Day 35 of being a flea on the butt of Amazon, BNI Postmedia, and Intelcom. Still waiting on a refund!

I had hoped that this problem would have been resolved a long, long, long time ago, but here I am still waiting for Amazon and their contract delivery services to do the right thing and refund me the $613.47 for two lost packages.

In the meantime, Happy Halloween everyone. 

Cheers Lynda. Sparky sends his woofs!

A witches’ brew of traditions

Pink-haired rock stars and pretty devils

It’s the time of year when devils, skeletal Catrinas, pink-haired rock stars and hobgoblins make an appearance – in a witches’ brew of celebrations and traditions; the Mexican Dia de los Muertos, combined with our North American Halloween, and the very spiritual Mayan celebration of Hanal Pixán.   

It’s a fascinating time of year to be in Mexico.

Recent breakfast at Naval Officers' Club

October is also when the current Navy Commodore’s wife hosts the annual costume-party breakfast at the Officers’ Club on Medina Avenue.  Doña Olivia, along with her right-hand person Susana Olvera, did an outstanding job this year.  

The monthly breakfast event is an important fundraiser that helps purchase equipment and furnishings for the Navy hospital on Isla Mujeres.  

Minnie Mouse

It’s a fun time to visit with seldom-seen friends, and make new acquaintances.  Then breakfast is served, raffle prizes drawn, and sometimes a version of flash-card bingo is played.  The Gringa population informally refers to the event as The Navy Wives’ Breakfast because the longer Spanish name is a mouthful of difficult consonants and unfamiliar words. 

This year Minnie Mouse put in an appearance at the costume party.  Wearing over-sized yellow shoes she stumbled her way to the door.  Peering through eye-holes in the giant head she was greeted by scary hunchbacks, devils, and the Scream Ghostface man.  The room was jammed.   Everyone participated in the crazy fun by wearing costumes and disguises.  A huge amount of effort had gone into the decorations with black and orange balloons, table cloths, napkins, Halloween themed food and a pumpkin-faced cake.

Mariachis band - ten musicians

There was a short video presentation showing the various items at the hospital that had been purchased in the past year by the fundraising efforts of the women.  

Then a ten-person mariachi band played some great tunes and the door prizes were drawn.  At our table of fourteen women, islander Gail Stewart was the lucky one to win a prize. 

Our table at the breakfast

If any of your island friends ask if you would like to go to the Navy Wives’ Breakfast – say Si!  You will have a fun time, and be contributing back to the island.  

Sue McDonald Lo is a great source for information and tickets.  Minnie Mouse is already planning her costume for next October!

As for the rest of the witches’ brew of traditions, the city is hosting a number of events to draw visitors into the local celebrations.  

Friday October 30^th is the Paseo de las Ánimas – the Parade of the Souls starting around 6:00 in the evening at the older cemetery in centro and finishing at the recently completed Casa de la Cultura – Cultural Center. 
 

Altars - Photo from FB Naranja Dulce

On Saturday October 31^st in the square at city hall there will be a mix of traditions: the judging of Halloween-style costumes for children, and the building of beautiful altars for the Mayan Hanal Pixán celebrations.  

The altars are traditionally decorated with candles, candy skulls, bright yellow Marigold petals, favourite foods and photographs of the deceased loved ones.   The Municipality of Isla Mujeres has until recently been very low-key on this important celebration, preferring to let the families privately honor their deceased loved ones. 

San Miguel de Allende

I have mixed feeling about making it a public event.  In San Miguel de Allende, closer to Mexico City, the amazing altars, offerings and decorations are a huge tourist draw.  We were there, accidentally, in 2008; the sight is breathtakingly beautiful. 

But a part of me thinks this should remain a private family event, not a tourist attraction. 

Still, it is a fascinating time of the year to be in Mexico.  We can’t think of anywhere else we would like to be right now.

Cheers from paradise!

Lynda & Lawrie

We hope you enjoyed this post.  If you did please feel free to share it with your friends and family. 

Silly fun and sacred rituals

Sponge Bob and Spider-person

Halloween: it’s the one time of year when perfectly normal people happily make fools of themselves - playing dress-up!  Lawrie and I love costume parties, especially when there is enthusiastic participation of other friends in the zany fun. In previous lives we have worn some unusual outfits.

One year I was an armless-pumpkin requiring assistance to sip a drink through a straw.  Lawrie, on the other hand, was fetchingly attired in a green gingham dress.  Another year I was a bruised up accident victim, and he was the attending doctor.  More recently we were a pirate wench and a headless butler, followed by Miss Piggy and Elmo.  For the third year in a row, Curtis and Ashley Blogin hosted their annual costume party for invited guests at Villa la Bella.    

Sponge Bob and Spider-person who didn't have a clue!

This year my date was a very handsome Sponge Bob, while I was attired as Spider-person.  I had a slight costume-failure, arriving at the party wearing my costume backwards.  Apparently getting dressed without the aid of a mirror or without looking at the end result before heading out to a party is a very bad idea.  Sponge Bob was of no assistance with wardrobe advice as he couldn’t see his own feet, never mind what I was wearing. 

Sponge Bob also had a slight physical challenge; he could not reach his mouth with a beverage container so he cleverly inserted a length of clear plastic tubing up his arm, and into his mouth to aid with the consumption of a beer or two.  

 

Richard and Linda Grierson

 Halloween or All Hallows Eve is still a relatively unknown tradition in Mexico.  The dress-up, trick-or-treat customs originated in Europe and the British Isles and were brought to North America by settlers. Eventually the traditions found their way into parts of Mexico via television and stores like Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and Costco.  Immediately following Halloween are two very important Mexican national celebrations. 

 

November 1^st Día de los Inocentes honors children, and November 2nd Día de los Muertos honors adults.  In Mexico the rituals and celebrations venerating ancestors can be traced back about 3000 years to the Olmec, Aztec, and Maya civilizations.

 

The Día de los Muertos celebrations include building private altars using sugar skulls, marigolds, favorite foods and beverages of the departed.  Some families leave a pillow and blanket outside the door to provide a resting place for their loved ones.  In many settlements people have picnics at the gravesite of their family members, including the departed in the feast. 




The holiday is celebrated joyfully with food, music, or parades with elaborate costumes in the bigger cities.  The emphasis is on honoring the lives of the dead, rather than fearing evil or malevolent spirits.

Flowers being delivered via UltraMar for Day of the Dead

Our traditional North American Halloween merriments are small in comparison to the Día de los Muertos celebrations – but various North American and European symbols such as witches, pumpkins, vampires, bats and black cats are slowly permeating the Mexican festivities. 

 

We have recently started to participate in the Día de los Muertos rituals.  We have a small altar in the kitchen, decorated with photos of our parents, flowers and candles and mementos.  Just something to remind us of those special people. 

It is a fun time of year with the costume parties, and a contemplative time remembering our family members.

Special thank you to Ashley Blogin, Joyce Urzada, Richard and Linda Grierson for supplying the photos of the Halloween party. 

Halloween & Day of the Dead



Our neighbourhood monsters!

 When you combine the cultures of England, Canada, the USA, and Mexico you get a one-night celebration that turns into a week of candy mooching and fun, mixed in with ancient family rituals honoring their dead relatives.  The Halloween that most North Americans are familiar with is, of course, October 31st, or in some parts of the USA such as Ohio, there is also the added celebration of Beggar’s Night on October 30th.  Here, our European-North American celebration is followed by the two Mexican national holidays, the Day of the Dead for children on November 1st and the Day of the Dead for adults observed on November 2nd.  

Rituals celebrating the lives of dead ancestors had been performed by the cultures of the Olmec, Zapotec, Mixtec, Aztec, Maya, and Totonac civilizations for at least 3,000 years.   It was common practice to keep skulls and display them during rituals to symbolize death and rebirth.  The festival which was to become El Día de los Muertos fell on the ninth month of the Aztec Solar Calendar, near the start of August, and was celebrated for the entire month.


El Día de los Muertos in San Miquel de Allende

When the Spanish Conquistadors arrived in Central America in the 15th century they were shocked at the existing pagan practices, and in an attempt to convert the locals to Catholicism moved the popular festival to the beginning of November to coincide with the All Saints and All Souls days.  All Saints' Day is the day after Halloween, which was in turn based on the earlier pagan ritual of Samhain, the Celtic day and feast of the dead.  So the question is - which culture actually started this interesting celebration?

Sugar Skulls on sale - photo credit R&L Grierson

The Day of the Dead holiday is celebrated joyfully in Mexico with food, music, parades in the bigger cities, and elaborate costumes.  The mood is much lighter than Halloween, with the emphasis on celebrating and honoring the lives of the dead, rather than fearing evil or malevolent spirits. 

My favourite place to be at this time of year is in San Miguel de Allende in the mountains closer to Mexico City.  This city really celebrates the occasion.

Walking around the downtown area of San Miguel is the best way to discover a number of the beautiful private altars dedicated to deceased family members.   The public display in the town square in front of the cathedral is decorated with thousands of colourful paper flags, similar to the “snowflakes” that we made in grade school with paper and blunt-nosed scissors.   In a separate market off the square there are many stalls of vendors selling a multitude of candles, and a huge selection of offerings for the altars. 



Day of the Dead decorations on a tomb

 Here on Isla Mujeres the families celebrate the event in a similar fashion, but not with the beautiful public displays that are in the centre of San Miguel.  We have a three or four-day long “trick or treat” barrage from the various island kids.  They start around October 31st trick-or-treating at houses and businesses until November 2nd or 3rd, sometimes the 4th.  Whenever the whim strikes them.   As with most kids they like candy as their reward, however peso coins are also happily accepted.  We typically see various small groups of kids out and about with older siblings, or a parent, collecting goodies but nothing like the all out attack by hundreds of costumed monsters and space aliens that invade our Canadian and American neighbourhoods every Halloween. 

A number of the kids wear simple costumes of face paint and dark clothes – done up to resemble devils, or skulls.  There are Halloween costumes for sale in all of the bigger department stores but they are not as popular as in the USA and Canada.   (In our previous neighbourhood in Summerland BC, Canada, our adult neighbours took great delight in trick-or-treating with a glass of wine in hand, knocking on various doors asking for more wine.  Very civilized in my opinion!) 


Two more neighbourhood monsters!

 By November 1st the graveyards will be awash in beautiful flowers, simple bouquets or fancy arrangements some in fresh flowers and some in plastic.  Walking through the various neighbourhoods is a great way to see the family alters decorated with photos, toys, candles, candy, sugar skulls, bottles of tequila or beer, hot food in pretty dishes, and marigolds, lots of marigolds as this particular flower it thought to attract the souls of the dead towards the offerings.  Some families leave a pillow and blanket outside the family home to provide a resting place for their loved ones.  In many places, including Isla Mujeres, people have picnics at the gravesite of their family members.  It's an event that I so much want to take photos of, but because this is such an emotionally private time for families, I have to keep my distance and respect their privacy.  We truly enjoy the blending and mixing of various cultures.

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