While many of us can be found dressed up in the scariest costumes and loading our nap sacks with treats to the brim come Halloween night, less than a few days later, our Latino brothers and sisters here and home and especially in Mexico, Latin America, and Spain, can be found celebrating the return of the dead in a similar fashion during their festive El Dia De Los Muertos, otherwise known as All Souls Day.
All Souls Day which takes place on November 2, is commemorated with a three-day celebration that begins on the evening of October 31st, the same night as Halloween. The celebration, much like the that of the ancient Celtics, is designed to honor the dead who, it is believed, return to their earthly homes through a portal between the "other world" and here.
In honor of these celebrated and sometimes feared spirits, participants dress in costumes and parade through the candlelit streets at night en route to sacred burial grounds and selected spiritual locations to livicate the spirits of the dead with song, food, items of significance, flowers and candy. Alters are built and graves are decorated as family members and loved ones gather together to picnic with the ancestors on this holy of nights.
The similarities between the two holidays are pretty strong. Both had roots in the honoring of the dead, both are celebrated during the harvest season, and both involve the wearing of costumes. Sweets for the dead and candles or jack-o-lanterns to light the way home for returning souls are other recurring themes as well.
Though there are many folks today who do not believe in a world outside of their limited optical viewing, celebrations like these have been going on for generations all across the world reminding us that there is more to life than meets the eye, and the honoring of departed loved ones is a tradition not soon lost.
Labels: all-saints-day, all-souls-day, day-of-the-dead, el-dia-de-los-muertos, halloweeen-fabric, halloween, holiday-fabric, novelty-cotton
Feelin Groovy BatiksWhen I see a beautiful
batik fabric it takes me back to my days of Art Shows on clothesline, patched jeans and the pungent scent of Patchouli Oil. I remember trying to batik some fabric with the wax and dye, and the mess. It was clearly not something I was cut out for, better to leave it to the experts. Today it is all just a few steps away from my grasp; all I need to do is choose the colors I like best.
Now when I browse through J&O Fabrics and see the new batiks it is hard for me to resist the idea of making a beautiful new sundress or blouse. The prints are sensual and offer a subtle, beautifully blended array of colors. There I am, in my flowing dress, running through a field of flowers, in slow motion........
Dotted Batik Orange Fabric
Grass Field Batik Fabric
Sumatra Diamonds Batik: BluePosts by J&O
Fabrics StoreLabels: batik-fabrics, cotton-prints, novelty-cotton
Each week we receive tons of letters and emails from customers who have made beautiful crafts, reupholstered old furnishings, and designed unique garments all from the fabric they have purchases from our online store. From hot pink vinyl and black suede cloth to children's novelty cotton and route 66 tapestry, it never ceases to amaze us how creative our customers really are.
Take for instance Ms. Yvonne Perry. Yvonne is a freelance writer, editor, author and owner of 'Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services' by day, but by night she is an artist with a unique sense of color and taste who makes wonderful home crafts for friends, family and a few more folks ready to support this Jackie-of-all-trades.
Yvonne sent us an email thanking us for providing her with the perfect sock monkey fabric for her infant bumper pads and crib quilts featured on her flickr photostream below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/randyvonne/page2/
By nurturing her creative imagination and applying the proper training, Yvonne was not only able to turn a fun hobby into a fruitful venture, but save a lot of money at the same time. Why pay for the markup costs of a store bought bumper pad or quilt when you can cut out the middle man and turn those extra dollars into investment dollars for more creative ideas to come.
Yvonne, on behalf of J&O fabrics , we'd like to say 'Thank You' for sharing your project with us and all our blog viewers on the world wide web. Keep on nurturing your gifts and encourages others to do so too. We look forward to seeing more!
To see all of J&O Fabric's fabulous textile goods, check us out at http://www.jofabrics.com.
To check out J&O's selection of sock monkey fabric click here!
To check out J&O's selection of other fun novelty fabric click here!
Posts by J&O Fabrics Store
Labels: breast-cancer-fabric-crafts, childrens-novelty-fabric, craft-ideas, novelty-cotton, novelty-cotton-fabric, novelty-fabric, novelty-fabric-craft, sock-monkey, sock-monkey-craft, sock-monkey-fabric