"There were many stalls selling many things. In one I saw an old woman surrounded by "Day of the Dead" paraphernalia. She reminded me of a mythological figure; a female version of Charon, the boatman on the river Styx, who ferried souls to the land of the dead, surrounded by skeletons and bones. You had to pay Charon a coin to get into his boat. This woman also had coins around her.
The idea of candied skuslls was strange to me; skulls that are sweet, that you can eat. I was used to horror movies where the skulls ate you. What a lovely topsey-turvey turn of events, and also much more reassuring. Being surrounded by so many images of death, being able to eat them and poke fun at them, gave a kind of subtle psychological relief to my fears." Laurie Lipton, Day of the Dead Exhibition with the Mexican Embassy to the U.K., on works inspired by a visit to Mexico.
