All Souls Procession

Ever since my lovely father in law passed away three years ago, my little Mormon family have attended the All Souls Procession held the weekend after Halloween. He used to travel to Mexico for the big week long celebration every year so we thought we'd honor his memory by taking part in our local parade.

The first year we made a giant altar with his picture and decorated it with flowers and candles and gaudy glitter. I even whipped up a fake plate of enchiladas, his favorite food. The year after, while I was away, the rest of the family went to the parade with the same float from the previous year and some people said, "Pssh, we saw that float last year." Not only did I think that was completely rude, seeing how everyone was there to remember their loved ones, my family was mortified.

So this year I decided to change it up and build a giant guitar. Dad would play in his younger years and my husband also grew to love playing guitar.

I got a large piece of cardboard (courtesy of a chassis) and painted it. I had some scrap pressed fiberboard and made a neck. I had some Styrofoam and made a head. I went to my trusty dollar store and picked up anything skulls for me to repaint and decorate. On the actual guitar we have Dad's picture and I tried to paint/decorate things that related to his life. Dad's from Veracruz, an ocean front state in Mexico so I painted palm leaves and fish skeletons.

At the actual parade we dress in Mexican garb and paint our faces like skeletons. The gals sometimes wear flowers in their hair. The parade route is long and it's a nice community feeling. 

Cool giant neon skull.

The man featured on this altar actually built this himself, he passed after it's completion.

There was a variety of artwork.  We have no idea how many people attended, in the thousands at least.  It was kind of weird having random people come up and want to take your picture.  Do I smile?  Look somber?  Deer in headlights?  Some people didn't ask and took candid shots.  There was music throughout, hooting and hollering but overall a really great time.  It was a nice family affair and though our feet are a little sore, we'll do it again next year.