Dia de Meurtos

Kevin and I try to spend Day of the Dead together and participate in the ceremonies in the Mission, and this year was particularly poignant for both of us.  The Mission event has gotten larger, and larger, and we consider sort of the "New Halloween," but hopefully with less trouble as it is not an ego-centric event but an other-centric event, and respectful and celebratory to our mutual dearly departeds.  I was impressed this year that the vast majority of attendees were fully participatory in victorian death garb and/or face paint.

We started at Chris and Tom's, who have generously and kindly kept me on their giant Day of the Dead party list these past several years. Chris and Tom also own/run Regalito's so their food was amazing. They moved their altar to the garden this year, which was gorgeous as always.  By the way, the cross of calla lilies is carved from wood.  Beautiful.


I added my tribute to Dad.

The whole night was rather emotional, and I didn't think it through beforehand that, yes, I needed to be participatory and face painted as is my way, but I didn't consider how much it might run every time I teared up.


The altars in the park ranged from intricate and creative to simple and unabashedly honest.






I added another memorial for Dad at one of the public altars set up, and Kevin placed this photos and remembrances of his brother and grandmother. We shared our grief and appreciation and celebrated their lives as we could.