Tabasco`s Day of the Dead customs recreated

* At the Main Plaza and La Isla Retaurant in Xcaret Park

** A fascinating stage production by the Ballet Folclórico Nacional de México Aztlán

By Alejandra Flores

The always acclaimed Ballet Folclórico Nacional de México Aztlán (Mexico Aztlán National Folkloric Ballet), directed by Silvia Lozano, has prepared a special production for the 3rd Life and Death Traditions Festival, Xcaret 2008: a performance blending dance and theater to recreate the ancient customs followed when someone dies in the Chontal Maya Region of the State of Tabasco.

Amongst the Tabascan people, like in other parts of the country, life is a game, but so is death, explains Silvia Lozano.  "We Mexicans dance, laugh, sing; but we also cry when death draws near."

"In some Tabascan towns, they still carry the departed in a hammock and glide down the river he fished in and pass through the streets where he walked and, thus, pick up his steps to allow him to reach eternal rest.  Prayers are said at the departed`s house to receive him before an altar where they have placed the food and drink he enjoyed in life. They also lay his favorite clothing, hat, machete, backpack and gourd on the altar. For the nine days of prayers, the nine lords of the night remember the life of the departed on Earth, where he gambled with the devil, with the angel and also with death."

The Ballet Folclórico Nacional de México Aztlán will talk to us not only about the Day of the Dead in Tabasco, but will also give us a glimpse of everyday life and how they enjoy life in Tabasco; how fairs, Carnival and play form part of the daily life of the men and women of Tabasco.

El Día de Muertos en Tabasco, by the Ballet Folclórico Nacional de México Aztlán, will give double features from October 30th to November 2nd at two locations: the Main Plaza and La Isla Restaurant in Xcaret Park.