I took a week off after Dia de los Muertos – I love this time of year, but it really wipes me out. I spent my time off catching up on missed TV shows, reading and sleeping. One nights sleep turned out to be quite fruitful. When I woke up I had an idea for another variation on the Sacred Heart. It was finished within 24 hours. That is unusual for me, as sometimes it takes months to finish one of my Day of the Dead art ideas. This one is called “El Corazon Ardiente” (the burning heart) and it had a flaming heart pierced by a bone, in front of a tri-color background. This one has a more tribal feel to it.
One of the shows I saw on my week off was about the history of Halloween on the History Channel.They tried to incorporate Day of the Dead into their show and they got it wrong. They say that Day of the Dead is a synthesis of Halloween with Mexican cultural and pagan elements. That is untrue, Day of the Dead was originally an Aztec holiday and when they were forced to convert to Christianity by the spaniards they incorporated the elements of their holiday with Christian elements. It has nothing to do with Halloween. Although I can see why, at first glance one might think so, I am surprised that the History Channel didn’t take the time to learn a little bit more about the holiday before they misclassified it.
