Trick or Treat! -@antimony-medusa
This is my dog Blade (Named after Technoblade, yes<3) and he was my best friend. He recently came to visit us from the afterlife and played with his siblings at home, had his favorite meal and made us company for a day. Let me tell you about día de los muertos or day of the death.
TLDR: One of many versions of the myth of day of the death, what it often means and why it's cool.
ALSO! I'm (unfortunately) not a historian. I just got mexica/aztec history, mythology and cosmovision as special interests of mine since my senior year or highschool so most of my knowledge is for classes, asking my teachers, studying for exams and researching on my own. There's a lot of myths and legends about this beautiful tradition and this is just the one I know, so if you're interested, please feel free to be curious and do the same!
Back when the Aztecs were the biggest empire in America, whenever a person died by natural causes, it was said their souls were going to travel to the Mictlán (Nahuatl for place of the death), which is similar to hell but not as such as Hell, since Mictlán is the death new home, rather than a punishment. And it too has 9 different levels with 9 different tests by the god mictlantecuhtli and his wife mictecacíhuatl (god and goddess of the place of the death, respectively) for the souls to reach eternal rest.
(This is the place where most people would go, but there's, if I remember correctly, around 3, maybe 4 afterlife places souls would go, but that's a ramble for another time.)
The very entrance of the Mictlán is a river that souls need to cross in order to get in. Here, xoloitzcuintles (xolotl means monster/weird thing and itzcuintle means dog, so literally translating it means weird dog or dog monster. As a fun fact, axolotl literally translates to water monster since it has -xolotl) would help them to get across, but only and ONLY IF souls, when alive, were kind to animals. Thus Aztecas having xoloitzcuintles as lower deities.
But the 9 trials were tough, and mictlantecuhtli didn't know what to do to motivate souls to get through all of them. So then he allowed for them to go back to the world two days a year. November 1st is the day for the children to go visit their parents and siblings. November 2nd is the adult's turn to go visit their families. Aztecs were pleased by this and started making their favorite dishes to help them recharge<3
Apparently, it was the people around 2019 who decided that it was pets' turn to come and visit us October 27th, and we all embraced it. A lot of people's first experience with grief was with pets, and I think they deserve the same treatment. Like with humans, a candle is lit to light their way home along with cempasuchil flowers to trace their path. They're all welcomed with their favorite meals, water, and in some cases toys or their favorite things when they were alive.
As a kid I never had a reason to celebrate día de muertos, but now I do. And rather than that being sad, I took the opportunities to reflect about life, death, afterlife and memories. As long as we remember them, they won't ever die. They'll always live with us, in our hearts and the happy memories we shared with them. Grief is the price to pay for loving in life, and I think every second of pain I've ever experienced, was worth the smiles my loved ones drew in my face when they could.
I encourage anyone of any nationality who feels curiosity to research and put together an ofrenda, share memories about your loved ones and remember how happy you were. Tysm for reading<3
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Día de Muertos
In this day I may introduce you a concept I worked a lot lately; my personification of Death, La Dama Blanca (White Lady). They are not the death mortals meet, but the one who is seen by a nation when goes to extermination; or before becoming something new.
The White Lady is a nickname put by Arthur, because their real name is well known by old wizards, but they cannot be named.
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// ¡Feliz Día de los Muertos! ✨♥️🕯☺️
// It’s a little bit late. But today, I offer you a drawing of La Catrina from the Book of Life,,,, <3🌸✨
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Not my best picture or altar for that matter but it's all about the intent (and having the necessary elements in it)
Also shout out to the kids of my high school that made an altar in honour of the Palestinian people
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✣ Cempasúchil ✣
The -should be- national flower of Mexico. Join me for the official petition? 💪🏽🔥
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A delicate color line flower for D. Thanks so much for the fun sessions!
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I forgot to add Brumm in the past post, might be a little late but I wanted to draw him as a mariachi totally inspired by one of Kas' drawings
Also thanks to her I made this an implied Grumm art, I started to appreciate the ship a lot more thanks to her🫶🔥🛐
🎶Lyrics from. La Vida Entera - Camila 🎶
FELIZ DIA DE MUERTOS AGAIN (LATE AF)
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