As Mexicans mark Day of the Dead, some no longer believe
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Candles illuminate graves freshly decorated by family and friends, marking the Day of the Dead holiday at the cemetery in San Gregorio, Mexico, on Thursday, Nov 1, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
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A man sits covered in a blanket beside a grave covered with candles during the Day of the Dead celebrations at a cemetery in Tzintzuntzan, in the Mexican state of Michoacan on Nov 1, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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A woman lies in front of pictures of dead relatives placed beside their graves during the Day of the Dead celebrations at a cemetery in Tzintzuntzan, in the Mexican state of Michoacan on Nov 2, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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A woman stands beside a relative's grave during the Day of the Dead celebrations in San Gregorio, Mexico, on Thursday, Nov 1, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
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A mariachi band performs as they wait for clients at a cemetery during the Day of the Dead celebrations in San Gregorio, Mexico, late on Thursday, Nov 1, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
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Frangerato Salvador, 8, dressed as a Katarina, stands beside her brother's grave, marking the Day of the Dead holiday at the cemetery in San Gregorio, Mexico, on Thursday, Nov 1, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
Candles illuminate graves freshly decorated by family and friends, marking the Day of the Dead holiday at the cemetery in San Gregorio, Mexico, on Thursday, Nov 1, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
A man sits covered in a blanket beside a grave covered with candles during the Day of the Dead celebrations at a cemetery in Tzintzuntzan, in the Mexican state of Michoacan on Nov 1, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
A woman lies in front of pictures of dead relatives placed beside their graves during the Day of the Dead celebrations at a cemetery in Tzintzuntzan, in the Mexican state of Michoacan on Nov 2, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
A woman stands beside a relative's grave during the Day of the Dead celebrations in San Gregorio, Mexico, on Thursday, Nov 1, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
A mariachi band performs as they wait for clients at a cemetery during the Day of the Dead celebrations in San Gregorio, Mexico, late on Thursday, Nov 1, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
Frangerato Salvador, 8, dressed as a Katarina, stands beside her brother's grave, marking the Day of the Dead holiday at the cemetery in San Gregorio, Mexico, on Thursday, Nov 1, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
TLACOTEPEC, Mexico (AFP) - Mr Isaac Carrasco and his two daughters dutifully adorned the graves of several relatives with beds of marigolds and crosses made of red flowers for Mexico's Day of the Dead.
But the nearby tombstones of his grandparents were bare and surrounded by metal bars, left this way by his aunts, who no longer mark the annual ritual.
Like a growing number of Mexicans, Mr Carrasco's aunts became Protestant and no longer believe in a tradition that dates back from the Aztec era and was later fused with Catholic beliefs.
"I would be sad if my daughters forgot about by grave like the way they abandoned by grandparents' graves," Mr Carrasco, a farmer in his 60s, said at the San Lucas Cemetery in the central Mexican town of Tlacotepec.
