Thursday 31st October 2019...and another month flies by!!!

It was great tennis this morning as one of our group for whatever reason did not show so we enlisted Walter, one of the owners and a tennis pro to play with us..so you can imagine it was a great two hours!!

Had to go into town and to the bank and I am now not using ATM’s as I have my own checks from my bank in Canada and it is a lot cheaper to access my money by writing a check to my Mexican bank.

I then did some grocery shopping came home and spent the afternoon cooking....I made a meat loaf and cooked some chicken breasts in mushroom soup...had one of the chicken dinners for  supper and it was good and I also have five meals in the freezer!!

I always like to go into the Jardin on Halloween night in past years I bought a huge bag of candy, I know I know not good to give candy but I bought the healthiest there was..in previous years the kids have swamped me and were quite pushy but this year was very different and I enjoyed the sights...check this one out my favourite!!!

This crazy American always decorated his VW with an appropriate theme..

I even had candy to bring home and save for tomorrow or so I thought....

As I was writing this I could hear screaming and laughing coming from my street and I go up to my roof and see about 40 kids all dressed up with their parents and I threw some of the candy down to them..they thought it was great fun catching the candy in mid air...they all shouted up to me thank you in English, how sweet!!

This tells you all about the next two days..if you are ever thinking of coming to Mexico this is a wonderful time of the year..

October  31 st is the start of the Mexican Day of the Dead festival. It’s a three-day festival when tens of thousands of people in Mexico dress up to commemorate, celebrate and remember the dead. While it coincides with Halloween, the two festivals are unrelated, as Mexican Day of the Dead has different significance. Here is everything you need to know.

 When is the Mexican Day of the Dead? Mexican Day of the Dead festival starts on October 31 and lasts for three days until 2 November. November 2 is the Day of the Dead itself.

. What is Mexico’s Dia de Muertos all about? The Day of the Dead is all about celebrating members of the family and friends who are no longer alive. People put up altars in their houses decorated with photos of the dead along with skulls and marigold flowers – known as cempasuchil, or ‘flower of the dead’. On the altar they keep items that their dead relatives enjoyed: tequila, food they liked, a cigarette constantly burning in an ashtray. In smaller villages, flower trails are created using the marigold flowers that lead up to the gravestones of the deceased, so that they may follow them to visit the family.

 People pay tribute to them by telling stories to keep their memory alive as well as visiting their graves, where they might sing all night, accompanied by guitars and, if you like, tequila. Some cemeteries will hold plays, where actors jump from crypt to crypt, or organised musical performances. Fireworks are often let off int he streets and cemeteries and families will happily dance all night in the streets with their neighbours. The atmosphere is warm and celebratory, not morbid or morose. 

Mexican culture sees death not as something to fear, and it shows in the way they celebrate the lives of those they’ve lost. It all started thousands of years ago dating right back to the Aztecs when they would worship a goddess called Mictecacihuatl or ‘the Lady of the Dead’. It didn’t just last three days back then – but sometimes took place over an entire month. The conquistadors, who arrived in the 1500s, attempted to stop the festival but somehow it managed to endure – albeit with a mix of Catholic traditions.

 What is the significance of the Sugar Skulls? One common tradition with the Dia de Muertos is sugar skulls. These a usually white and sprinkled with colourful decorations. The idea is that people can leave them on top of the altar for the dead as a gift. There is also the Catrina that is used in Dia de Muertos celebrations, a dapper-looking skeleton figure with a fancy hat and dress. The Catrina was created in the 1900s by a cartoonist called José Guadalupe Posada and inspired by the Lady of the Dead. Day of the Dead food Traditional Dia de los Muertos food varies from region to region, with familiar dishes including pan de muerto (a sweet, sugar-covered glazed bread), sugar skulls and mole (a rich chilli and chocolate sauce for chicken, beans or meat).

Yashi Kochi!!!