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News From Nowhere Radical & Community Bookshop

not-for-profit - a workers'co-op - committed to social justice | 96 Bold Street, Liverpool L1 4HY - 0151 708 7270

The Skeleton at the Feast: The Day of the Dead in Mexico

by Elizabeth Carmichael and Chloë Sayer - £26.99  University of Texas Press (1991)
paperback    ISBN 13: 9780292776586 | ISBN 10: 0292776586

All over Mexico, early in November, families gather to welcome the souls of the dead on their annual visit home. The smells of burning copal incense and pungent cempasúchil (marigolds) mingle with the aromas of fresh bread, new clothing, sweets, and candles. One of Mexico's most important festivals since prehispanic times, the Day of the Dead is an occasion for celebrating and feasting, cleaning and decorating graves, dancing and making music.
 
In this unique work, the authors explore both the historic origins of this holiday and its colorful present-day celebrations in Mexico and the United States. Interviews with Mexican artists and crafters who provide goods for the festival—from personalized sugar skulls to gigantic papier-mâché skeletons—offer a fascinating glimpse into traditional and contemporary attitudes toward death and the dead.
 
Lavishly illustrated with color and black-and-white photographs, The Skeleton at the Feast will be required reading for all who are interested in Mexican culture, art, and folklore.

(Price & availability last checked: August 2018)

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In booklists: Festivals and Celebrations: Day of the Dead, Art and Artists - Latin America and Caribbean, Mexico,
In categories: Spirituality, World - Latin America & Caribbean,

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