In San Antonio “The Day of the Dead” is not as widely celebrated throughout the city like the mass cultural traditions of Halloween. But on November 1-2 in the older central West and South side “barrios,” most Americans might feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.
Image: Michael Silver,”Calaveras at San Antonio Texas Day of the Dead Celebration”
Mexican Americans in Texas honor their dead loved-ones similarly, except they’ve incorporated pre-Colombian traditions, using painted or papier-mache skeletal figures to represent their loved ones, marigolds (flor de muertos) to attract the souls of their loved ones, and symbols representing the earth’s elements.
Image: abnazareno
Verstuyft Farm outside San Antonio
A generation ago, faithful Roman Catholics from as far south as Laredo, Texas, used to drive to the southern edge of San Antonio to buy coxcomb (mano de leon) and marigolds from Roger Verstuyft’s father, Dorson. Theirs was one of about 15 Belgian farm families who produced vegetables year round for the San Antonio market and flowers for All Saints and All Souls Days.
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I once left a Cat Stevens CD at my sister’s grave for Dia De los Muertos.
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