What a great holiday! Candy skulls, costumes, running around in the dark collecting loot, and maybe getting scared (without really being in any jeopardy), and often on a school night!

The Denver Botanical Garden invited citizens to create alters in the gardens. One artist explained that she had spent every summer on the beach in the South at her grandmother’s so she filled hers with seashells, marine life images, and sand art.

There was embroidered, welded, inlaid, tiled, and lots of paper cut out works of folk art around every corner. We appreciated the coke bottle cap art most of all…

Through the ghoulish expression, comes an outpouring of love, vibrancy, and community. During our year residing in the State of Nayarit, Mexico in 2009-2010, Jacob and I observed families in the graveyards during the week before the holiday, cleaning up, planting flowers and decorating gravestones in preparation for the day when the families would come with picnics, boom boxes and joyous hearts to celebrate all day. Children were dressed up in their Sunday Finest, playing chase among the gravestones.

Embracing death…what could be more natural? What better way to remove our existential fear of death? Give a party and dance to it!

We especially liked the mixture of Madonna imagery with the ghoulish. Even Frida Kahlo, another Madonna Icon, was featured with cats in this crochet art. Happy Halloween! Go score some candy from your neighbors…in costume, of course!