A 10-foot tall skeleton in a sombrero leaned over to ask if I knew what time it was.
Which is not that weird when you’re at a Día de los Muertos celebration with skeletons everywhere – on banners, as sculptures, painted on kids’ faces, and for sale on tote bags.
So, of course, there would be a skeleton with stilts, a full beard, and no watch.
When you think about it, the lack of a timepiece may be the least surprising part. Schedules are probably pretty irrelevant in the realm of the dead.
Phillip, Quijote, and I had showed up near the end of Mesa Arts Center’s festival. We started at the custom car show and worked our way toward an oversized Frida Kahlo skull made from tissue paper flowers, stopping to listen to a band on the way.
We visited the community altar, which was decorated with photos, candles, art, and flowers in memory of departed loved ones.
On a second stage, Mariachi Pasion, an all-woman mariachi band, began playing.
When Quijote got restless, we moved on to check out the arts and crafts vendors. There were handcrafted decorations, jewelry, papel picado banners, and small ceramics that looked like ones we had seen in Peru.
Now it was 4:30 – half an hour before it was all scheduled to be over – and the party showed no signs of stopping.
In fact, it was still so crowded that our stilt-walking friend had trouble getting through. The bands played on, vendors continued to serve up churros and hot dogs and tamales and paletas, and there was still a line to get into the craft-making area.
As we walked away, the celebration continued behind us – everyone enjoying the moment, like time was irrelevant.
