Dia De Los Muertos

Dia de los muertos is a lot more than the "Mexican Halloween" that many people think of it as. Dia de los muertos (more commonly just called Dia de muertos in Mexico) is a Mexican celebration over a few day span to celebrate, remember, and honor those who have departed their life on earth. On these days in Mexico and other cities that recognize the holiday, the streets near cemeteries are filled with decorations such as flowers, skulls made of sugar, and altars.

Altars, as shown above, are integral to the holiday. In Mexican culture, it's believed that once your life is done here on Earth, you're journey is not over yet. You must then make the long journey into the afterlife which is believed to be an exhausting many day trip. For that reason, filled water bottles, the deceased's favorite food, and various other travel items are placed among their alters to provide them enough energy and supplies to reach the afterlife, which is believed to be why the water disappears (evaporates) as it's left outside.

My experience in the event this year was different than it ever has been in the past, as the mission district in San Francisco celebrates it significantly different than how it's celebrated at my hometown versus how it's celebrated in my families hometown in Mexico as well. It's portrayal in the mission is more close to the way my family and I celebrate it in their hometown in Chihuahua, Mexico, where anybody is welcome to go to a local park and post an altar with candles and messages. In my opinion this is a beautiful thing, because in my hometown of Las Vegas there is an enclosed location where day of the dead is celebrated and anyone is welcome to post an altar, although you must get prior approval from the city (which is almost never denied as there's a lot of room, but it's just a pain). Another difference I had seen in the mission that was different was that art was incorporated into almost every altar. There were these stunning painting, drawings, and flashy colors that stood out in every one of them which I thought was interesting, since in Mexico and Las Vegas they had less art representation and had more physical objects to represent the people such as their favorite book or prized possessions. There was also significantly less sugar skulls here in SF than I'm used to seeing at home.

Lastly, we finished the night with the parade which was more eccentric and flashy than I have ever seen before at a day of the dead festival. Here, the fast-paced and flashy performers took a lot of inspiration into their costume design from Mayan and Aztec styles (which represent the origin of Mexico) instead of traditional Mexican design like I am used to seeing at home. The parade was honestly hard to see with the great amount of people surrounding the streets, but nonetheless, it was quite an experience to see how engaged everyone who attended was in the event.

The overall event of day of the dead in San Francisco was completely different portrayal than I have ever seen anywhere else in my life. I feel this experience is very engaging, exciting, and is a good representation of a culture that exists a thousand miles south. It came to me after the event that this culture that exists in the small Mission district of SF is an authentic group of individuals who are derived from a similar background as myself.