Day of the Dead

'Day of the Dead' was probably the thing I was the most excited for when I found out I was coming to Mexico. Not to be conflated with Halloween, this day was celebrated by native people in Mexico way before the Europeans came. And, unlike Halloween, the day is a celebration of your ancestors, it is not a case of ghosts coming back to haunt you scary scary situation. 

The photos below were taken the weekend before the day of the dead (because of course there's a pre-celebration celebration, it's Mexico). There was a parade in the city centre where people dressed as 'catrinas'. There was a mixture of floats, dancers, musicians and people dressed up in their cars (kind of random, yes, but there were some cool cars).  

Yes, this is a float on 'Day of the Dead' advertising a funeral home... and it wasn't the only one, there was a whole section of the parade. I mean pretty good advertising if you ask me. 

For actual 'Day of the Dead' a friend and I went to a beautiful town called Morelia where I ate one of  the BEST meals of my life (I'm talking ceviche and chocolate fondant cake). The whole town was very beautiful (it was Spanish colonial architecture and it had all these amazing decorations. For example, marigolds were placed everywhere as paths to guide their ancestor's spirits back to the offerings that they put out for them (I'd recommend watching Coco, it explains DOTD and is such a good film). There was just a really nice atmosphere and I'm so glad that I got to experience it.  

This little dog, who I shall call Roberto (he had a very Roberto vibe) was just running from place to place. I saw him when we arrived in the town and then later in a square. He was just having the time of his life (probably because there was so much food on the street).