Bring Out Your Demons PT II:
“Bring Out Your Dead”
All Souls Procession,
Day of the Dead, 11.7.2010
Tucson, AZ

I was invited down to participate in the All Souls Procession in Tucson!
So for day 2 of our “Bring Out Your Demons/Bring Out Your Dead” Face and body-painting event, we took a little trip.

My friend Pipa and her crew at Scrappy’s community youth center built an awesome Aztec pyramid float.

And between myself, Pipa, and our friend Rocio, (both amazing aestheticians) we painted about 30 faces before the day was out!  I didn’t even get to do my own until after we came back from the procession… lol 😉

Fun, music, kids, food (not enough! Lol) and then to top it all off, we participated in a parade.
The finale this year was amazing.

For those of you who don’t know about the significance of Day of the Dead, or are wondering why everyone one in AZ is walking around in Masquerade or with their skulls painted as faces (wait!) a full week AFTER Halloween is over, it is a traditional Mexican holiday in which we celebrate our ancestors through costume and tribute. Memorials, and altars decorate floats as families celebrate the deceased.

Celebrating instead of mourning. Such a simple, but meaningful paradigm. It is a beautiful tradition;  Dating all the way back to Aztec times, and like many post-colonial native and African traditions, underwent some form of syncretism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncretism) with the enforced religion of to incorporate catholic saints. Result is The All Souls Procession (link) we see today!

More info at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead
(good old wiki J . Donate!)

See “All Souls Procession” Tag to the right to see the show itself!
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