Bazaar de Muertos by 20 local artisans
By Patrice Wynne October 31, 2008 San Miguel de Allende 

Artisans’ Fair
Bazaar Día de los Muertos 
Sat–Sun, Nov 1–2, 10am–7pm
Hernandez Macias 121, 
between Pila Seca and Codo

If you want to spend the day enjoying—and perhaps shopping for—the many Muertos folk art creations by local artisans, come to the Bazaar Día de los Muertos. Creations by local artisans include Patrice Wynne/San Miguel Apron Designs, Jade Vintage Clothing, Catrinas by Guadalupe Trejo “Pupis,” Bonnie Griffith, Bernabel Garcia, Joan Elena Goldberg & Lino expressionistic ceramics and handcrafted Chichimecan clothing and liquors.

You can view the Traditional Day of the Dead Altar and discuss the holiday with the artisans you meet.

Mexicans have a special relationship with death: they consider it the beginning of life. Like people everywhere, Mexicans fear death, but they also mock it, joke with it, tease it, dance with it, create art about it, and most of all honor it publicly.

During the Days of the Dead, death is celebrated with beautiful, artful and touching traditional altars created for the occasion in homes, businesses and cemeteries. In the Mexican tradition, no soul should be left unacknowledged.

Increasingly, death images (Muertos) are found in folk art and housewares all year. Dancing skeletons (calacas) adorn the most beautiful Mexican homes.

In San Miguel, the foreign community is welcome at the cemetery but in respectful attendance, without intruding on the family.