The Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) is a now-famous tradition from ancient times that has been a huge part of Mexican Culture through the centuries. Like so many things in Mexico, it's influenced strongly by certain aspects of the Aztec people.
It has shaped the way those of us with that heritage look at life and death in many ways, and most importantly on the remembrance of, and honoring the deceased. We traditionally decorate little altars dedicated to the memories of those that passed away… but it's not a somber occasion.
The marigold flowers are bright; the music festive. The food is tasty and candies and bread are made to honor the occasion. We write "calaveritas" little poems that tell a quirky and funny end to living friends and political figures. Tongue-in-cheek epitaphs if you will. We make candies in the shape of skeletons… I'm sure you've very likely seen the famous sugar calaveras on TV if not in person.
We have a special bread, called Pan de Muertos which legend has it was originally made with ground bones in the mix.
And this is all around celebrating life. We celebrate the life of those who left us. Their memories and their teachings… the funny stories of their lives long or short, their dreams, their adventures… and this helps their memories live on far beyond just a simple picture that you'd need Ancestry.com for additional details for.
So, why all of this?
Well. We've all lost people. Family members and friends… and also members of this community. Authors and writers and artists and fan creators of all sorts. We don't often have something to remember them by… so I thought it would be a great opportunity to remember them. Even the ones that might not be mentioned below in this blog, if we could write a book between all of us centered around this tradition.
A Day of the Dead-inspired anthology where we dedicate a story to someone that's not with us anymore. Whether a family member or community member, writing a story, or a poem, compiling them together and with the help of the good folks at Ponyfeather Publishing, creating an actual physical copy of these stories.
The stories will be curated by myself and a few other authors of note, and the aim would be to have it ready to be sold at the next EFNW, in a similar way to the For the Love Of Faust anthology .
That means that anyone that wants to participate has from today to until May 1st next year to write a story with the Day of the Dead theme.
Once you write your story, you can add it to the Day of the Dead Anthology Group. You don't have to limit access or anything, post it at your own pace and let's celebrate the lives and creativity of our friends who went on ahead of us.
And tonight, since we celebrate the Day of the Dead usually on Nov 1st and 2nd, I hope we all can have a moment to remember the good times with all of our friends and authors here who left us with wonderful stories and touched us all with their creativity. MythrilMoth, RarityEQM, NinjaDeadBeard, Level Dasher, and many others.
I don't know everyone that has passed away, so I can't name them all as they should be, so toast to their lives and their memories in the comments, and if you want to join us in celebrating their lives through a story or two, you know where to find us.
