Have you ever been somewhere or experienced something and thought to yourself “I will remember this moment for the rest of my life”? That’s exactly what was running through my mind the night that Scott and I ventured to Mixquic to witness the annual Dia de los Muertos celebration in the town and its cemetery.
Upon first arrival, walking down a dusty road where our taxi driver had left us after an hour and a half journey, it appeared as though we had come to the wrong place. Where was the big street party we had been promised? There weren’t really many people in sight and it was already dark and getting late (we didn’t get there til 9.30pm) – for all we knew the driver could have dropped us off in the middle of nowhere. Gradually, further down the road, the odd food stall came into view. Followed by more. Followed by larger groups of people, until we could hear music playing in the distance and see lights strung up ahead. We knew we must be heading in the right direction.
Once we arrived at the entrance to the main party, it became clear just how popular this annual celebration is in the town. There was music, people bustling to get down narrow streets wearing masks and occasionally costumes, the smell of a vast array of snacks, hot drinks and food wafting through the air. It was actually so busy that at one point the flow of people walking down the street became log-jammed (luckily neither of us are claustrophobic or this could have been slightly uncomfortable) and yet this didn’t detract from the feeling that at that moment, I was part of something magical. A festival atmosphere I had never witnessed anywhere else in the world. I was excited.
Walking down the main street we examined the food on offer and indulged in some blue corn tortillas filled with cheese and salsa, beef tacos, a large crepe filled with Nutella and chocolate sauce and a hot drink made with rice which was lovely and warming on such a cold night but sickly sweet at the same time.
Once we had had our fill of street food and had enjoyed some of the most expensive tequila drinks I’ve ever had (note to selves: check the price of drinks BEFORE you order them), we followed the crowds into the entrance of the San Andreas Mixquic Church and its cemetery, where each grave had been decorated with ofrendas, candles and flowers. The sight of the cemetery sprawled before us was like nothing I had ever seen before. As we stood there in the cold night air, there was a feeling of sombreness mixed with peace and tranquility, which left you feeling oddly mellow.
The juxtaposition of the scene before us compared to that of the street scene behind us was astonishing. The thought and care that had gone in to decorating the graves was astounding and I tried to capture as much of it to memory as I could. But at no point did the atmosphere ever feel creepy or unnerving, as many may often assume from standing in a cemetry so late at night. Instead, it felt as though this was the most natural thing in the world – to celebrate death as much as we do life and rather than finding it a sombre topic, embracing it with family and friends as an annual celebration to bring everybody together.
I will never forget that night in Mixquic, or the amazing atmosphere in the air. When I put the festival on my bucket list earlier in the year, I had no idea that I would be experiencing it before the year was out and I can honestly say it was everything I had hoped it would be.
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