Halloween…All Saints Day…Dia de Los Muertos. The last three days have been a blast. On Halloween Elena and I got pumpkins, or the closest thing we could find to them, for the kids 
to carve. They’d never carved pumpkins before and were really excited. The littlest ones, Jennifer and David, were absolutely taken with picking out the seeds from the gooey, stringy insides. I don’t think they missed a single one. Elena, Flor, Emilse, and I all drew on faces and Elena’s (the funny face) was voted the best. The pumpkins we
re really thick-walled so a lot harder to carve than the orange ones and mine (the tall, scary-faced one) was dark inside so it didn’t light up well. After Angel watched us struggle to carve the first two, he had the great idea of making the whole p
rocess easier with a power saw. He made quick work of the next two pumpkins! The kids couldn’t have been happier. They were running up and down the back walkway yelling “Happy Halloween” in English. We toasted the seeds the next day on the wood stove. Angel suggested we try soaking them in lemon first and it made them taste SO much better: lemon and salt. The next mornin
g we woke just before six to go to the cemetery to decorate the graves of the dead. Most important was Angel’s wife, Kata, who passed aw
ay 8 years ago from a diabetic stroke. She was only 43! Also buried there were Angel’s mom and grandparents and a brother of Angel’s who died as a child. The week before, the family had gone and painted the grave sites so they would be ready for this day. The atmosphere in the cemetery is quite different from any I’ve visited. It was packed with people who were all busy adorning graves with great color and creativity. It was very festive and happy. Kids were flying kites, family members were snacking, lots of people were laughing. It was seen as a happy time of spending the day with the deceased relatives yo
u’ve missed all this time. Since that morning, we’ve gone back a few times and I’ve seen that many families have brought food and liquor for their loved ones. Others have come and spent all day at the graveside, picnicking and talking with their loved ones.
g we woke just before six to go to the cemetery to decorate the graves of the dead. Most important was Angel’s wife, Kata, who passed aw
ay 8 years ago from a diabetic stroke. She was only 43! Also buried there were Angel’s mom and grandparents and a brother of Angel’s who died as a child. The week before, the family had gone and painted the grave sites so they would be ready for this day. The atmosphere in the cemetery is quite different from any I’ve visited. It was packed with people who were all busy adorning graves with great color and creativity. It was very festive and happy. Kids were flying kites, family members were snacking, lots of people were laughing. It was seen as a happy time of spending the day with the deceased relatives you’ve missed all this time. Since that morning, we’ve gone back a few times and I’ve seen that many families have brought food and liquor for their loved ones. Others have come and spent all day at the graveside, picnicking and talking with their loved ones. After the visit to the cemetery, we had the traditional drink of the day which tastes like thick cornmeal (liquid tamale) and probably was. Then Shom, Elena, and I went to visit Vicente in Quixaya. We had been invited for a snack of chuchitos (tamales with meat and tomato sauce in the center). Apparently the invitation was meant to be for lunch but we didn’t realize that so it was a little awkward when we explained that we had to be back in SLT for lunch with Angel and the family (Gela was cooking a special Dia de Los Muertos lunch). In the end, the three of us ate our chuchitos while the others watched (since it wasn’t time for them to have lunch). I think we’ve all learned our lesson that an invitation for a “snack” needs to be presumed to be for the whole day.
Last night (Nov 1) was the night for dressing up in scary costumes, and th
ese were definitely scary outfits. Only boys went out (I’m told because it’s dangerous for girls who might get fondled or otherwise put in danger) and, get this, they go house-to-house asking for a potato-like veggie called “wiskeel”. The group apparently tried to collect as many wiskeeles as possible and then counts them up and splits them evenly at the end of the night. The kids were having so much fun.Today we visited the cemetery again and Angel and I enjoyed ice cream and sodas in the nice, warm sun.
Emilse, Jennifer, and Maria Jose
Angel cooking wiskeel and toasting pumpkin seeds
Angel cooking wiskeel and toasting pumpkin seeds
Trick - o -treaters "joining" us for dinner
Esteban and Edy getting costumed
Edy and Esteban all dressed up
Flor in costume
My impromtu costume
David flying his kite, another Nov 1 tradition
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