Day of the Dead

So last Thursday, Day of the Dead was celebrated throughout Guatemala and let me just say, that it is one seriously cool tradition! All week long my host mom prepared the "fiambre," a sort of cold meat and vegetable salad topped with cheese and more vegetables and on Thursday we went to a cousin´s house to eat the Thanksgiving-esque meal. It looked kind of gross in the pot but it actually was really fabulous! Then once it got dark we all headed out to the cemetery so they could show me the real fun. My family, being protestant (Day of the Dead is a mostly Catholic tradition) and the hip Ladino (Guatemalans of Spanish decent) family that they are, doesn´t really celebrate but they wanted me to get the full experience. On Day of the Dead people go to the cemeteries to clean, paint and decorate the tombs of their deceased family members (think New Orleans above ground type cemetery). People fly kites in the cemetery during the day and then at night they light candles and bring food for their loved ones in hopes that their spirits will stop by for a little snack. It´s really just an ornate way of recognizing deceased loved ones. I didn´t see anyone sharing a taco with the ghost of old Uncle Pepe or anything but I did see a huge fiesta in the graveyard! There were food vendors, mariachi bands, loud reggaeton music playing, and TONS of people hanging around tombs that were beautifully decorated with flowers, candles, and ribbons. It was really neat to see the somewhat "modernized" version of this antiquated tradition that I´d read so much about!

Attention Clemson Fans- I saw a Clemson sweatshirt hanging in a paca (used American clothing store) the other day! Clemson is world-renowned! GO TIGERS!