Return of the dead to Weltmuseum Wien

Yes, they are back this weekend, the dead and not so dead, celebrating Día de los Muertos with a whole series of events at Weltmuseum Wien.  After a year´s absence, fortunately the Weltmuseum opened its doors again for the festivities and exhibitions surrounding this traditional Mexican holiday.  Why, you might ask, would a Mexican holiday be celebrated in Vienna, where All Soul´s Day and All Saint´s Day are the more traditional ways we commemorate our dead?  I guess for the same reason we now see children in Halloween costumes trick-or-treating, or that we are all happily sipping mojitos and margaritas.  Put it down to globalization.  I, for one, am happy it is so.

On a winning team

I wrote quite a detailed blog about the background of Día de los Muertos (the day of the dead) last year, when I took part in the festivities at Semper Depot, so I will not repeat it here.  I mostly want to show you some of the many photos I took last night.

The perfect venue for a Mexican party

The Weltmuseum of course seems the ideal place for such an event.  Not only is it a gorgeous venue, with a large central hall flanked by marble columns; it also has a large collection of Mexican artifacts in its collections, including the famous celebrated Aztec feather headdress from the  early 16th century.   Apart from the celebrations they have also been having special feature tours of the Mexican collection over the past few days.  I quite like how this “world museum” hosts lively workshops and tours that link the present to the past. From what was once a rather boring collection of old artefacts it has turned into a place of vibrant exhibitions that have drawn me in more than once.

A wonderful Mariachi orchestra and folk dances – what more could you want for a proper Mexican party?  My only regret last night was that visitors were not allowed on the galleries to look down on the dancers and party crowd (which would have presented even more magnificent photo opportunities, but I think I got enough of a photo loot as is).  And a good time was apparently had by all.