Día de Muertos in Oaxaca: Beyond Skulls and Color

课文

1. In Oaxaca, families begin building altars weeks before November 1st, choosing marigolds for their scent and brightness.

   在瓦哈卡，家家户户早在11月1日前几周就开始搭建祭坛，选用万寿菊，因其香气与明艳。

2. Each offering—pan de muerto, sugar skulls, favorite foods—carries personal meaning, not just tradition.

   每样供品——亡灵面包、糖骷髅、逝者生前最爱的食物——都承载个人意义，而不仅是传统。

3. Photographs of deceased loved ones are placed beside candles that guide spirits home through fragrance and light.

   逝去亲人的照片置于烛旁，烛光与香气为灵魂引路归家。

4. Children wear face paint resembling calaveras, but elders share stories aloud so memories stay vivid and warm.

   孩子们脸上画着类似骷髅的彩绘，而长辈则大声讲述往事，让记忆鲜活而温暖。

5. Gravesites become gathering places where music plays softly and relatives clean tombstones together.

   墓地变成聚会场所，音乐轻柔响起，亲友一同清扫墓碑。

6. Unlike Halloween, this celebration assumes death is natural—not frightening—and welcomes return rather than fears it.

   与万圣节不同，这一庆典视死亡为自然之事，而非可怕之事，并欣然迎接亡灵归来，而非恐惧。

7. Local artisans carve intricate wooden alebrijes, mythical creatures believed to escort souls safely across realms.

   当地工匠精心雕刻木质亚勒布里赫——传说中护送灵魂安然穿越 realms 的神话生物。

8. Schools teach students how to write short, poetic calaveras—humorous rhymes about living friends’ ‘deaths’.

   学校教学生创作简短诗意的‘骷髅诗’——以幽默韵文调侃在世朋友的‘死亡’。

9. Tourists join processions only if invited, respecting that some rituals remain private family moments.

   游客仅在受邀时才加入游行，尊重部分仪式仍是私密的家庭时刻。

10. At midnight on November 1st, bells ring gently as families whisper names into the cool night air.

    11月1日午夜，钟声轻响，家人在清冷夜风中低语亲人的名字。