Home altars of mexico - Softcover

At the heart of many homes in Mexico is the "altarcito", or home altar: private shrines which have profound personal and familial meaning and reflect the vitality of Mexico's spiritual practices. The photographs in this collection depict the altars in detail. Some are constructed for special holidays - Christmas or the Day of the Dead - while others commemorate family members using photographs, mementoes and the deceased's favourite foods. For more than ten years, photographer Dana Salvo - a Guggenheim Fellow and Fulbright scholar - visited the Purepehcan Indians in Michoacan, the Chamulan and Zinacantan tribes in Chiapas, the Maya of the Yucatan peninsula, and several other isolated groups in the countryside. Essays by Ramon Gutierrez, Salvatore Scalora and William Beezley provide the cultural and historical background to the practice of constructing domestic altars, linking ancient traditions to modern customs.