All Souls Parade

The Day of the Dead celebration is not a halloween wannabe. With roots in Mexico, it celebrates those we've lost, but not in a morbid way. This year I was one of 20,000 artists, performers, grannies, babies, street people, even dogs gathered to remember.
Pre-parade-A huge urn rocked down the street. Small men dressed like "jokers" passed out pencils and paper. The idea, write a message to the deceased, toss it in the urn, to be set on fire at the end. Any negativity or guilt harbored by the living goes up in flames along with the urn.
The whole event celebrates and integrates the cycle of life and the ties between living and dead. This creates a festive mood with participants eager to share verbal snapshots of their loved-one in life. All very cathartic.
Myself, I was torn between sadness and celebration. My year had been one of tremendous losses and tremendous founds. Such heady stuff that I couldn't muster the creativity to photograph from March through August. But I was no different than the others that surrounded me.
This lady in black sums up the experience for me. Dressed for a party, she comes with flowers, clutching a photo, a visual reminder of who and what was lost.
With so many pictures displayed on people and around people, this is an event that really celebrates the power of photography. I was very moved by what I saw and uplifted by the people I met dealing with so many losses.