Getting it together for Dia de los Muertos!

My finished sugar skulls, decorated with glitter glue pens, not ideal as the sugar melts a bit, but definitely the easy option for someone who has never used royal icing decoration! I am making an altar tonight in memory of my mother who passed away Feb 2006, really looking forward to putting everything together, bone bread is also made and I found some fresh marigolds in a local allotment, so just a few things to get together now!

British Airways - Day of the Dead ad, the long version!

Following the article on Dia de los Muertos posted yesterday, I just spotted a comment left on the post inviting me to share with my readers, this mini-documentary film produced by advertising agency, Bartle Bogle Hegarty on Mexico's Day of the Dead celebrations for BA. So here you go, the long version of the shorter ad which is doing the rounds on UK TV at the moment. I hadn't actually seen this yet myself although a few friends had mentioned it to me, of course I didn't think of looking on good old YouTube. I thought it was a beautiful film and I liked the fact that it mostly showed the preparations rather than the event celebrations itself as I felt this worked really nicely to tie in with the emotion of what is actually happening right now across Mexico and with others around the world planning to celebrate Dia de los Muertos. And possibly some like me, for the very first time. I'm building an altar tomorrow, so today have been running around trying to find the last few items I need, and thanks to a local allotment, my dream of getting fresh marigold's for my altar in remembrance to my mother, has been fulfilled. Just time to bake some 'bones bread' and get my sugar skulls decorated now..so better get onto it then. Hope you enjoy the film as much as I did - and seeing as I am planning to go to Mexico in the New Year, this film has also reminded me that I really must get the flights booked. Hope BA's deals to Mexico are as good as they say!

On the Road in Mexico ...meet Angela from the Mexican Sugar Skull company

Meet Angela Villalba, owner of the Mexican Sugar Skull company in Texas who has set up a fantastic facebook page for sugar skull fans. I've been working with this company for just over a year now and Angela along with sidekick, Kathi are just the nicest, most helpful, friendly suppliers ever! Angela is a genuine Day of the Dead veteran visiting Mexico every year for around a month in the run up to and during the festivities to further her research for her business and currently a book she is working on. This year she is driving through five states, visiting some out-of-the-way villages in Puebla & Oaxaca. I love seeing the photos she is posting daily from Mexico as well as all the contributions from the 750 sugar skull fans from all over the world who have joined the site since its launch just over a month ago. Here are some of my favourite pics from the page so far. Hope you like them!



Sugar alfinique Catrinas found at the Oaxaca market. Made from powdered sugar,egg white &lime juice.



Anise liquor filled sugar candies from Ejutla, Oaxaca. Used for the ofrendas of their loved ones.



This Veracruz baker took Angela on a tour of his baking facilities. Here, he has a tray of hot Pan de Muerto! His shop was decorated with skeletons, skulls and papel picado banners. His bread had the traditional "bones" on top!




Yum! Chocolate Sugar Skulls!



And finally, I couldn't finish this post without introducing Tacuba, a beautiful Bengal cat and Mexican Sugar Skull's company mascot, who (in Angela's words) is a constant "pain in the ass cat", always ready and poised to either eat or attack newly received papier mache skulls. She certainly is a gorgeous Bengal cat, and I can relate to Angela's comment about her personality, I have a similarly nosey and playful puss in the house to contend with.

All photographs (c) Angela Villalba Mexican Sugar Skull.

Day Of The Dead In Mexico - A Passion For Life

As I am struggling a bit to fulfil my promise of a post a day in the run up to Dia de los Muertos I thought instead I would share a great article written by the Mary J.Andrade, owner of a wonderful Day of the Dead website which I have been visiting on and off myself for a few years.



Mary J. Andrade has traveled to Mexico in October and November since 1987 to photograph and document Day of the Dead celebrations. Her work has been collected in a series of bilingual books entitled, Through the Eyes of the Soul, Day of the Dead in Mexico. She lives with her family in San Jose, California and is the co-founder and travel editor of La Oferta, a weekly bilingual newspaper. Mary Andrade has presented over 170 photography exhibits on Day of the Dead in the United States, Ecuador, Spain, France, Mexico, Egypt and Chile and has published seven other books on the subject. She is also the recipient of many international awards, such as the OHTLI, two Silver Quills and a Silver Lens presented by former presidents of Mexico, Vicente Fox and Ernesto Zedillo.

I hope you enjoy! Please do visit her website, it is a fabulous resource for information on Dia de los Muertos.

Mexico celebrates a yearly tradition called Day of the Dead during the last days of October and the first days of November. The legacy of past civilizations is graphically manifested on this occasion through people beliefs that death is a transition from one life to another in different levels, where communication exists between the living and the dead. This communication takes place once a year throughout the country.

Differing from the Roman Catholic imposed ritual to commemorate All Souls’ Day, which is observed in many countries, the custom established by pre-colonial Mexican civilizations become a ceremony where indigenous beliefs blended with Catholic beliefs. Therefore, the Day of the Dead in Mexico is not a mournful commemoration but a happy and colorful celebration where death takes a lively, friendly expression.

Indigenous people believed that souls did not die, that they continued living in Mictlan, a special place to rest. In this place, the spirits rest until the day they could return to their homes to visit their relatives. Before the Spaniards arrived they celebrated the return of the souls between the months of July and August. Once arrived, the Spaniards changed the festivities to November 2nd to coincide with All Souls’ Day of the Catholic Church.

Presently, two celebrations honoring the memory of loved ones who have died take place: On November 1st, the souls of the children are honored with special designs in the altars, using the color white on flowers and candles. On November 2nd the souls of the adults are remembered with a variety of rituals, according to the different states of the Mexican republic.

The celebrations of Day of the Dead or All Souls Day are referred differently in some of the states. For example in Yucatan it is known as Hanal Pixan which means "The path of the soul through the essence of food;” in the the highlands of Michoacan it is known as Jimbanqua or the party honoring the people who died that year; in San Luis Potosi, Hidalgo and in the southern part of Oaxaca it is known as Xantolo and Day of the Dead in the majority of Mexico. Whatever name is given, this is an ancestral tradition that blended with Catholicism to create a special time and space to remember and honor the loved ones by offering them an ofrenda, the fragrance of the flowers, the light of the candles, the aroma of special foods and the solemnity of prayers.

It is also a time to joke and make fun of death through "calaveras", poetry allusive to a particular person, generally politicians; sugar, chocolate and amaranth skulls which are given to one another with their friend’s name so "they can eat their own death" and special crafts allusive to different aspects of the living, with skeletons representing daily activities.

People start getting ready for the celebration on the third week of October with the harvesting of the cempasuchitl flower, also known as the flower of the twenty petals or the flower of the dead which is sold in the market place or Tianguis, where the family goes to buy everything that they will need to get to put on the altar. On the altar they will place the ofrendas of fruits, vegetables and the special dishes prepared for the soul to enjoy the essence of the aroma of the food.

On November 1st in many towns the ritual of the Vigil of the Little Angels takes place in the cemeteries, particularly in the islands of Janitzio and La Pacanda in Lake Patzcuaro, Michoacan. Little girls dressed in satin blouses and colored skirts, white stockings and shiny shoes are the center of this ceremony. This is the way the tradition is passed down from generation to generation.

On November 2nd, the souls of the adults are honored in their homes with beautifully decorated altars. Each state has different styles but all of them represent a place where the ofrenda becomes a spiritual communion between life and death.

The celebration concludes in many towns with the vigil in the cemetery. In some places the vigil is done during the whole night of November 1st to November 2nd. In other towns the vigil is done during the day. Mysticism is the rule in the cemeteries, but in many music is also part of the ritual that combines religious prayers with the sounds of the trumpet playing a tune with a Mariachi band. Ritualistic dances are also part of the celebrations in many places in honor of the deceased.

Whichever is celebrated, Day of the Dead is a time of reflection about the meaning of life and the mission that one needs to fulfill. Death in many situations imparts a feeling of pain and loss, particularly for those who do not know the purpose of their path on this earthly plane. For others, death is transcendence, transformation and resurrection. During the celebration of Day of the Dead all those feelings and beliefs come together in a season that brings to life the memory of the loved ones.

All photographs (c) Mary J. Andrade/ Article Source

Having a staycation this year? Well get yourself a Mexican hammock and you are on your way to paradise! (well almost!)

Those of you feeling the hit from the credit crunch this year might be deciding to opt for a Staycation as thoughts turn to minding our pennies over our travel fantasies this year. Personally I have been struggling with my own personal recession for several years before the global one happened, but one thing that has always made my 'home stay holidays' bearable has been my wonderful garden companion, the Mexican hammock. I kid you not, these are the most comfortable hammocks in the WORLD! I first fell in love with Mexican hammocks about 10 years ago when, on the tail end of an amazing but at times totally grueling three month trip through Central America, I arrived in South Mexico. Eventually destined for a flight out of Cancun back to the UK, but still with two weeks in hand, I headed to Don Armando's lovely, cheap and cheerful clutch of sand floored, thatched huts gloriously close to the turquoise waters of Tulum.

Shortly after booking in I spied the man I had been most looking forward to meet. A hammock seller, sashaying down the beach with a rainbow of cotton draped over his shoulders. A lengthy haggle and a quick hammock rope knotting demonstration later, I was stretched out in the simplest form of luxury a tired out homeward bound girl could ever want.

My first real Mexican hammock! (yes I had been sold various uncomfortable stringy ones as I travelled through Central America, pathetic excuses for a hammock they were!) and for the remaining duration of my stay I rarely ventured further than a quick dip in the sea or the few minutes trundle up the sand to the local Margarita stand in the evenings. So in love with them am I, that when my original hammock died a couple of years ago, and I couldn't find a reasonably priced replacement in Europe, I decided to start importing them myself. One of the small pleasures in my life now are the happy emails that come my way from some of my hammock buyers.

And so, my contribution to any staycation-er's checklist goes like this...

1. A Mexican hammock, and get serious, while the smaller ones are great for general chilling, for your staycation, it has to be either a Family or Jumbo size. Check out my guide to Mexican hammocks, find out who makes them, how and all sorts of other stuff you didn't know you needed to know about hammocks.

2. Two trees positioned a minimum of 13ft+ apart (although strictly speaking, trees are optional, remember, where there's a will, there's a way.) Those of you stuck on the I don't have trees in the right position, listen up, don't be defeated, there WILL be a solution! And not having a garden is NO excuse. hang one in your lounge/somewhere else or if all else fails go to the local park and hang it!

3. Ingredients for Margarita making. Ice, lots of it. It will be HOT and SUNNY for the week/s you are on home holidays! Portable container/chill box if taking it to the park/wherever with you.

4. A willing partner/child/neighbour/other family member to fetch, carry and keep you swaying at the perfect gentle rhythm as you really don't want to be getting in and out of the hammock too much now do you. That's right, you are on staycation!

Lovely, lovely, beautiful things, these colourful bundles of joy just waiting to be strung up! Oh and by the way, you don't have to be planning a stay at home holiday to treat yourself to one, just get one anyway!

In love with Beijo Brasil

Just can't get enough of these gorgeous icon bracelets from Beijo Brasil. Based in California's creative heartland, Sonama, Beijo's distinctive style has been created by owner, Misty Darling who wanted to design fashion jewellery and accessories inspired by her love of of global iconic images that reflect the passion, culture and style of the country they are from. Beijo's range so far has in the main been inspired by some of Mexico's most popular cultural and religious icons.

So back to my favourite pieces from the range, the image bracelets, check out Frida Kahlo, vintage Mexican matchbox designs, Loteria images from a popular bingo style game played in Mexico and classic vintage tattoos. Silly me forgot to order the Saint icons this time round, but I am betting these fly out of the door quick so will be restocking soon!