Dia de los Muertos

From In Mexico, Day of the Dead is actually a celebration of life (ksat.com)

MEXICO CITY – During the Day of the Dead celebrations that take place in late October and early November in Mexico, the living remember and honor their dearly departed, but with celebration — not sorrow.

Marigolds decorate the streets as music blares from speakers. Adults and children alike dress as skeletons and take photos, capturing the annual joy-filled festivities. It is believed that during the Day of the Dead — or Dia de Muertos — they are able to commune with their deceased loved ones.

No one knows when the first observance took place, but it is rooted in agriculture-related beliefs from Mexico’s pre-Hispanic era, said Andrés Medina, a researcher at the Anthropological Research Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Catholic traditions were incorporated into the celebration after the Spanish conquest in 1521.

“In that mythology, the corn is buried when it’s planted and leads an underground life for a period to later reappear as a plant,” Medina said. The grain of corn is seen as a seed, comparable to a bone, which is seen as the origin of life.

Today, skeletons are central to Day of the Dead celebrations, symbolizing a return of the bones to the living world. Like seeds planted under soil, the dead disappear temporarily only to return each year like the annual harvest.

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19 thoughts on “Dia de los Muertos”

  2. “… the living remember and honor their dearly departed, but with celebration — not sorrow.”

    Dia de Muertos is also All Hallow’s Day or All Saint’s Day, a day to tip one’s hat to those who should be remembered.   Today and in this week before an election of existential importance to our democracy let’s remember those who gave so much in order we could have a democracy.

    Such as this courageous little lady in 1913 who probably ended up in jail or worse.

    See the source image

  3. Use of hate speech spiked on Twitter following Elon Musk’s takeover, President Obama is setting hearts aflutter on the campaign trail, and Brazil’s presidential election is finally over.

  4. Olbermann has a great story on thst podcast about almost getting into a fistfight with Bill Mahar–twice.  

  7. CBob…   you are right about cats hurting the bird populations.  I have 2… a brother and sister from the same litter I got when they were 8 weeks old.  They are now 3 1/2 yrs old.  They’ve never stepped a foot outside.  Cats adjust to being house pets very easily.  I wish more people would follow that advice.

  8. Cats have little to do with bird population numbers. Birds are having problems because of habitat loss. 
    Jack

  9. Sturge, Keith would have the advantage – he’s got to have at least50 pounds and 6″ more reach than Bill. And Bill doesn’t strike me as a street fighter.

  11. One of the events/day I miss from Colorado is dia de los Muertos.  It was a natural event in Old Mexico, which includes Colorado, unlike cinco de Mayo.  It was solemn and joyous. Maybe some year it will be a state holiday, hmm, I need to talk to a few of my friends back there.

  13. Pumpkin Head finally weighs in, spreading lies: “Wow, it’s — weird things going on in that household in the last couple of weeks. Probably, you and I are better off not talking about it. The glass it seems was broken from the inside to the out so it wasn’t a break in, it was a break out. I don’t know, you hear the same things I do”

    Trump joins conspiracists stoking doubts about Pelosi attack – POLITICO

    https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/01/trump-paul-pelosi-attack-conspiracy-theory-00064417

  15. US supreme court blocks handover of Trump’s tax returns to Congress | US supreme court | The Guardian

    The US supreme court’s chief justice, John Roberts, on Tuesday put a temporary hold on the handover of Donald Trump’s tax returns to a congressional committee.
    Roberts’s order gives the supreme court time to weigh the legal issues in the former president’s emergency appeal to the high court, filed on Monday.
    Without court intervention, the US treasury department could have provided the tax returns to the Democratic-controlled House ways and means committee as early as Thursday.
    Roberts gave the committee until 10 November to respond. The chief justice handles emergency appeals from Washington DC, where the fight over Trump’s taxes has been going on since 2019.
    Lower courts ruled that the committee has broad authority to obtain tax returns and rejected Trump’s claims that it was overstepping.
    If Trump can persuade the nation’s highest court to intervene in this case, he could delay a final decision until the start of the next Congress in January. If Republicans recapture control of the House after the 8 November midterms, they could drop the records request.
    [continues]

  16. I’ve been watching this movie since the early fifties.   It certainly is a weird movie.

  17. If the repugs win next week the committee will only have until Jan. 1 to review anything and issue its final report.
     
    Separate note, sort of – I’m sure dumbass could be more stupid than he seems, but nothing occurs to me how that might be.
     
    Finally, Dumbass Jr’s Halloween costume – it must be a pair of Dumbass’ tighty whiteys, which is what Stephanie Clifford described him wearing (sorry if that injects an image into your head that may take dramatic measures to remove).

  18. In addition to habitat loss, birds are being killed by lead. If you hunt or fish avoid lead. Birds ingest it in their scavenging and even the rehab people have a hard time trying to save them.

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