Cafe Writing Day of the Dead in La Paz

The air smells like cinnamon. You can feel the pulsing music. We are following our noses and the beat of the music and the crowd.
The outdoor stage is lit in ghostly pale, icy, blue and white lights. Smoke wafts up eerily from the footlights.
A line of young girls in jewel-toned, hoop –skirted, colonial dresses appears stage left. The turquoise, purple, scarlet, and emerald dresses sparkle in the stage lights. Their picture hats are wide and adorned with paper flowers and lace, their hair is plaited and interwoven with ribbons. They stop, turn and face forward. The audience gasps in delight and breaks into loud applause. The girl’s faces are painted in death masks. The eerie smile of a skeleton’s head. It is Day of the Dead in La Paz.

Day of the Dead in Mexico is on November 1st, also known as All Souls Day. It is believed that the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest at this time. It is a time to pay homage to relatives and friends that have died. And to poke fun at death. And ghosts walk among us.
The distant sounds of the city are like a whisper on the wind, a sound not relevant to the mix of life and death we are celebrating.
Traditionally the family would gather at the grave of their loved one, bringing their dead relative’s favorite foods. They tell stories, sing songs and eat. All over Mexico in cemeteries big and small this celebration takes place. And in La Paz we have an additional celebration. In the parking lot of the Teatro de La Ciudad booths are set up like a fair. Except each booth is a “grave” or an “altar”. Different organizations and clubs and businesses dedicate their grave to someone they admire, a fallen colleague or in the case of the women’s center, to bring attention to domestic violence.
Flowers and corn and colorful sand paintings tell the story of the graves honoree. To help bring back the dearly departed for a night, pieces of their clothing, their favorite book, a guitar, their picture, and in one case a favorite teacher’s entire living room complete with reading glasses and shawl was recreated.
And we viewed it through a window. On hand are the grave creators to tell the story of their honoree.
Other booths sell Pan de Muerto (Day of the Dead Bread) a round ,sweet loaf decorated with bones made of dough. Clay pots of café de ollo simmer and it is from them the cinnamon emanates. It is a wonderful strong- sweet coffee drink.
There are constant performances on the open air stage. But once you have toured the graves and sipped your coffee, bought a tamale, and a sugar skull, stop and watch the crowd. The young cool crowd has artfully painted only half their faces. And the “sexy dead” have black veils, crimson roses and almost see-through dresses. There is one I call Bianca Jagger with her gorgeous black lace dress, silver tipped cane and cigar.
We love this celebration, and we mix Halloween with Day of the Dead. My 3-d cardboard pop-up Day of the Dead altar is dedicated to Paul Newman.

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