Day of the Dead
07.11.2011
One of my favourite things about Los Angeles is that it’s so multicultural. Last month my friends and I celebrated Halloween. And this week we celebrated the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead, known as Dia de los Muertos in Spanish.
People who celebrate the Day of the Dead believe that on 1 and 2 November their loved ones return from the spirit world to visit them. In Mexico and Latin America they meet at homes, on streets and at cemeteries to make altars for their loved ones and welcome their return.
The LA celebrations last nine days and happen on Olvera Street, which is the oldest part of Downtown LA. People dress up as skeletons, paint their faces as skulls and eat a special bread called pan de muerto, or bread of the dead. And every evening a family leads a procession through the street in honour of their dead loved ones.
My friends and I got our faces painted, and spent a few hours shopping at the stalls on Olvera Street, which sell everything from bags and jewellery to candles and clothes. In the evening we watched the procession and joined in a ritual of singing and dancing that’s supposed to keep bad spirits away. It was so much fun!
Watch this video of Day of the Dead on Olvera Street:
Feiertag
ihre Lieben
Geist
Friedhöfe
verkleiden sich
Totenschädel
zu Ehren der Verstorbenen
Stände
Schmuck
soll
