Dia de los Muertos

October 31st, or Day of the Dead, is a massive festival here. At first it might seem a little morbid to celebrate the dead as Mexicans do. If you've seen the Momias in Guanajuato you will know what I mean. But as I have come to learn, this festival is a celebration of people who have died and the idea of building little memorials- ofrendas- to family members seems a healthy way to deal with grief.

At school it's not quite the same. We have a competition each year to build an ofrenda in form groups, usually to a famous dead person. Lessons are abandoned while the whole school covers tables and chairs with brown paper and in turn covers them with flowers and candles. Some of the more ambitious ones have wooden structures that have been assembled surreptitiously during tutor periods, or clever gimmicks like laser lights, fireworks or chocolate fountains.

Last year my form made a rather fuddled yet cute offering to Roald Dahl that was covered in sweets and Quentin Blake illustrations (see earlier in this blog). Despite our efforts, we lost out to a rather more ostentatious Ian Fleming number. This year I was determined.

As ever, I coerced my form into democratically choosing an author for their ofrenda. They were enjoying reading 'Animal Farm' so George Orwell got the vote. We agreed on a high concept, the idea that if George Orwell came back from the dead he would want to fight totalitarianism again. This was to be represented by the card game from the end of the book, with a bit of Big Brother thrown in for effect.

Work began. We painted a massive skydrop depicting the London of '1984', and hammered together the wooden frame to hang it on. There were posters and placards to be made, as we had decided on staging a protest between the Thought Police and the 'Orwellians' campaigning for freedom and individuality. We even made a helicopter. How could we fail?

But we did. Despite all our efforts on the night, despite the chanting Orwellians and thuggish Thought Police brandishing sugar canes, somehow the judges were not won over. They were unsure we had met the stringent criteria- our copal incense wouldn't light- and moreover they probably didn't have a clue why a boy with a fake moustache was playing cards with two pigs.

I think they liked the chocolate fountain more.