divine. Some have criticized it as a cult of death, but it is quite the opposite. It is a culture that relentlessly worships the profound nature of living, as opposed to hiding from its impermanence.
As a Latina and a Mexican folklorist-hobbyist, I am pleased to present the above ofrenda as well as my own recorded version of the classic epic folk song, La Llorona.
For more on el Dia de los Muertos, please visit: http://latino.si.edu/education/LVMDayoftheDeadFestival.htm
¡Ay, yay, yay, Capitana! 