Day of the Dead
Oct. 22nd, 2008 10:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
simgaroopNo Broke update tonight. I'm sorry, but I suffered a bit of writer's block (or more exactly, I just couldn't make my sentences sound right no matter how many times I re-wrote them, damn my English limitations!), so I decided to give myself another day to finish part 2.
The good news is that today I began a 10 day vacation period, so tomorrow I'll have more free time in the morning to finish it. I hope I'll have it up by noon.
Meanwhile, I wanted to show you the results of a little side project. As some of you may know, we celebrate in México the Day of the Dead on November 2nd. Every year, we mount a small altar in honor of our loved ones who have already departed to the other world, where we leave flowers, candle light and their favorite food, among other things. The tradition says that on the night of Nov 2nd, the spirits come back to our homes for a short visit, so we must make sure they have enough to eat for their journey back to their world.
Let me just copy-paste what I wrote down last year:
Though the subject matter may be considered morbid from the perspective of some other cultures, celebrants typically approach the Day of the Dead joyfully, and though it occurs roughly at the same time as Halloween, the traditional mood is much brighter with emphasis on celebrating and honoring the lives of the deceased, and celebrating the continuation of life; the belief is not that death is the end, but rather the beginning of a new stage in life.
Ofrendas are also put in homes, usually with foods such as candied pumpkin, pan de muerto ("bread of the dead") or sugar skulls and beverages such as atole. The ofrendas are left out in the homes as a welcoming gesture for the deceased. Some people believe the spirits of the dead eat the "spiritual essence" of the ofrenda food, so even though the celebrators eat the food after the festivity, they believe it lacks nutritional value. The pillows and blankets are left out so that the deceased can rest after their long journey.
Anyway, today we built our Ofrenda, and I wanted to show you a couple of pics. It is not finished, because we still need to buy flowers and of course, prepare the food for it, but that'll be until November 1st.
Inspired by my family's ofrenda, I also tried to make one with the Sims games. That made look for the right "mexican" custom content (and oh goodness! There were so many tacky things that fall in those dreaded Speedy Gonzalez stereotypes!) and to make my own "calaveritas de azucar" :D. You'll also see the pics under the cut.
This year we dedicated our Ofrenda to our pets. That's why you can see the pictures of three dogs on the top. We will also build one for our Grandparents at my Aunt's house next week. There are paper flowers, some candles, some calaveritas (sugar skulls) and a few paper toys related to this holiday, which we bought at a local market. If the vendors weren't so paranoid, I'd sure take a picture of the market, for it looks gorgeous at this time of the year, so full of colours!
And this one is my Sims' Ofrenda de Muertos. Man! I can't believe how annoying it is to place all the little clutter with the help of a billion OMSP (One more Slot Package, aka some columns that let you place more stuff on different surfaces).
The calaveritas are a lame recolour I did of Windkeeper's skull mesh, and I also did the recolour of the portrait on the bottom. I did some paintings with the traditional drawings from Posadas, but the Maxis painting is no longer showing up in my game.
I guess this means it is time to just ditch all my CC. I have an insane amount of stuff I collected to make my cartoon posters and alien settings, but I barely use it and it only slows down my game. And something tells me I should also ditch the billion hair recolors I found at GOS. That site is my poor downloads folder biggest enemy! :D
This one is much larger because I'm planning of making it my lj layout's header as soon as I figure out how to make one.
And that's it for now! :P
Take care!
The good news is that today I began a 10 day vacation period, so tomorrow I'll have more free time in the morning to finish it. I hope I'll have it up by noon.
Meanwhile, I wanted to show you the results of a little side project. As some of you may know, we celebrate in México the Day of the Dead on November 2nd. Every year, we mount a small altar in honor of our loved ones who have already departed to the other world, where we leave flowers, candle light and their favorite food, among other things. The tradition says that on the night of Nov 2nd, the spirits come back to our homes for a short visit, so we must make sure they have enough to eat for their journey back to their world.
Let me just copy-paste what I wrote down last year:
«Ofrenda de Muertos»
Though the subject matter may be considered morbid from the perspective of some other cultures, celebrants typically approach the Day of the Dead joyfully, and though it occurs roughly at the same time as Halloween, the traditional mood is much brighter with emphasis on celebrating and honoring the lives of the deceased, and celebrating the continuation of life; the belief is not that death is the end, but rather the beginning of a new stage in life.
Ofrendas are also put in homes, usually with foods such as candied pumpkin, pan de muerto ("bread of the dead") or sugar skulls and beverages such as atole. The ofrendas are left out in the homes as a welcoming gesture for the deceased. Some people believe the spirits of the dead eat the "spiritual essence" of the ofrenda food, so even though the celebrators eat the food after the festivity, they believe it lacks nutritional value. The pillows and blankets are left out so that the deceased can rest after their long journey.
- From Wikipedia
Anyway, today we built our Ofrenda, and I wanted to show you a couple of pics. It is not finished, because we still need to buy flowers and of course, prepare the food for it, but that'll be until November 1st.
Inspired by my family's ofrenda, I also tried to make one with the Sims games. That made look for the right "mexican" custom content (and oh goodness! There were so many tacky things that fall in those dreaded Speedy Gonzalez stereotypes!) and to make my own "calaveritas de azucar" :D. You'll also see the pics under the cut.
This year we dedicated our Ofrenda to our pets. That's why you can see the pictures of three dogs on the top. We will also build one for our Grandparents at my Aunt's house next week. There are paper flowers, some candles, some calaveritas (sugar skulls) and a few paper toys related to this holiday, which we bought at a local market. If the vendors weren't so paranoid, I'd sure take a picture of the market, for it looks gorgeous at this time of the year, so full of colours!
And this one is my Sims' Ofrenda de Muertos. Man! I can't believe how annoying it is to place all the little clutter with the help of a billion OMSP (One more Slot Package, aka some columns that let you place more stuff on different surfaces).
The calaveritas are a lame recolour I did of Windkeeper's skull mesh, and I also did the recolour of the portrait on the bottom. I did some paintings with the traditional drawings from Posadas, but the Maxis painting is no longer showing up in my game.
I guess this means it is time to just ditch all my CC. I have an insane amount of stuff I collected to make my cartoon posters and alien settings, but I barely use it and it only slows down my game. And something tells me I should also ditch the billion hair recolors I found at GOS. That site is my poor downloads folder biggest enemy! :D
This one is much larger because I'm planning of making it my lj layout's header as soon as I figure out how to make one.
And that's it for now! :P
Take care!