Celebrating El Dia de los muertos in Puerto Vallarta
Wed. Nov/1st/2017.
Forget mourning clothes, lights and chrysanthemums. There is a place where the commemoration of the deceased turns every year, in a colorful carnival. Where on the grave of the deceased extinct they carry not only flowers, but also fruits, sweets and tequila bottles. And on the cemetery placings, there are fun concerts in memory of those who no longer exist. On the occasion of the feast of November 2, we take you to the country where the dead fanfare, Mexico and, especially, we will take you to the exploration of one of its hidden gems: Puerto Vallarta.
An Ancient Tradition
Puerto Vallarta really knows how to throw a feast and how to suits itself up in incredible ways to really transform into something completely new and impossible to miss out!
According to the popular tradition, every year in Da de los Muertos (1-2 November), the dead return from the outskirts to relive friends and relatives, enjoy some typical dishes and have some fun along with the living. To welcome them as they should, the family decorates the tombs with colorful flowers, and build in front of the small "private altars" - called ofrendas - with photos, liqueurs, cigarettes and other objects dear to the deceased. Some will camp in a tomb to spend the night near their dead, others at the cemetery even arrange a picnic! But do not think of the gloomy and melancholic atmosphere of some of our common conception we have about it: here the tombs have other colors, ranging from green to blue, to yellow light and the mood is more festive and happier that you may think!
A Cultural Celebration
There is no macabre taste and sadness, but irony and fun: streets, children, young people and adults make their faces facial and masquerade as calacas, colorful skeletons dancing festively, involving tourists alike. To better understand this belief in indigenous culture (one of the few survivors of Spanish colonization), it is enough to know that for Mexicans death is considered a joyous passage. Puerto Vallarta have these days as an incredible chance to both celebrate the dead and to show to its visitors how it can easily become everything you may need to have some fun but in the real respect of the local traditions, the local folklore and its own cultural identity and authenticity.
For sure, you cannot compare this holiday to the best know dead festivity such as American Halloween because there is no blood or cobwebs, no pumpkins or witches from Celtic origin, nor can it be approached by the - sadly saddened - remembrance of the dead in the Catholic religion. Puerto Vallarta offers its own Mexican version of the Day of the Dead showing off the best of the old Aztec culture and uses and, most of all, turning everything into a more colorful and happier scenarios than the usually creepy one we have all around the world in these particular time of the year! So, a trip to Puerto Vallarta for this festivity will easily give you one experience you won't forget!
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