We're now home, after a wonderful evening celebration of Dia de los Muertos at church. We colored in pictures of skulls and skeletons with bright markers and crayons while snacking on chips and delicious Mexican hot chocolate. We learned about the offerendas, or altars filled with items evoking the memories of those gone ahead, who are believed to visit on All Souls' and All Saints' Days. There were candles, pan de muertos (bread), water (sometimes it's tequila, or whatever the deceased liked), incense, an overhead archway, marigolds, sugar skulls, paper cut-outs, and personal belongings--the altars are very specifically for an individual. We heard a wonderful local youth mariachi band, who preformed several songs about love and loss. Then we ate authentic Mexican and Guatemalan food, including a Guatemalan stew, black bean and sweet potato burritos, rice and beans, pineapple, pan de muertos, and white chocolate skulls. Sis even wrote "Morgan" on a memorial card, which we put on the offerenda.
And now we wait. We figure the brunt of the storm won't hit until midday at the earliest, with winds sustained in the 40s and 50s, gusts up to 85 mph possible. But I don't think we're supposed to get much rain, comparatively, only 1-3". I fully expect us to lose power . . . for several days.
Which means we'll have plenty of time to make an offerenda of our own!
I'll post if I can, while trying to conserve phone battery. We have a corded phone on our land line, so as long as that works, we can use the phone . . . . which the kids couldn't recognize when we took it out of the emergency box!
For all of our friends in the path of this storm, be safe and take care!
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