día de los muertos

I will be back with Halloween pictures tomorrow, but I wanted to talk about a completely separate holiday today - Day of the Dead, since it is the last day of the celebration. I am not Hispanic at all, but I have a deep appreciation for the nature of this traditionally Mexican holiday. Not only is the imagery associated with it amazingly beautiful, but the meaning behind it is something that I think should be celebrated by all.

[[ part of a day of the dead colored pencil project i did in freaking high school (aka, a million years ago), we had to pick a holiday to base our work off of... i was the only one who picked this one. ]]

Please excuse my ignorance if I have some of this information incorrect. To my understanding, Day of the Dead is a three day celebration (beginning at midnight on october 31st, and going on through november 2nd) where families come together to honor their deceased friends and relatives by decorating their graves, enjoying their favorite foods, sharing stories and prayers, and leaving offerings behind. Though it seems to me that there is some mourning involved, the events are primarily a celebration of the lives of the dead. Religion aside, I appreciate the idea of acknowledging the dead publicly in a happy light, rather than avoiding the subject, like we seem to do here. I believe that there is a lot to learn from many other cultures.

Here are some beautiful 'La Catrina' illustrations by Stella Latwinski lovelovelove. I really want to try to paint something inspired by these! They are seriously amazing.

I am currently drinking a freshly squeezed Grayhound for you Ms. Keller. I even used an entire juicy grapefruit. ♥