Today was the Dia de los Muertos
celebration in Fruitvale today. Dia de los Muertos (DdlM) is a
Mexican thing that is actually on November 2nd, but I
guess they decided that today was a better time. It was SO COOL!!!!
It was my first time to go to one, or even actually know what it was
all about, since while we do have Mexicans in Kansas, they're kind
of like a weird uncle - we don't really like that we have them, so...
we just don't talk about them and kind of hope that they just go
away. But out here, in Oakland, the whole place is full of Mexicans
and people of other Latin American countries, and in Oakland, we like
to celebrate that fact by coming to celebrate with them!
Like I said, DdlM is a Mexican
tradition that goes back a long time. I don't really know how long,
but it was something the Spanish brought over, I think. One of my
Salvadoran residents was telling me about it, but I was trying to
walk and understand Spanish at the same time, and that kind of
multitasking is just a little bit over my head. You can Wikipedia it
if you're interested. Anyway, it's a lot like our Memorial Day –
people celebrating the dead people, basically. They make little monuments to
them, with maybe a picture, or a name, and always some food for the
dead person to eat, and some flowers or something. The flowers are
marigolds, because they are the flower of the dead, and because they
are readily available in the countryside and don't have to be bought
somewhere. At least historically. Obviously you can't find
marigolds in Oakland without buying them first.
The DdlM celebration was held around the Fruitvale BART station, about 4 square blocks. It was fantastic. The first thing we saw when we got there was a bunch of Aztec dancers, all decked out in brightly colored pheasant feather headdresses, sequined clothes, and rattly things on their ankles that went “shoooka-shoooka-shoooka” every time they stomped their feet. There were also about six guys pounding away at drums while about forty of dancers spun around and stomped and moved around. They had a LOT of endurance, too – those songs were INCREDIBLY long, and there were a lot of them! They danced pretty much all day, with only a couple of breaks. I was very impressed. There was also a lot of incense going around. My hair still reeks.
There were a LOT of sugar skulls
around, too. You know when you get on the Pinterest main page
lately, and pretty much the ONLY thing is sugar skulls or how to do
sugar skull makeup or sugar skull tattoos? It was like that, except
in real life. They were EVERYWHERE. I bought a pair of (tasteful)
earrings and a palm-sized black-and-white painted terra-cotta skull.
I think they're really neat-looking, especially when they're massed
all together. I'm not sure why they're a thing, but I think it was
something the Spanish brought over. A guy at one of the shops told
me that sometimes they put your name on it. I told him that was
macabre, but he said “well, you know, it's good to be reminded of
that once in awhile...”
So that was “Dia de los Muertos
according to Oakland.” In the next week, I'm sure there will be a
“Dia de los Muertos according to San Francisco” and a “Dia de
los Muertos according to the Oakland Catholic Worker.” Hopefully
all that repetition will get old.
Halloween was also this weekend for me.
Ben and I dressed up as the xkcd stick figures. But pretty much
everyone does Halloween, so there's really no point in writing about
it. If you're curious, just go look at my Facebook pictures.
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