Sunday, November 01, 2009

Dia de Los Muertos Celebration

I had hoped to participate in Stephanie of Rodrigvitz Style's Dia de Bloglandia blogging tribute to Dia de Los Muertos again this year but wasn't sure if I'd be home to put up my own ofrenda, much less have time to blog about it. Thanks to an unexpected twist of plans, I didn't put up my own altar, but I did enjoy the afternoon at a live (or would that be dead?) celebration for Dia de Los Muertos in Old Town San Diego. If I can get this blog up, albeit late, I'm hoping I can share some photos of it with the rest of the bloglandia travelers and celebrants today.





Lots of papel picado, paper streamers, everywhere.




In pretty pastels...




...and vibrant brights!




Those blue flags are competing with a brilliant blue sky. It was so weird coming from the cold and autumn colors of Susanville to the heat and brilliant summer sun of San Diego.




There was a lot of dancing. Both onstage...




.... and on the sidelines.




I liked this fountain but I'm not sure how I feel about cats spitting into my water. Hmmm.




There was color everywhere. Particularly inside the many shops. Unfortunately, "little miss impatient grabby fingers" made it easier to view the outdoor decor. Like this pretty grouping of succulents, and flowers both real and paper.




Most of the ofrendas were inside as well, so we didn't get to see a lot of those. These people kindly put this beautiful altar to Kahlo outside for us.




And the restaurant on the plaza where we lunched had set up a lovely display as well with information about the history and aspects of the altar for the many visitors.




We stopped to climb a few trees. Joli explained "I'm a fairy princess but I'm a strong princess so I can climb trees." Then she added "Strong, but also careful."




La Catrina and her gentleman friend (who seems to be trying to sell me a new red dress.)




On the way back to the car I spied this beautiful Virgin de Guadalupe in the courtyard of the Catholic Church. Quite different than the brightly colored ones you usually see. But her blindingly yellow aura more than makes up for all that white!

As soon as the fairy princess falls asleep tonight, I hope to be able to visit some of the Dia de Bloglandia posts to view the lovely personal celebrations all over the globe.

14 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

I have been here!! I love seeing all the banners against that blue blue sky. That little Joli is a doll.

7:30 PM  
Blogger GlorV1 said...

That was fun. What a fun day. Tomorrow I'm going to MJC, the college here in Modesto to view their Dia de Los Muertos. I will enjoy that. Thank you very much for sharing this outing on Dia De Los Muertos. Have a great week.

8:39 PM  
Blogger Sage said...

Oh I went to the Dia De Los Muertos celebration with my Grandmother quite a bit. I think we even went as a school field trip when I was younger. I always loved the mariachi (I think they're mariachi) dancers!

9:36 PM  
Blogger DMG said...

Thank you for sharing these wonderful photos.I can almost hear the music! Happy Dia de los Muertos!

2:21 AM  
Anonymous Christine said...

Wow~you are so fortunate to live in a community where this is celebrated! Gorgeous images of the papel picados and I the Frida shrine is quite beautiful and those dancers must have been fun to watch. Thank you for sharing these lively photos~Feliz el Dia de los Muertos:)

2:30 AM  
Blogger deb did it said...

such a wonderful tour of your day! love every photo....I almost feel like I was right there with you...happy to meet you here...thanks for sharing!

2:59 AM  
Anonymous rebecca said...

i cannot thank you enough for this glorious post! i grew up in san diego and the blue sky and mexican influence speak to me all the way back to my youth.

muchas gracias!!

5:57 AM  
Blogger couragetocreatewriteandlove said...

That looks like old town in SD (where i live)
i love papel picado, i have it everywhere too!

8:05 AM  
Blogger shari said...

that was such a fun romp through S.D. with you! thanks for sharing! i love papel picado, and her royal highness, the fairy princess Joli is simply adorable!

1:30 PM  
Blogger Chris said...

Hey! WHAT a treat your post is! I love those banners. I even bought a streamer and didn't photo it!

This sounds like such a wonderful event. Can you believe those colors? Thanks for sharing. Especially the Spitting Cats of San Diego. Never saw them before!

7:43 AM  
Anonymous elsa said...

this is so nice! thank you for sharing this- you see, this is a fairly new holiday for me- just learned about it in the last few years- i live in germany now, spent years in texas so you think i would know about it. so thank you because i've not seen such celebrations before- lovely photos. especially, of the on dancing on the sidelines!

1:15 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I just discovered Stephanie Hilvitz's blog and all the links to Dia de Los Muertos posts!

Your blog is a goody!

I was fortunate to have visited SanDiegos Old Town this summer and I recognize some of the of the places in your pictures!

Have a great hair day! Becci

6:21 PM  
Blogger Jennifer MacNeill said...

How exciting! Thanks for taking me with you through the photos. I really wish I could be there! Love the La Catrina mural.

4:23 PM  
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11:05 AM  

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