DIA DE LOS MUERTOS...

November 1st is the beginning of Dia de los Muertos...from Wikipedia: "The Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos) is a holiday celebrated by many in Mexico and by some Mexican Americans living in the United States and Canada. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration occurs in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2). Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. Due to occurring shortly after Halloween, the Day of the Dead is sometimes thought to be a similar holiday, although the two actually have little in common. The Day of the Dead is a time of celebration, where partying is common."

The Winchester Center in Las Vegas, is hosting their 10th annual celebration.  It's quite the sight to see, and the participants are more than eager to explain it all to those of us "not in the know", thankfully!  I did notice that this year (we hadn't been for a few), it seems to be becoming a little more "commercialized" than in past years, sadly, though still hauntingly eye catching.

This headdress and "apron" were heavily beaded (I can't even imagine how heavy it was on his head and neck)...the man was the father of the beautiful little girl above - he did not speak a lick of English, but had his son translate everything he was saying to us when we were in the offrendo, earlier in the evening.

Nikki and Danielle, daughters of my friend, Erin, and their toothy friend!

Tiny sugar skulls

And then there are the photos below...three years ago, I caught unexplained orbs (yes, I'm always one to watch spooky shows about the unexplained) in a few of my pictures of a very large, shrine.  There was no dust in the air (much the same as this evening), and photos taken with the same color background with children dancers that same evening, turned up nothing but darling, fresh faced children.  Three photos taken of one shrine, one right after the other without moving, produced mass amounts of different sized orbs, and one distinct large one, that moved up and over the shrine in the course of the three photos.  The photos below, while not as "orb populated" as the ones from 2007, do show the same phenomena, while they are a little "lost in translation" on these blog pictures...these are for you, Susan Silva!  We missed you tonight.   For those of you in Vegas, the celebration runs through this evening.