Hello, Word Artists and Admirers! Over the next couple of days we'll be hitting two of my favorite holidays, Halloween and Día de Muertos. Sometimes people think of them as the same thing, but that's not really the case, especially if you're thinking about the modern, more mainstream version of Halloween.
Halloween today is usually associated with things that are scary or at least a bit spooky. Skeletons are just another member in the menagerie of monsters, alongside vampires, goblins, and Frankenstein's monster.
I love indulging in spooky media this time of year. My husband and I have been watching From these last couple of weeks and I just got done reading Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher.
But the skeletons on Día de Muertos is less Jack Skellington trying to scare the pants off you and a lot more like getting together with a loved one you don't see too often. The skeletons represent people who have passed on. It's meant to be a comforting celebration, honoring the connection you had in life and welcoming their spirits into your home.
Mexico has the most well known Día de Muertos traditions, but other Latin American countries celebrate it as well. In Peru, where my family is from, there are graveyard picnics complete with music, dancing, and a special sweet bread.
I have a lot of people I remember on this day. A close friend of my husband and I, who was best man at our wedding. A dear friend who was closer than a sister to me. My mother and father in law. I think this year, maybe I'll have a Star Trek marathon to also honor the late Walter Koenig and Sir Patrick Stewart. All of my lost loved ones enjoyed different versions of that franchise. So while it might not be a festival in a graveyard, I think they'd all appreciate it.
This week's optional prompt will be to write about Halloween and/or Día de Muertos. I'll take fiction and non-fiction, poetry or prose. Just remember to keep your pieces to 396 words or fewer, and one post per person, please.
Next week, we'll invite you to write about looking through glass.
Oh Rommy, I knew you were Latin American but not that your family came from Peru – which I fell madly in love with when visiting in 1998. I like to think I had an incarnation there.
ReplyDeleteThank you Rommy - wishing you good things over the coming days - Jae
ReplyDelete