Laurie Hurwitz makes her blog debut:

Dia de Los Muertos is an annual festival in Mexico.  It is associated with All Saints Day but also has prehispanic origins.  The festival focuses on offerings to the dead.  There are processions with costumes and altars set up in the cemeteries and around towns.  Prehispanic  cultures believe that the souls don't die but continue living in a place called Mictlan.  The spirits rest in peace in Mictlan and come back once a year to visit their families.

Laurie before her morning coffee?

At left is a photo of me, Laurie Hurwitz, as a Catrina. La Catrina is the legendary benign spirit that appears on Dia de Los Muertos to encourage the living to enjoy life to the fullest in the here and now. As if to say, "Eat, drink and be merry mis amigos. Because someday you will be like me."

La 

A classic Catrina in a mural by Diego Rivera.