Hola!
I know it has been a long time since I posted, but here I am! A lot has been going on, so I have
been really busy and have not had time to write. Also, I have a kind of bad memory so Im not
really good at recording past things. But I am going to start off blogging again, starting at the
date November 2, 2013.
Yesterday was November 2, which here is known as Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.
Just in case you don't know, the Day of the Dead is a date in the Catholic faith which takes
place on November 2, and is also known as All Souls Day. The day before, November 1st, is
known as All Saints Day. On Dia de los Muertos, families visit the tombs of their dead friends
and family sometimes with food, etc. Often people burn candles and bring pictures of the dead
and lay them out in front of the grave. I dont have too many details about Day of the Dead, but I
do know it is very important to many Catholic families here in Bolivia and the streets and
cemeteries were crowded yesterday, and many families were busy. My family got up early, and
my mom left the house at about 8 to go make a flower arrangement to put around her fathers
grave. At around 10, she returned with her niece, and we then went to the cemetery to set the
flowers, and at the point we organized the flowers that were already there and set the new
ones.
My host mom and her niece prayed for a moment and then we left to retrieve my host dad
before going to have lunch with my host aunt, her kids, and my family. It is normal on Day of the
Dead, to have lunch or dinner with your family. Some people even bring the food to the
cemetery. After lunch, we went home to rest, and at about 4:30, we returned to the cemetery
where we stayed eating, sitting, and talking around the grave as some candles burned until
about 8:30 more or less. At the end, they left the candles burning and my family prayed for
about 3 minutes or so before we went to eat dinner and return to the house.
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