Melisasa

The first weekend of November is only the coolest one I've spent in Mexico. 31 October was halloween, 1 and 2 November was Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead), and this meant lots of festivities and celebrations in Mexico.

A little info about Dia de Muertos - it's alot like 清明 in Singapore, where families visit the tombs to give offerings and clean up. But many families also set up altars at home, decorated with the deceased favourite things, because it is believed that the spirits returns on this day. 1 November is for adults while 2 November is for kids. And the families that sets up these altars would lay a trail of orange flowers from outside the house to the altar, meant to guide the spirits home.



Most people would head for Oaxaca or Michoacan for Dia de Muertos, because these states are known for their celebrations and traditions, but I chose to spend in Puebla instead, and I don't think my experience was any less.

On 30 October, I visited the Zocalo of Puebla where altars were set up in government buildings and museums arounds town. It was fun to see these grand altars and all the creative thought people put into these altars. I also took the chance to paint half my face like St. Catarina, the God that believed to preside over the festivities. And it was great fun to walk around town, basking in the atmosphere.





The night was then spent at a Halloween party, which we decided to leave early, because the music was bad, and there was just way too many people.


On 31 October, I took a trip to Atlixco to view the famous floral carpet - a showcase where flowers are put together to form images just for Dia de Muertos. And there happened to be a huge market too, selling foods, ofrendas and many other stuff. I love these street markets <3 The rest of the day was spent exploring Atlixco, and eventually I left around 5pm.









To get home, I need to take 2 buses. Unfortunately, the first bus broke down on the way, in the middle of the highway. It took 3 buses before I managed to squeeze on and by then it was already dark. The second bus had to be taken from a stop at an overhead bridge, and I was slightly panicking because I wasn't 100% sure the bus would stop there and there was barely any street lights. Thankfully the stranger I asked volunteered to wait with me, at the expense of missing his own bus twice. When I asked why he would do that, he said it was because I was all alone in another country, and that's the least he could do to help. I cried internally, mexicans can be so warm and nice <3


On the actual Dia de Muertos on 1 November, I travelled to Chignahuapan, to catch the festival of light and life. From CAPU, the bus costs $120 pesos and takes a little less than 3 hours to get to the town. The view from the bus ride was so nice. Chignahuapan is located at a slightly higher altitude and latitude and the weather happened to be cold that day. As such, mist was forming and I felt like I was taken to a totally different landscape.

In addition, Chignahuapan is famous for its production of the christmas spheres. Just before Dia de Muertos was a Christmas spheres festival organised to attract tourist to the town to purchase their Christmas decorations. Thus the whole town looks like its in the midst of December when I arrived, with a giant christmas tree placed in the center of the Zocalo. It was wonderful <3 I spent the whole afternoon inspecting Christmas spheres before joining the parade at night.





At 7pm, everyone gathered at the starting point of the parade and torches were lighted and given out to the crowd. By 7.30pm, most of the people were already walking towards the lake where the performance was held, accompanied by the actors of the show.

However, the show only started at 8.00pm because of the rain, and thankfully it didn't spoil the lighting or any special effects the show had. And for the next 1 hour, I squeezed with the crowd on the stands and watched the magic and fireworks erupt.




So I was supposed to meet a friend from frisbee that stayed in the town nearby, before the show. But he was picking up some friends and was late instead. We texted to meet after, but his phone died and I was kind of left stranded. The survivor in me then kicked in, and I first tried to find a bus back to Puebla. Nope. From my research before the trip, I also knew there was no hotel rooms left in Chignahuapan. So I tried to ask for a couch. And it worked in the first hotel. The little bit of spanish I knew was enough to convince them to take me, a solo female traveller who couldn't contact her mexican friend, to take me into their private house beside the hotel and sleep on their couch. Fortunately, my friend got his phone charged and contacted me an hour later, and soon I was on the way to a birthday party with his friends. But nonetheless, I am so so thankful for that family for taking me <3

The birthday party was a different thing altogether. It turned out to be a rather small and bright party in a very big venue. It took awhile to get things going, but eventually I ended up having the most delicious tacos ever. I thought I was eating meat fillings until someone told me it's mock meat. Regardless, it was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s. And of course there was beer, and salsa dancing. All mexican parties have salsa dancing. But problem is, I can't dance for nuts, and there so happened to be a friend that couldn't dance too. So we ended spinning around aimlessly together. And that was my first salsa dance at a Mexican party. Yay. Overall, it turned out to be a pretty unexpected, but nice evening.

The next day, on 2 November, we went around town. We started with breakfast, and then visiting the cemetry, mirador, mosaic walls and other parts of town, before I finally had to return back to Puebla.


And that conclude my celebrations for Dia de Muertos. Ironically, I was faced with 'scarier' situations in Puebla, the state that I am living with, than when I was alone in Guadalajara. Guess I still got lots more learn and explore about Puebla then.


The answer to the title can probably be found here: http://www.exclusivaspuebla.com.mx/dia-de-muertos-vs-halloween-el-origen-de-ambas-tradiciones/

And I found most of these activities for the weekend through: https://www.facebook.com/PueblaTravel/?fref=ts