Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead, Todos Santos) in Xoxocotlan

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This is my second post for Halloween Vlogfest 2005. This is from about 4 years ago. I did a Day of the Dead tour for seven years; five years in Oaxaca and two years here in Chiapas. This footage was shot in the cemetary in Xoxocotlan which is a Zapotec Indian neighborhood on the edge of Oaxaca City. It has a 16th century ruined church right in the middle of the cemetary, in fact there are people buried inside the ruins of the church. It is one of the most beautiful places to see Dia de los Muertos in Mexico. It's a very peaceful setting, people are busy cleaning and decorating the graves. It has a very hushed, sort of reverant feeling about it. One of the things I love about Dia de los Muertos is that it is different in every single graveyard or home that it is celebrated in. It can be peaceful, sad, joyous, drunken, whatever; the whole range of emotions.

By the way, Dia de los Muertos is celebrated in Xoxocotlan on October 31.

Music is by Lila Downs: Yunu Yucu Ninu from the album Yuta Tata, Arbol de la Vida

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