Two years ago I was working on tour with Ricky Martin and had the opportunity to be in Mexico City for Halloween and
Dia de los muertos
or
Day of the dead
It was a pretty cool experience and I wanted to share some photos of the weekend with you all:
I meant to post this FOR Day of the Dead celebrations, not AFTER. Sorry guys. Well, I still wanted to give you a little love, so here you have it! I never posted my awesome halloween costume from last year because I’m still waiting for some actual good photos of it. One of these days…
I spent some time wandering the city and snapping photos of these altars. They were all over the place! Even in our hotel lobby. It definitely made the atmosphere quite festive.
Halloween night itself a group of us roadies went bar hopping. I remember we started in an Irish pub. I know, I know…. it DID feel a bit odd to be drinking Guinness in an Irish pub in Mexico city on Halloween, but us roadies stick together! I brought a pumpkin baggie full of tequila chocolates and went reverse trick-or-treating (I handed out the tequila candies to strangers and friends). It was good times.
Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday observed throughout Mexico and around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died.
It is particularly celebrated in Mexico where the day is a public holiday. Prior to Spanish colonization in the 16th century, the celebration took place at the beginning of summer. It was moved to October 31, November 1 and November 2 to coincide with theRoman Catholic triduum festival of Allhallowtide: All Hallows’ Eve, Hallowmas, and All Souls’ Day.[2][3] Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars called ofrendas, honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts. Visitors also leave possessions of the deceased at the graves.
(thanks to Wikipedia for the paragraphs when I’m slacking)
The following year when I was on tour with Jennifer Lopez in Germany. We had a show (with a load in and load out) on halloween and some of us decided to dress up- even though we were working. And then as a throwback to this time in mexico, myself and another friend decided to do some Dia de los muertos face painting.
We had planned to remove the halloweeny bits for show, but Jennifer said she was happy that some of us dressed up and encouraged us to stay in costume/makeup for the show.
I ran hand-held camera (thank pete I painted only half face, otherwise I would have gotten the makeup all over the camera, or would have needed to remove it), and at one point was on stage with her VERY visible- with this makeup, black and red tights, a black lace veil, etc….
It was a fun time- and she loved it.
Curious about other adventures?
Click here to see photos of Saint-Pierre, Martinique where you can learn about the beheaded and bloody Empress Josephine statue.
Or if you want something more chipper, click here to visit Disney’s Flower and Garden Festival
And standby for ideas on throwing your own Thorsgiving (yeah, that’s Thanksgiving, marvel-style)
- Sugar skulls are such an “in” thing now! Have you done any sugar skull festive things for these autumn holidays?
