Los Dias de los Muertos – The Day of the Dead – is a day that celebrates death.
Yesterday evening, Don and I went to the annual Día de los Muertos Marigold Parade here in Albuquerque’s South Valley, where we live.
Los Dias de los Muertos is a Mexican custom that celebrates loved ones who have died.
Family members and friends put pictures of the deceased on flower-strewn altars, often accompanied by their favorite food or things. See the photo of the gentleman in the lower left hand corner of the picture below?
Skull images symbolize both death and rebirth.
The amount of color in the parade was surprising and beautiful.
Morning Bray Farm 
November 8, 2010 at 5:15 am
Great post!
I had no idea that there is such a celebration.
I’ve sent a link to my Mexicana friend, a newly naturalized US citizen. It seems like something she would miss. I miss it, and I’ve never seen it!
And, you know, the man at the left in the first photo . . . what a face! What a face!
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November 8, 2010 at 6:32 am
Wow, the face paint is amazing!
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November 8, 2010 at 7:27 am
Oh! Since I stopped teaching Spanish, I’ve slowly forgotten about Día de los Muertos. How sad for me. I really knew nothing about it when I started teaching, but what a wonderful way to keep our departed ones close to us.
And of course, it looks like a lot of fun for the living, too. 😉
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November 8, 2010 at 7:31 am
No pictures of you???? I kept trying to figure out which person you were in the photos and decided no one took a shot of you. The photos are great and made me smile. Next time — you should participate in parade and have Don take a photo. 🙂
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November 8, 2010 at 7:34 am
that is cool. I would think having such a celebration would take some of the fear out of death in general…..I’ll have to ask some of my Mexican friends what they think about that.
Thanks for sharing the festivities!
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November 8, 2010 at 7:45 am
These are amazing photos of an amazing (to me) holiday!
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November 8, 2010 at 6:51 am
I’m not seeing any equestrian units in the parade. Perhaps you could dress up your herd…or at least Bernard…next year to honor all our dearly beloved animals.
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November 8, 2010 at 7:54 am
As I was scrolling through the pictures, the thing that came to mind is “What Great Colors!!” and then you mentioned it.
Thanks for sharing. And I agree that there needs to be an equestrian unit next year.
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November 8, 2010 at 8:52 am
It’s very goth. And, I do like the gorgeous colour display. But…it still creeps me out.
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November 8, 2010 at 9:53 am
Beautiful colors, but (like Carolyn)it did creep me out a little bit, too! Reminds me of all the sad skull paintings of human sacrifices in Mexico at the pyramids. (Ewww…)
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November 8, 2010 at 10:08 am
Wow, what a shindig! And you are right…the colors were amazing!
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November 8, 2010 at 10:26 am
I’ve always loved the idea of this holiday. Take the creep factor out of dying and allows healing for those that are still living.
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November 8, 2010 at 11:34 am
What a parade! Even though we’re hispanic around here, we’ve never done Day of the Dead. Next year hopefully (we had a wedding this year).
I recently got a chance to work on a video where I worked in a ton of Day of the Dead stuff. I got the cutest little dead dog. 🙂
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November 8, 2010 at 8:40 pm
I so wanted to go see that parade but I got busy doing other things! I’m glad you made it. Love the photos.
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