Dia de los Muertos on the Zócalo

Halloween is a thing down here in México, but not as prevalent as in the states. Last night I saw some trick-or-treaters but less than half of them were in costume … and Last night was November 1. I didn’t really investigate. Halloween occurs right before a two-day celbration of the dead that has strong native roots but happens on two catholic holidays: All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day.

To celebrate the dead, ofrendas are made. The word means ‘gift,’ but an ofrenda can range from a small pile of sugar skulls and flowers to a large display of skeletons and artwork along with whatever the deceased liked to eat (or drink).

I am sure that there are private ofrendas, but they are celebrations, and are set up for others to see. Here in the city, there is a large collection of room-sized ofrendas in the Zócalo, or the old town square, which is an enormous open space in the historic center of town. They are there for several days, and I went down on Oct 31 to see the mega ofrenda. There were tens of thousands of people, many of them packing themselves in to see the various ofrendas.

The main street leading up to the Zócalo had this gate for your entrance. This gate was easily 30 feet high. Lights swirled and changed color. There was also a lightning storm happening in the background, but I didn’t catch any good ones. To the right of the main entrance is another entrance to a series of ofrendas and artwork.

Behind the main gate was the mega ofrenda. I think it was 40 or 50 feet high. It was tree-like, with the obvious skully head and it was covered in smaller Aztec designs. In teh background of both images is the large church at the far side of the plaza. The gate’s shape is inspired by these old churches with small crosses at the tops of small towers.

There was one large stage with a statue of the Aztec mother goddess, Coatlicue, one of my favorites (in yellow, below). You can see the original statue at the Anthropological museum. She has two snakes for a head, a skirt made of snakes, skulls front and back, and clawed feet, and there are loose human hearts in there somewhere, too. Behind her are rows of skulls. If the have Mother’s Day down here, I’m boarding up the windows.

On this stage, there were Aztec dancers and drummers with enormous feathered headresses.

In addition to all this was a large temporary flower bed, maybe about the size of half a football field. The line to go up onto a platform to see it from above was too long. There were a few tents that covered stages where Posada-esque dancers twirled, and a few dozen more ofrendas, put up by local organizations such as student groups or churches or even immigrants. I remember one Egyptian ofrenda that consisted mostly of chanting and was very popular.

It was very crowded, but there was a lot of work put into each ofrenda. Gracias!

Please remember, folks, this blog is fueled by comments.