Ramblings....: Noches de Altares 2012...

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Noches de Altares 2012...

I have started attending this pretty regularly now for a few years. The Dios de Los Muertos Celebration is technically November 1/2 but the 1st Saturday in November, whatever date that may be, they have what is called Noches de Altares in downtown Santa Ana. I am fascinated by this Mexican holiday that celebrates the lives of those passed on. The altars are set up usually with marigolds, flowers, sugar skulls and many many other types of decor. There is usually a few items that the departed enjoyed (booze, items, food) and something for them to wear (perfume, cologne) when they return on this day to celebrate. It's a beautiful celebration with gorgeous altars, the air filled with sage, living flame bringing a spooky beautiful atmosphere to the event. Usually my friend T builds the altar for our friends at Bistro 400 and paints my face. This year she was unable to attend so I attempted to paint my face on my own. My friend Ber joined me and came over a bit early to attempt to paint her own face as well. I think we did pretty good!

This festival co-incides with the Santa Ana Artwalk they have on the first Saturday of every month so it's grown to be quite an event. Parking is always a nightmare and this year was no exception. Ber and I ended up parking across 1st Street in some neighborhood behind Original Mikes. The festival was as usual beautiful. The altars were gorgeous. The festival has seemed to grow though and I would say it was much more crowded this year than years past. We met up with another girlfriend of ours and two of her friends. Then another pair of our friends Petey and Bobby Dean joined us. We had dinner and drinks at Bistro 400 as we always start and end our evening here usually and off we went. This year we had a hard time staying together and ended seeing the festival in different groups. But the crowds were mellow (with the exception of a drunken incident with some dude crashing into Ber) and people for the most part polite. Folks were friendly and happy to share a story about thier loved ones. We looped the entire festival, no merchandise puchases this year but had a lovely evening. After final drinks at Bistro, we didnt stay since we were all a bit worn out and the festival was just a bit to busy this year for us. But I snapped some great shots as you can see below! Enjoy!

This was an altar built for foster children and the woman was having people write notes and messages to the kids. I filled one out "Always love who you are".