Day of the Dead

This past weekend I attended an even organized by the Mexican Consulate at Harbourfront Centre here in Toronto. It was a celebration of the Day of the Dead, which mainly consisted of an exposition of Altars or Ofrendas crafted by different cultural groups and artistic collectives both Canadian and Mexican, and probably Mexican-Canadian. Guatemalan traditions are somewhat different than Mexican ones, and LAGDP has some good postings about Guatemalan traditions for Nov. 1st such as the typical dish called fiambre and kite flying, thus I went to this event with an "outsider" perspective.

I was also on a tourist guide role since it was the first time downtown for a visiting scholar from Italy we have in our psychology lab at YorkU. So we went inside the centre before realizing the event wasn't held outside, which would've been OK since the day was gorgeous. However, you never know in November. It is starting to get cold, but sunny days are still a blessing. I took some pictures of the altars which I share below on a slideshow. If for some reason you cannot make it work you can check my Picasa folder where I have the photos.

I loved the colourful displays and the thought behind them. You find traditional symbols of death, like skulls and coffins, but also all sorts of foods and personal belongings. My particular favourite was one such altar dedicated to Frida Kahlo created by a local High School, which had mosaics made of seeds and grains (corn, beans, lentils, etc.) and several mini-portraits of the most famous Mexican painter. There was also a crafts and jewelry bazaar and a couple of concerts. We listened to a jazz trio which was very talented, but I think it was not everyone's cup of tea, as it was pure jazz. Probably not what you were expecting from Mexico. As the director of the trio, Eugenio Toussaint, said: "No mariachi jazz here".

Unfortunately when we got to the food pretty much everything was gone, but some tacos de chicharrón. We ate with a traditional Norteño band as background music that had one of the halls in the centre packed and dancing around. It was a fun day and a cross cultural experience for all of us. Just one of the many faces of the city I love and I live in.