Saturday, November 1, 2008

Eye Candy for A Tourist around Town

The official celebration, as near as I can pin it down, lasts from October 31 through November 2. I spent most of the day today wandering around and checking out all the wonderful public displays. (Ok, and doing a little shopping.) Stores have altars out, the main city hall had an altar contest, and – like department store windows at Christmas – everyone’s got a little decoration out.

This sweet couple sat outside a store - I wonder, are they waiting for their luggage?


And this altar sat outside another store - complete with small bin for offerings. I tossed in a few pesos as payment for getting to take a picture! What an amazing and colorful altar, and against the yellow wall of the building - wow! There were even tiny paper figures carrying a tiny paper coffin . . .


And then, like a community Christmas tree decorating contest, the city hall was filled with more altars!


This one took Fourth Place, but I think they were robbed.


Check out the black clay skulls . . . the black clay they're made from is only found in two places on earth: Oaxaca, and New Mexico. (At least according to a tour guide from yesterday). It fires black, with no glazes at all. Gorgeous.


And this one didn't win anything at all . . . I think they may have gotten docked for the use of the American-style clay jack-o-lanterns . . . Kids definitely do trick-or-treat here (ok, they wear masks, carry around plastic jack-o-lanterns, and ask tourists for coins by saying "Halloween") but the folks are very proud of their traditions (duh!) and I've seen some signs up dissing the north-of-the-border Halloween influences (one I didn't get a photo of that shows a skeleton kicking a witch - very funny). But check out the detail on this skeleton . . . he's almost life size.


I couldn't tell for sure if it was clay or carved wood, but either way, very nice. You know, for a skeleton at City Hall.

2 comments:

Dayna Collins said...

Bridget - great photos! I love the altars and your narrative. What a fun place to be during this time of the year. I'll bet you will come home with all kinds of inspiration for your art and classes. Lucky us! Dayna

iHanna said...

Cool images for sure!

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