Can You Say SECOND PLACE?!

Yesterday was great. As predicted, I got nowhere near enough sleep. We met at Profesora's house at 6:30am, loaded up two taxis with all the goods we bought at the mercado on Saturday, and headed to the Panteón.  I don't know how well I've explained what we were going to be doing at the Panteón but basically every year the Panteón (the cemetery in town) hosts an altar building contest.  Each team has all morning Sunday to build their altar and then they have to be present all afternoon to explain to the judges the significance of each item they put on their altar.  We were the only non-locals to enter the contest and I'm so excited to say that we just found out this morning WE WON SECOND PLACE!! Here are some pics of the process. I'll post more on Facebook.

Setting up the crates and background arch

Andy working diligently on the tapete

The finished product and the group that made it happen!

We decided to dedicate our altar to Macedonio Alcalá who was a famous Oaxacan musician and songwriter.  He played a bunch of different instruments but was mostly well known for playing the violin (how neat!).  In the 1800s when the state of Oaxaca tried to become independent from Mexico, Alcalá wrote the song for what would have been their national anthem. The song is called "Dios nunca muere." As you can see in the pics, we decided to also make our own tapete.  Andy was in charge of drafting the design for this project. He featured the skeleton of Macedonio Alcalá playing the violin with a cross in the background.  You can't see it in the picture I posted, but under the cross, the tapete group wrote "Dios nunca muere," the name of Alcalá's song. Also in the background around the cross the group stenciled in one of the ancient patterns found on the ruins in Mitla. I'd say pretty good job for just learning to do tapetes this week!!

Last night, we had the opportunity to see a few of the local cemeteries after dark.  For Día de los Muertos, the most traditional families go to the cemeteries and spend all night sitting next to the graves of their loved ones.  They talk, sing, pray, drink, and bring food.  I couldn't help but think this was such a somewhat odd tradition.  In the US, it's almost a curse to be found in a cemetery after dark but here, for Día de los Muertos, everyone's happy and joyful. There's music and food and LOTS of people. I think that's really neat. It sends the message that death is not something to be feared, but rather something that unites all of us, something that we will all experience at some point, and for that reason something to be honored and celebrated. 

Me with Maggie (Frida Kahlo) and Profesora De la Torre

After spending some time in the Panteón General which is where we built our altar, we went to Xoxocotlán (also known as Xoxo) to see the two Panteones that they have there. The first Panteón we saw was the newest. It was really big and reallyy busy.  It was hard just to get through the front gates.  The second I liked a lot more.  It was much smaller, quieter, and more traditional.  There were several families sitting in circles around the graves.  It was really kind of magical. Here's a snapshot.

The old Panteón in Xoxo

We didn't make it home until a little after 1:30 last night. I was so exhausted that I slept until 11 this morning. We didn't have class today because it's a holiday. Lovee Día de los Muertos!! Anywho, we're leaving now to go visit a couple smaller cemeteries tonight. Gotta run!