prompt 181 “Halloween or Dia de Muertos”

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Good morning, dear poets. I’ve enjoyed providing your prompts this month. Thank you all for your wonderful poems, even though I’ve been too busy to participate myself. It’s been a busy month of administering exams, grading and posting final grades. However, I am having fun this week at school since it’s Dia de Muertos and Halloween and the kids are excited and very creative. They’re so much fun to watch and participate with in these activities.

For this prompt I’d like you to write about “Halloween or Dia de Muertos” (Day of the Dead), and what it means to you. Dia de Muertos is a beautiful holiday in Mexico and it one of my favourites. It’s colourful and all the things Mexico has come to mean to me.

The origins trace back to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl. In Aztec mythology, Mictecacihuatl (pronounced ‘Meek-teka-see-wahdl’) is Queen of Mictlan, the underworld, ruling over the afterlife.

(courtesy of wikicommons)

Traditions connected with this holiday include building private altars called “ofrendas” honouring the deceased on October 31. “All Hallows Eve” The children make an altar to invite the angelitos (spirits of dead children) to come back for a visit. November 1 is “All Saints Day,” and the adult spirits will come to visit. November 2 is “All Souls Day,” when families go to the cemetery to decorate the graves and tombs of their relatives. This three-day fiesta is filled with marigolds, the flowers of the dead; pan de muerto (the bread of the dead); sugar skulls; cardboard skeletons; tissue paper decorations; fruit and nuts; incense, and other traditional foods and decorations.

So there’s your prompt, poets. Please write about “Dia de Muertos or Halloween.” Thanks for joining in.

(courtesy of wikicommons)

Happy All Hallows’ Eve!
Pamela