Dia De Los Muertos

First off, for all you gabachos that do not know what Dia de los Muertos is, here's a quick course on the subject. According to a quick Wikipedia search, "The Day of the Dead (El Día de los Muertos or All Souls' Day) is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and by Latin Americans living in the United States and Canada.

The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration occurs on November 1st, and 2nd in connection with the Catholic holiday of All Saints' Day which occurs on November 1st and All Souls' Day which occurs on November 2nd. Traditions include building private altars honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts". I love the idea of having a day of celebration for loved ones that come back and visit the living.

This year I made it a point to visit the Noche de altares (Night of the altars) in downtown Santa Ana (SANTANA!). I was amazed by the beauty of the altars that were featured by the locals. The altars vary in size from a very modest table top, to a full blown classic car with life sized skeletons dressed from head to toe. The people there were amazing selling various trinkets and sugar skulls. The food was amazing! I indulged in some Quesadilla Fritas de chorizo con papa (fried cheese-a-dilla, filled with Mexican sausage and potatos), along with some taquitos de pollo con mole (fried rolled chicken taquitos with a spicy chocolate sauce), and washed it all down with some agua de sandilla (watermelon water). It was delicious!

While walking down the various isles and admiring the altars, their were mini parades of skeleton musicians followed by people dressed in full Aztec apparel with beautiful head dresseess. There were even some Indians walking around and randomly blessing people's altars with incense all while doing a ceremonial dance. I could not help it but to smile inside with pride and with a fondness for this long running tradition, and thinking that I will be there first in line next year to do it all over again.