The Comparsa at Martha's

The last big event Jane took us to was what she called a "comparsa".  I looked up what it means and a conga de comparsa is a band which plays during a celebration. It consists of a large group of dancers dancing and traveling on the streets, followed by the musicians who play. And that is exactly what happened.  We drove out to the boonies where Jane's friend lives and ate and drank while we waited for her neighbours who are mostly Mixtecs to arrive.




 The photo above is the bottom part of Martha's Day of the Dead altar to her loved ones.






This comparasa was for Day of the Dead (for the Mixtecs it is a three day celebration) and they act out Death trying to capture the living.

The gringos sat on the sidelines until the dancing started

         





First a few of the villagers arrived in costume.....

















 



Then the band arrived, tubas and all.

After the band, the villagers arrived - as curious about the gringos as we were about them.

Here is Death trying to capture an hombre...





This photo below is how it looked from the sidelines










There were amazing costumes. I couldn't figure out who this dude was supposed to be but somebody told me that his cape weighed about 50kilos.  Whatever, it was heavy and he was gorgeous.

There were wonderfully imaginative costumes....including the Pope and little devils.

This dude was my favorite. Something in between a reptile and a human. Totally sci-fi

and the band kept playing (louder)

The gringos got into the dancing .....

Meurtos boogie.....