Tuesday, November 3, 2009

El Dia de los Muertos

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November 1 is All Saints Day in the Christian calendar. It is also El Dia de Los Muertos, the Day of The Dead, in Mexico and other western Hispanic countries. St. Louis has a small Latin American community compared to many US cities but there was an observance along Cherokee Street. This little memorial reminds us of 1,060 women in Ciudad Juarez murdered "to date." I don't know what the timeline is. The sign says "hasta la feha." Feha is not a Spanish word I could find in any dictionary. It may be a mispelling of fecha, date, but the reference is surely to the bloodshed in Mexico's narco wars.

4 comments:

Virginia said...

I like the simplicity of this shot. I did our local gig last night. It was great. I have a few pics on my blog today as well. The altars are just amazing. I would have more but I didn't take a spare battery. I know, 20 lashes with a camera strap.
V

cieldequimper said...

Sad. Yet it's a great photo.

PJ said...

From what NPR reported today, it isn't just women, over 2,000 people have been murdered in Ciudad Juarez this past year. I'm sure there are an army of mourners for all of them. Very sobering image.

Nathalie said...

I believe the word is indeed "fecha" and hasta la fecha means "to date"

Assassinated women, 1060 to date.
Yes I have heard of the many women assassinations in that part of Mexico. It's monstrous. Thank you for this thoughtful post.