![]() ![]() Inside, the first thing you see is Lucinda’s Dia de los Muertos altar in her sherbet-colored living room, adorned with decades’-old (but amazingly fresh looking) sugar skulls, candles, family photos, and little mementos of things her loved ones enjoyed. Her tiny front porch is all decked out too.Ī Day of the Dead skeleton head greets visitors at the door. …you see what Lucinda calls her “stairway to heaven” - a mosaic tiled back stair.Īlong the purple wall of her detached garage, she stacks low tables dressed with Mexican oilcloth for a pretty succulent display space. Our Lady of the Bathtub is a permanent fixture in the garden.Īs is the handmade gate that reads El Jardin Encantador: the enchanting garden. On the old driveway in the back garden, a raised vegetable bed is edged with colorful salad plates. Lucinda found the dress, wings, and other costume elements in thrift shops and put it all together with the help of her longtime garden assistant Ernesto. In the background, a butterfly skeleton hangs under an arbor of sky vine, with scattered blossoms arrayed by Mother Nature at her feet. Purple mums fill round pots on her new brick patio, which replaced a small front lawn that was struggling.Īlong the gravel driveway, potted vegetables on limestone blocks make a pretty border.Ĭhard and other edibles are easy to harvest here.Ī long raised bed contains more vegetables. To keep it from flopping, Lucinda has tied bunches of stems together and staked them upright.Ī bed of yellow chrysanthemums makes a good lounging spot for four skeletons. They love the orange and yellow cosmos standing tall on leggy stems. In a ginkgo tree, colorful papel picado banners with skull imagery flutter in the breeze.įluttering throughout her garden, monarchs are fueling up for the last leg of their winter migration to Mexico. She’s adorned her purple casita, as she calls it, with Day of the Dead grocery bags from HEB - clever! ![]() Lucinda invited me over for a visit on Saturday morning, as she was finishing up her decorating. Her colorful, Mexican-inspired home and garden in the Rosedale neighborhood of central Austin grows even more vibrant for Day of the Dead, and inside she stages elaborate table displays and beautiful altars around mementos and photos of her departed loved ones. Whether you're trying to plan your own authentic Day of the Dead celebration or simply hoping to learn more about this sacred Mexican holiday, read on to explore what traditional foods are eaten and the culinary customs that bring Día de los Muertos to life.My friend Lucinda Hutson celebrates Dia de los Muertos like no one else I know. "It’s a very Mexican thing to have extreme sadness with extreme joy at the same time." It’s about joy and color and flavor and celebration, all the mixed emotions," James Beard Award-winning chef Pati Jinich tells Oprah Daily. It’s not morbid, and it’s not about being spooky. "This tradition is rooted in the native Mexican belief that life on earth is a preparation for the next world and of the importance of maintaining a strong relationship with the dead," Aguirre says. Many of these traditional Day of the Dead foods are also made by Mexican communities in places like Los Angeles. The holiday showcases the breadth of Mexican cuisine and recipes, with a mix of savory dishes, sweet treats like sugar skulls which are especially popular with children, bright colors, and spices depending on where in the country you're celebrating. "The food varies depending on the region." ![]() "During this time, people adorn these special altars-known as ofrendas-with cempasúchil (marigold) flowers, burning copal (incense), fresh pan de muerto (bread of the dead), fruits, candles, sugar or chocolate skulls, photographs and mementos of the departed," says Juan Aguirre, Executive Director of the Mexican culture non-profit Mano a Mano. They're decorated with things that the person loved during their life, and food is a crucial component of the altars specifically and of Day of the Dead as a whole. One of the most sacred customs of the holiday is the preparation of altars that serve as a tribute to the deceased. Mexicos's Day of the Dead or Día de los Muertos is an ebullient holiday, occurring from November 1 to November 2, that honors the lives of loved ones who have passed.
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