Day of the Dead 4

Posted on November 5, 2002 in Festivals Photos

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I suspect that many of the Anglos who came to Olvera Street last Friday had no clue about all the skeletons darting around, stooped on altars, or hanging from the walls outside the gift shops. When the priest and his entourage entered the restaurants where the tourists munched on Mexican specialities which were carefully decontaminated of chilis, I wouldn’t be surprised if they thought he’d come to deliver extreme unction.

Marisa, Lynn, and myself knew better than most. We, too, were shameless tourists. I bought five new additions for my skeleton collection: a vampire, two Aztec dancers, a kneeling angel, and a sequin-masked wrestler. I sighed as the money for these gifts to myself ran out and Lynn passed on picking up an icon which she loved to cut expenses. But our purchases matched the devotions of the night and when we returned to the main plaza to view the altars and watch the dancers, I think, we brought with us the necessary festive sense we needed to support the entertainment of the dead who responded to the call to come forth from the memories of those assembled for the feast.

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Today’s pictures show details of altars around the plaza. More altars tomorrow and then I intend to wrap things up with an homage to the unique commercialism of this holiday.