Día de los Muertos

Yesterday was Día de los Muertos (or difuntos...), and I was lucky enough to be invited to partake in the activities with my new host family. At first I was kind of dreading it as holidays in general can be slightly awkward, but a holiday in a foreign country with people you literally just met the day before equals a recipe for extreme awkwardness if you ask me...(Awkward encounters seem to be one of the main themes of my peace corps adventure thus far...!) However... I was pleasantly surprised, and any awkward feelings I had were drowned out by the immense beauty of the holiday.

My new host family and I woke up at 4am to go visit the cemetery (Lucky for us we didn't have to walk far as the cemetery is across the street; however, people come from all over, close by and far away...some walking, some via buses or car...). Most people wake up early, go to the cemetery, and then decorate the graves/tombstones/mausoleums of their loved ones. My host family started the preparations the day before by cooking a billion tamales and fiambre, which is typical dia de los muertos food--basically like every vegetable and type of meat possible (I am not the hugest fan) but it is pretty fancy stuff since it includes a little bit of everything, and meat here is pretty expensive, especially the fancy sausages they include. I helped my "nieces" make garlands of flowers, which was actually pretty fun and easy (I had never done this before!).

After all the preparations, we went to bed by 8pm in order to wake up at 4am! And as soon as we got to the cemetery we got to work decorating tombstones. My host family explained that on this one day they are able to honor their deceased family members and show them they are not forgotten by going all out with the decorations. At first I thought it was all a tad morbid--walking around graves and decorating them--but as the day went on and the decorations kept on getting more elaborate (as though people were competing with one another to prove that they loved their deceased family members more) I was able to see the true beauty of the holiday...A full day dedicated to your deceased loved ones to ensure they are never forgotten. After decorating and sitting around at the graves for a while (praying and singing), we headed back to the house to eat a feast of fiambre and tamales. (Tamales, YAY! Fiambre...not for me!) In the old days, families not only decorated graves, but they also cooked the deceased family member's favorite food (or a fancy dish like fiambre) and left it on the tombstone along with alcohol...however, nowadays this is no longer done because of wild dogs and Bolitos (drunkards!/ usually homeless alcoholics)...

Anyway, I was honored that I got to partake in such an intimate family celebration...