DIA DE LOS MUERTOS IN LAS VEGAS

​Isaias Urrabazo "Elizadeath" wood, paper, clay, acrylic paint Photo: PtD. 
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WHOM WERE YOU WEARING?: Isaias Urrabazo's "Elizadeath" is stunning in her shades of pinks, robust feathers and, oh,  that frozen smile. . . The sculpture is one of the entries in the 16th Annual Life in Death Festival at Winchester Cultural Center. The festival is November 1 and 2 from 5 to 9 pm.  Facebook.

TRADITION GONE COMMERCIAL?:  There are purists who are concerned the meaning of Day of the Dead has jumped the dead shark. That it is a cultural gentrification, or appropriation, of a solemn ceremony of altars, ofrendas, for the deceased. Yet it's wider popularity has influenced how Mexico observes the indigenous Dia de Los Muertos. From the Los Angeles Times, In Mexico, Day of the Dead meets Halloween:
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The two holidays — Halloween on Oct.  31 and Day of the Dead two days later — have fused here into a multi-day, sometimes surreal celebration and a bonanza for pinata and mask makers, costume fabricators and bakers specializing in sugary offerings for the departed. At the sprawling Sonora Market here, the final shopping days are frantic.

On Saturday, Mexico City held its first Day of the Dead parade, a runaway success that saw the route through downtown jammed with more 250,000 people, many in full Halloween mode, decked out in skeleton regalia, their faces painted like skulls.

The inspiration was pure Hollywood — last year’s James Bond movie, “Spectre,” featured a stunning opening scene of an imagined Day of the Dead street festival in Mexico City.  Officials moved to turn fiction into a marketing jackpot, creating an extravaganza  of stylized death to draw tourists and showcase the Mexico brand.