What is day of the dead?

Mexican Day of the Dead is an interesting holiday celebrated in the cities and countryside in central and southern Mexico during the chilly days of November 1 & 2.
Even though this coincides with the Catholic holiday called All Soul's & All Saint’s Day, the indigenous people have combined this with their own ancient beliefs of honoring their deceased loved ones.
They believe that the gates of heaven are opened at midnight on October 31 and the spirits of all deceased children (angelitos) are allowed to reunite with their families. On November 2, the spirits of the adults come down to enjoy the festivities that are prepared for them.
In most Indian villages, beautiful altars (ofrendas) are made in each home. They are decorated with candles, lowers (wild marigolds called cempasuchil & bright red cock's combs) mounds of fruit, peanuts, plates of turkey mole, stacks of tortillas and big loaves of bread called pan de muerto. The weary spirits need lots of food, bottles of soda, hot cocoa and water. Toys and candies are left for the angelitos and on Nov. 2, cigarettes and shots of mezcal are offered to
the adult spirits. Little folk art skeletons and sugar skulls, purchased at open-air markets, provide the final touches.
Day of the Dead is a very expensive holiday! Many spend over two month's income to honor their dead relatives. They believe that happy spirits will provide protection, good luck and wisdom to their families.
On the afternoon of Nov. 2, the festivities are taken to the cemetery. People clean tombs, play cards, listen to the village band and reminisce about their loved ones. This tradition keeps the village close. Day of the Dead is becoming very popular in the U.S.~ perhaps because we
don't have a way to celebrate and honor our dead, or maybe it's because of our fascination with its mysticism. We would like to thank Angela Villalba for her information about this subject, you can check her wonderful webpage at http://mexicansugarskull.com

Celebrate Day of the Dead Hollywood Style!!

Every year a very interesting event takes place at the Hollywood Cemetery to Celebrate Day of the dead. On this festival, the cemetery receives thousands of visitors (24,000 last year) to enjoy Music, dance, art, folk art and traditional Mexican rituals for the dead like altars, flowers and food. This year the main Mausoleum (where the rests of Rodolfo Valentino are) will be transformed in a Hi End Gallery where between others, a group of artists from Rosarito Mexico will have on display there art, the artists are: David Silvah, Francisco Cabello, Lucy De Hoyos, Daniel Franco, Alfredo Villafaña and Becris.
Along with those artists from Rosarito, our Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art Gallery www.losnaguales.com will have a "museum display" inside the Mausoleum with papier mache art of the Linares family, 10 pieces will be on display and they belong to collectors from the LA Area that have acquired there part of there collection with us, like Amy Franz and Kelly Holland. Some of the life size pieces that will be on display are: a Catrina (by Felipe Linares), a Frida Kahlo (by Felipe Linares), Cilindrero (by Leonardo Linares), a weeding couple (by Ricardo Linares), and a very realistic Bishop (by Ricardo Linares).
We hope you could join us on this celebration, this year Lila Downs will be performing on the Event. For more information please visit http://www.ladayofthedead.com, we will also have a booth where we will be selling day of the dead art, right in front of the main entrance of the mausoleum. Feel free to get in touch with us for more information! mexfolkarts@yahoo.com.mx
For more information on the Linares Family please check my older posts one about Ricardo Linares and and older on Felipe Linares. To see the items by the Linares Family that we have for sale click here

Felipe Linares Papier Mache Skelleton Enramada

Hello Friends! this time I would like to write about one of my favorites pieces of Mexican Folk Art, its called "Enramada" (Branch men) and its made in Papier Mache by Great Master of Mexican Folk Art Felipe Linares (born in 1934). Its average size is 59” tall, every Enramada he makes its a different piece of art so each one has different animals, flowers and plants. The Linares family its the most famous Mexican family on the art of Paper Mache, late Pedro Linares (father of Felipe) invented the fantastical creatures called “Alebrijes” (he also invented that word).
The work of Felipe Linares can be found in the National Museum of Mexican Folk Art (Museo de Arte Popular) in Mexico City, the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, the Fowler Museum in UCLA, the Museum of Men in London between others. Also some of the most important collectors of Mexican Folk Art have this piece among there most valuable objects, like Amy Franz who by the way has the most impressive Linares collection I have seen.
Also the work of Felipe Linares can be found in several books of Mexican Folk art, his work made the cover for the new book of the Mexican Goverment Agency for traditional crafts "Arte Popular de Mexico" (see photo), other books are. En Calavera: The Papier-Mache Art of the Linares Family
, “Crafts of the people, hands of God”, and Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art.. The book The Skeleton at the Feast: The Day of the Dead in Mexico has in its a pages a photo of one of Felipes Enramadas.
Each Enramada he makes takes aprox 6 months to be made, please consider that this its a piece of art and that the master was born in 1934, any way its wait is worth doing!.
If you would like to receive more photos of other Enramadas that I have sold please get in touch!! (mexfolkarts@yahoo.com.mx). To see all the items that we have for sale by the Linares family please click here