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Day of the Dead, Dia de Los Muertos, Latino Family Traditions, Mexican traditions

Day of the Dead

Mona Alvarado Frazier
by B. Olivas *
The first of November begins the Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) festivities. Its roots can be traced back to indigenous cultures. The Aztecs had a celebration in the ninth month of their calendar with a celebration to their goddess Mictecacihuatl, the “Lady of the Dead,” later depicted as La Catarina. Souls did not die they rested in Mictlan.
After the Spaniards colonized Mexico, they moved the celebration to coincide with the Catholic All Saints Day and All Soul’s Day. These holy days originated to honor and remember deceased children and All Souls Day on November 2, is for the remembrance of adults. The Aztec ancestral tradition then blended with Catholicism to create a special time and space to remember and honor the loved ones.
The day is not meant to be scary or somber although the symbol of the day is the skull or calavera. It is a time of remembrance, of honoring those who passed, and of revisiting memories. For many people this is a time of healing with tears, laughter, stories and music. The traditions and activities that take place in the celebration of the DoD are not universal and often vary from town to town.
Day of the Dead (DoD) celebrations in the United States is said to have begun in Tucson and Los Angeles in 1990 and by 2010 had spread to several more cities including the Midwest. Many Latin American countries hold similar observances for the dead as well as some Asian and African cultures.
The spirits of the deceased are thought to pay a visit to their families during DoD and the families prepare an altar for them. The altar is used to hold offerings, or ofrendas, for the departed. Their favorite foods, photos, and mementos are often placed on the altar together with items the deceased enjoyed:  toys, candy, liquor, hobbies, etc. A bar of soap, towel, bowl of water and other grooming items are traditionally left at the altar with the belief that the dead have been on a long journey and would like to refresh themselves. Pan de Huevo in the shape of skulls and pumpkin candy are often enjoyed at these commemorations.
The four elements: wind, water, earth and fire are represented on the altar. Wind is sometimes signified by papel picado that moves in the breeze. Candles depict fire, food represents earth, and liquids represent water. The cempasuchitl (Mexican Marigold) is an Aztec tradition, which says that the twenty-petal flower attracts souls to the altars.
In the last ten years, Day of the Dead celebrations include both traditional and political elements, such as altars to honor the victims of the Iraq War. There are updated, inter-cultural versions of the Day of the Dead such as the event at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Whichever way you honor your loved ones and those who have departed, may you have a memorable Dia de los Muertos. 
*The photo came from article written by Bernice Olivas. Visit her column and read her story “Santiago” on her first Dia de Los Muertos in Idaho–it’s pretty darn good. 
Anne Lamott, Kristen Lamb, NaNoWriMo, Shelly Lowenkopf, Storyfix, Writing

NaNoWriMo: Story Structure

Mona Alvarado Frazier
mmmmound.blogspot.com

To avoid a twelve car pile up, I am approaching my NNWM project with a semblance of organization.  Before I organize I need to review the fundamentals, stored away in a big purse somewhere, and see if I have most of the things I need to get my NNWM party started.

Okay, so in the giant purse I need to find the idea, the characters, the story/plot, setting, and theme. Right now I’m vague on the idea, but I have a couple of them germinating and I think I’ll have a female teenager as the main character. So I tossed those to the side and found “story/plot.” Now I’m waffling. I think I need to review those items.

For assistance I took a look at some of my favorite  blogs and found some good advice just in case someone out there in the blogasphere is going to the NNWM party.

Mark Twain said that the first rule of writing was “that a tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere.” Pretty loosey-goosey for the great American writer but the quote is indisputable. Between “accomplish something and arrive somewhere” can be a vast wasteland or a lush path of unforgettable story. To help us stay away from the wasteland and into the greenery I’ll share the following:

Kristen Lamb author and editor is sharing her wealth of knowledge about story structure. She reminds us that learning narrative structure is a basic building block to writing a good novel. And the most basic of the basics of the building blocks are cause and effect. We have a beginning, middle, and end of a novel and each has to have cause and effect, strung together to form scenes or chapters. Ms. Lamb has devoted several posts to structure.

Over at Larry Brooks‘s Storyfix (an award winning blog for writers), is his two minute exercise for understanding story structure. Pretty interesting way to learn especially if you are a visual learner. He says story structure is storytelling. No structure, no story, no sales. Pretty cut and dry.

 Shelly Lowenkopf says, in his book The Fiction Lovers Companion, that story is a bundle of information bits about characters, strategically deployed to produce a series of on-going emotional responses culminating in a emotional payoff. He also says a whole lot of other good stuff but I’ll end with a frequent comment of his: “no conflict, no story.”

And Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird, one of my favorite books on writing, created a mnemonic device to help writers remember how to write story/plots that work: Action, Background, Conflict, Development, and End.

But enough about story structure and plot. It’s time to relax and think about the idea some more before I grab my purse and head out to the party.

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