Halloween and the Day of the Dead

Halloween was a bigger deal here than we expected. There is a 2 day event here, the Day of the Dead, Nov. 1 & 2. Mexicans set up small altars with candles, flowers, etc. in remembrance of dead relatives and/or friends. This custom predates the Spanish conquest and appears to have been tacked on to the Christian All Souls Day. The Catholic Church does not like it very much and has long tried to discourage it because they feel (correctly I think) that the Indian population simply used it as a cover to continue a pre-Christian custom. It is like the cult of the Virgin of Guadaloupe which was a way to continue worship of a pre-Christian Aztec goddess. According to our Spanish instructor, the Day of the Dead seemed a few years ago to be dying out as the enthusiasm for the imported Halloween custom was taking over. However, deliberate efforts have been made to revitalize the Day of the Dead. The restaurants we went to over those two days all had altars commemorating the custom. However, Halloween is popular with the kids who love to go around collecting candy, etc. We had 60-75 at least--a lot more than we used to get in Bedford. Luckily, we had been warned by Rosendo, our gardener, in the afternoon and had stocked up on candy. Even then we got cleaned out.

The work on the gazebo has started as of Friday. Jose was absolutely meticulous in measuring out where to put the six anchors for the posts. One of his workers then cut out the concrete and stone for 8” square holes and other workers chopped them out and dug down for about 30 inches. The gazebo is certainly going to be well anchored. They had to stop before noon today because Jose was not able to get the iron rebars that he needed; they should do the concrete tomorrow as they brought the cement and sand today. We have asked Jose to do a couple of other small jobs while his men are here. One is to put screen doors on the spare bedroom. It has patio doors, but no screen doors. We are also getting him to fix a small leak that we had in the master bathroom.

All the Halifax people arrived on Saturday, although Jack and Kate had their luggage go astray. But there we all were (8 members of the Brunch Club) at Open Circle and then we all went to the Neuvo Pasada Hotel for brunch. At Open Circle, first timers are asked to introduce themselves; there were loud cheers as the 4 women from Halifax introduced themselves. The moderator happened to be a Canadian and she commented that the Maritimes was certainly being well represented. The weather, which had been overcast for at least 3 days last week, has turned absolutely perfect since their arrival. The ladies seem well pleased with their house for the month; however, they commented on the fact that the roosters seemed to be crowing at all hours, day and night. Barb saw Kate & Jack’s condo townhouse (I haven’t seen it yet) and says that it really terrific; it is very new, with marble floors, brand new appliances and a gorgeous view of the lake.