bla bla bla: Dio de los muertos

(These are not my pictures. They are from the website of a previous year's Day of the Dead event in the Mission.)

"Don't just cry mournfully over the individuals, dreams and influences that have helped make you what you are. Dance for them; sing for them; honor them; leap into the air and kiss the sky for them."

Nancy and I walked over to the mission last night and caught the front end of the day of the dead parade coming around the corner at 25th and Mission. I was expecting to just stand on the curb and watch the parade go by, but it's not really a parade as much as it is a procession.

Within a block I was moved to tears. OK, maybe not tears but that teary feeling as I remembered my mother, who died this time of year, and my grand parents. Nancy was wise enough to have brought a charm bracelet that her mother had given her, so I grabbed my mom's docent badge (she volunteer at the State Parks in the Morro Bay area) as we left the house.

We told stories about the inside jokes we had with our moms. I used to grab my mom's shoes off her feet and, one time, I threw them out of the front door of the house. Mom was laughing so hard she peed. High brow stuff.

Bizarrely and wonderfully the atmosphere is both solemn and festive. Lots of music and some dancing. Lots of people had candles (next year I'm bringing candles!), smudge sticks, homemade costumes. Though there were many groups performing music or dancing I only saw one homemade cardboard sign. It was all very anonymous and that was perfect. By the way, this is an alcohol-free event.

It was a full moon and when we turned on Harrison, I believe, towards Garfield Square, the street was very dark. It was wonderful. I had my camera (these pictures are from the website) with me but was in a solemn mood and didn't feel like taking pictures.

We were towards the front of the procession and when we got to Garfield Square, where the homemade altars were exhibited, it was obvious to me that it was already too crowded, so we reversed direction and walked the trailing parade back to Mission street.