Oaxaca-The Year After: Pan de Muertos

The here and now... and what and why

Complacency is a trap. At least that’s what I was thinking when I up and left the comfort of a Yankee prep school gig, where I taught music, amongst other things, for 28 years. There was also that life long career as a composer, musician and artist.

First, it was a year in St. Thomas, USVI, working as a reporter and shooting photography and then, a year in San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Time passed.
More time passed and a year back in the Athens of America followed by a hasty return to Oaxaca where it is all happening.
A couple of years in San Sebastian Etla and now, just down the road in San Pablo Etla. Life is good.

Click on an image to see it larger.
For additional photography please visit my flickr page.
You can find my music on Jango (World & latin - Worldbeat) and at iTunes and most online stores.
¡Soy consciente de todas las tradiciones del Internet!
If you are coming to Oaxaca, please contact me for tours or advice.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Pan de Muertos

Who knew that the market in Tlacolula was the place to be the Sunday before El Dia de los Muertos? Well, apparently everyone except me. Here is a great story, in Spanish, from noticas.mx about the day. I have never seen the place so packed and energetic. We drove out just to do something and wow, what a lucky thing we did because it was simply one of the best market experiences I've had. It was actually a bit overwhelming and after a few hours just taking in the sights we were drained. That is really saying something. Remember, I shop in these markets all the time. This was something special.
After walking a few blocks through many temptations, we made it to the actual market and immediately saw that the entire left side was filled with bread, pan de muertos. These will be placed on altars and graves. It holds an important part in the celebrations. You can see what a big space it is. There were many more folks selling bread than the place could hold.

The place smelled pretty good as you can well imagine. The bread came in many different forms.

I bet there were over a hundred different vendors all selling bread.

Tlacolula is always so interesting because people come from all over, the surrounding mountains and valleys and one can hear different languages and dialects. And the variations in traditional clothing are beautiful. More on that in a bit.