Da de Muertos it is! Did you know, there are places in Mexico where trying to make Halloween happen will get you a concussion? Well, now you do. Don't mess with tradition, folks, especially in certain places. And because of the date, I decided to open this with an altar that was present at the place I went to *gasp!* last week:
BTW this one's gonna be loaded with pictures. So brace yourself.
1. Altar (Learn something!)
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
If you've been doing your homework, you'll know what the deal with this thing is. If not, here's the skinny. The dead come to visit during this time of the year. On the 1st day (Oct. 31st) we greet the souls of children and people who died on the road, as well as the unknown. On the 2nd, which is today, our dear Big Dead ones come to visit us from beyond, so we prepare the table for them. In some places, people visit the cemetery and take food and flowers there.
Now, you will notice marigolds are all over the place. There's also candles. And spicy food. There's a reason for this: The dead can't really eat or drink anything, so we offer them spicy, spirited food, coffee, cigars and alcoholic beverages, so that they can taste the essence of it all. Marigolds draw their attention to the place they should be headed for. In the old times, in small towns, one would pave the streets with petals that would lead the dead from the graveyard to the house and back again. Tradition dictates that the food we offer to the dead is not to be eaten, for it has lost its flavour. When the second day is over, we bid the dead goodbye.
There are, of course, many different ways we celebrate the dead, some places have specific rules about the way an altar should be designed, from the number of levels it should have to the things one is to place upon it. I won't pretend to know them all, but if you wish to learn more, there are plenty of resources online where you can find out. If you ever get the chance to visit Mexico during this date, bring your camera.
In case you wonder, kids do go out for trick or treat expeditions, but it's nowhere near as common as in the States.
Remember that event I described to you a week ago that I was going to? Well, it was awesome. And here's some pictures:
Our hosts hired a group of people to perform some traditional regional dances. These are mostly indigenous people, and it was rather fun. In case you wonder, yes, I did some dancing. No, you can't see pictures of that. Because I have yet to master the art of shooting myself with an iphone while I dance.
Now, over the course of the feast, I met a man who is a matre dgustateur of Tequila (wipe that smirk off your face, I'm serious!!) and I was treated to a degustation of Fine Tequila you won't find on the market. Yet. It was very interesting, tasty and you bet, festive. Among the dishes that were served were crickets, which, FYI, are anything but gross, highly nutritious and moderately expensive, tamales and Gusanos de maguey, which are a rare delicacy only a fool would turn down. And the main course, the famous (albeit overrated, IMO) "Mole de caderas" which is basically a concoction made with the hipbone and spine of a goat. Again, I already described it to y'all one week ago so I'll just post the pictures for you to watch. You'll see the tamales, crickets and the main course. And some tequila:
Finally, there was another show. Traditional dances from all over the country. I only took a few pictures of this...
I can't show you pictures of our hosts due to some circumstances beyond my control. But they were quite splendid. As in generous.
Moving on to a different subject: As you can probably guess, my MacBook's back. And it was a pain not having it for nearly two weeks. It's spooky how much one depends on these things, isn't it? It's not all fun and games. Because of the new logic board, Time Machine won't recognize the computer I'm in, which means I had to do a whole new freaking backup of my entire computer. It's not that bad, I can just recover the files I wanted then delete the previous backup but still. Bloody drag, and a MAJOR FUCKING HUGE DESIGN FLAW on Apple's part. Yeah I'm angry. I'm entitled to my rage.
Enough about that. On thursday, and because I was forced to stay in Puebla a day longer than I originally planned to, I went to a concert. I say one but it could really count as two:
1. Testament
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
I have never been a fan of them untiil now. The audience was not entirely receptive because let's face it, a lot of them were only there to see The Priest. And who could blame them? But that didn't stop them from putting on a show. They interacted with those of us who got into it, and gave their best to get everyone off their seats.
Why wasn't the audience thrilled to see them? Like I said most people were there to see Judas Priest, some had never heard of Testament, I dare say. And it is my theory that a lot of the people who went to the concert... maybe 40% perhaps even 50% used to listen to Priest when they were young then went on to listen to the gay stuff. You know, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Grand Funk Railroad, Cat Stevens, Aerosmith.... that kind of stuff. They're not really what you'd call "a metal audience" but they still left their office early and put on a bandanna and a wristband on top of their suit or whatever. Pictures of Testament? Sure thing!
Funny note, one guy didn't like Testament at all, so he was talking to his group of friends, and then some fat ass poser (the kind that does the devil horn with an extended fucking thumb) got into an argument with him because "Testament rules and you don't know shit about metal, ask everyone in this room they're all fans of Testament!". At this point he looked at me as well as others for approval. And found none. He spent half an hour telling his concert partner how he couldn't believe some people.
2. Judas Priest. (PICTURE HEAVY SECTION!!)
I hope you've enjoyed the show. If you wish to see more pictures of Priest (and two videos) you may do so right here.
I plan to go now, I need to tend to my ferrets as well as the dogs. I hope you had a very happy Halloween. Don't eat all the candy at once.
realmente eso no mas puedo opinar porque mi ingles es UFFFF
jajajaja
un gran beso
2, uno para ti y uno para el animalillo!!!!