Día de los Muertos Part 1: Going to Market and Building an Altar

The official day for Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is November 2nd but it is celebrated about a week prior to that. The holiday focuses on family and friends gathering to remember loved ones they have lost. Part of the tradition includes building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds (cempasúchil,) the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, photos of the deceased and memorabilia. People also visit cemeteries and decorate the graves with ofrendas (offerings.) The intent is to encourage visits by the soul so the soul may hear the prayers and comments of the living directed to them.

Since I am in Mexico and I've always been fascinated by this holiday, I wanted to partake in making an altar. My father passed away last year so I built my altar in honor of him. My dad, Terry, was a huge OU and Chicago Bears fan. (This has trickled down to my brother and I.) An overall big sports fan really. I incorporated these things into my altar for him. I used some of my clothes to represent this. I had to get some marigolds, candles and sugar skulls to decorate with so I went to the market that Ariana and I have frequented before. On this particular trip, it was just Olivia and myself. A big step for me since my Spanish is still pretty poor. I managed quite well though and Olivia had a blast.

Sugar skulls, they come in various sizes and designs.

They had chocolate ones too.



Candied coffins

View of market in the front of the building.

One of the vegetable stalls inside.

Fresh fish

Fresh chicken

This guy was nice enough to let me photograph him.

Some papier-mâché skulls.

Pig heads in a case.

The grain stand where I buy my granola mix I like so much.

I bought some marigolds from this stand.

For my altar, I used three different sized boxes to make a pyramid shape. I draped one of my Bears shirt over the main one. I used a pair of OU Sooners shorts for another box. Since my dad was a huge fan of these teams I had to represent this. I was pretty limited on what I had available so I did the best I could. Conveniently, I had brought photos of him with me. He liked to drink Dr. Pepper so I bought a can. It's kind of difficult finding Dr. Pepper here. Mexico is more of a Coke place. I bought a piece of pan de muerto. That is very common to place in altars. I also bought some sugar skulls, candles, a big bundle of marigolds and a few neat looking purple flowers. Pretty simple really. I think I will make another altar next year and get a little more elaborate.

The final outcome

Lit up at night

My dad when he was a young man.

Close-up of the Pan de Muerto.



Olivia helped out.

I have come to really appreciate this holiday and understand its purpose. It really allows you to take time to reflect on the ones you have lost and to remember those moments that make life so great.

Next blog: Día de los Muertos Part 2: UNAM (lots of altars and lots of photos)

The Basílica de Guadalupe

The Basílica de Guadalupe (also known as Basílica of Our Lady of Guadalupe) is the most visited Catholic shrine in all the Americas. Many believers make pilgramages here throughout the year, especially on December 12th. That was the day in 1531, when a man named Juan Diego had a vision of the Virgin Guadalupe. She told him to build a temple here and imprinted her image on his tunic to show proof that he had seen her. Diegos tunic is hanging in the new church and still looks pristine. The area is made up of a complex of buildings situated at the foot of a hill, the Cerro del Tepeyac.

The modern basilica. This was built because the old basilica was sinking due to weakness of the ground. It can house up to 10,000 people.

The old basilica. It was closed for many years for repairs. It is open again to the public.

Capuchin Nuns' Temple which is next to the old basilica.

There was a large clock monument which is directly opposite of the modern basilica. The large plaza in front of all of these buildings is called Plaza Mariana.



I went with Ariana and her Aunt Teresita. This is Tere and I.

 

People will walk on their knees to pay respect to the Virgin and reaffirm their faith.

 

Inside the Pocito Chapel which means chapel of the little well. It was built around a water well that had healing powers.

 

After walking up some stairs, the Saint Michael chapel sits on top of Tepeyac Hill.

 

These prayers were sitting outside by the Saint Michael chapel.

 

Some of the things you could buy from vendors.

Inside the modern basilica.

The original tunic with the Virgin of Guadalupe image.

This was how you viewed the sacred image.

Before we left, I took a Polaroid of the old basilica with new film I haven't used yet. It was the Push! Colorshade film from the Impossible Project. You have to let it develop for at least 4 minutes and shield it immediately from light. While I was waiting to see how it turned out, I saw this man sitting by the modern basilica.

When I went to check out my Polaroid, it had a pink hue to it. I was some what disappointed but I went ahead and took some photos of it.

After I got home, the pink hue had almost completely disappeared. I guess it goes away after about an hour. I may go back and try to reshoot my digital version. It would be interesting to go on December 12th for the anniversary. Still have time to decide on this.

Next blog: Dia de los Muertos, Part1: Going to Market and Building an Altar

Museo Soumaya

Some basic facts about Museo Soumaya: It's a private museum owned by the Carlos Slim Foundation and houses the numerous art, religious items, historical documents and coin collection of Carlos Slim and his late wife Soumaya, whom the museum is named after. In 2011, it opened a new location, which is the one I went to. The building was designed by Mexican architect Fernando Romero, his son in law. There is a large amount of European artwork including pieces from Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse,Vincent van Gogh, August Rodin and many others. There is also a nice collection from famous Mexican artists such as Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo and David Alfaro Siqueiros.

The art collection itself is impressive and was a pleasure viewing the work from these great artists. The building was quite interesting as well. The shape of it, the material it was made from, it really stands out. I wasn't overly thrilled with how the art was arranged on each floor. I'm sure it was difficult doing that with rounded rooms and the amount of art that was available. Inside the building is a big spiral that goes up. Each floor is leveled off and grouped into a specific genre: the coin collection, European art, Mexican art, religious relics and art, sculpture. When you reached the rooms, you didn't really know which way to start. Since the rooms were round, they had to put wall separaters everywhere to hang the work. It just felt a little choatic, especially with the amount of people that were there (admission is free.) Also, there were fire extinguishers everywhere. They really distracted from the art. I'm sure they had to follow a strict fire code because of the oddly shaped building. (No windows anywhere) A little disappointing but the art was great, the building was fun to photograph and it was free.

Looking at the front

The entrance

Close-up of Soumaya

Entering the museum

There are a couple of sculptures on this floor including Rodin's "The Thinker".

This was how the building was going to look initially. There were some changes made.

Looking down on main floor from the second floor. You can see a small crowd around the Rodin sculpture.

Looking at the second floor gallery before heading up the ramp.

Painting by Claude Monet

Manuscript for Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet"

The top floor, gallery 6, all sculpture

Salvador Dali sculptures

Another view of the sculpture floor from the back. There's a big skylight in the middle of the ceiling.

A close-up of the outside of the building. Aluminum hexagons cover it.

Different angle

In its entirety



Día de los Muertos is coming up and I'm super excited. People have already started building altars and getting prepared for the holiday. I built an altar myself. Some people celebrate Halloween here too. I'm not exactly sure how they do Halloween for the kiddos but I guess I will find out. Be looking for a blog or two about Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in the next couple of weeks. Lots of photos!

In the meantime...

Next blog: Basilica de Guadalupe