El Día de la Muerte

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I just got back from the downtown Austin parade celebrating “El Día de la Muerte,”  The Day of the Dead.  The theme was “Viva la Vida,”  Long Live Life, a challenging combination of Life and Death.  What a wonderful celebration it was, full of color, music, dance, giant butterflies and puppets.  
Coupled with all these symbols of joy and happiness were skeleton masks and painted faces symbolizing death.  Interesting.
What were these symbols of the Mexican-American culture saying?  Were they laughing at death?  Were they reconnecting with their deceased friends and relatives?   Were they saying that Life overcomes Death?  Were they reaching deep into their beliefs about life and death and the Communion of Saints?  
How do you express in symbol your deep beliefs?  
LouAnne Willette OP
Austin, TX

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