Day of the Dead in Photos, 2017
Posted by Ted Campbell
It’s the middle of the first week of November, which means that the Day of the Dead has come and gone. The holiday is one of the most interesting and colorful in Mexico, taking place in big processions on the street, in people’s homes, and in cemeteries across the country. Please read a more detailed description here.
Not having too much time to write, I uploaded a bunch of photos to this blog’s Facebook page. Please click here to take a look.
Or, look to the right to find the little Facebook box. Besides the photos for Day of the Dead, I have other collections from my travels in Mexico. Click “like,” and when I post links to articles about Mexico or more photos, they will appear in your feed.
And while you’re looking to the right of this page, check out the blog stats. As I write this, I’m a couple thousand short of one million hits. One million hits! I remember when I passed ten thousand a few years ago, and how I couldn’t believe it was that many.
So, thank you very much for visiting my blog. I’ll be writing longer articles soon, but for now please enjoy a few of my photos from the Day of the Dead:
The finished pieces are perfectly edible, but in reality most are not eaten. It is not sugar candy in the modern sense. It is a mixture of powdered sugar and egg white, with colors added depending on what the paste will be used for. In the case of skulls, the base is thicker and formed with a mold. The decorative elements are made with a softer paste that is piped on, much the way that decorative icing is applied onto fine bakery cakes. Both harden to something that is not only very hard to break with the teeth, but really does not melt in the mouth (a la Jolly Ranchers) because of the protein in the egg whites. In the past, they were certainly eaten as sugar used to be an expensive commodity. But today, if one wants skulls or other decorations that can truly be enjoyed as candy, items made from other materials can be had. At the Feria de Alfeñique, artisans demonstrate skills in making items from chocolate, amaranth (a nod to the past), tamarid, peanut marzapan, wafers and pepita (a sweet paste made from pumpkin seeds). While skulls are still central, the Toluca event also features other items such as coffins, miniatures of food items often found on Day of the Dead altars, (mole, breads, fruits…), full skeletal figures and animals, in particular deer.
