Mexico's famous skeleton lady
Ghosts, for Chinese, are as far away as they can be.
But in Mexico, the undead and the living are deeply accompanied, and the ghost culture is more suitable for all ages!
Skull artwork and merchandise can be seen everywhere, as if every day is Halloween; from Don Quixote to revolutionary fighters, it can be represented by skeletons...
In Latin America's famous magical reality novels, there are often characters who chat for half a book to show that he has already been ancient!
Every year at the beginning of November, there are two days when everyone is in the cemetery with the dead, not mourning, not memorializing, but revelry!
Skeleton version of Mexican warrior
Students are pasting dolls with toilet paper, and the dolls reveal "internal organs."
The mummified museum in the tourist city of Guanajuato is particularly shocking.
The museum is far from the city center, and it has to pass through a residential area that is not clearly marked by Google Mobile Maps, and the façade is still very small.
It's not hard to find it, though. It's still a long way from there, and enthusiastic locals will ask, "Is it time to go to the Mummy Museum?" ...... Go over there! ”
I was then transported to my destination like a baton, piece by piece!
The museum is behind the Grand Cemetery, and the façade is really small.
Putting the big belly Buddha and the skeleton together is a few meanings
But why is such a horrible museum in picturesque Guanajuato? We have to start at the beginning.
The first to be exhibited is the "French doctor" Leroy Remigil, who unfortunately contracted an illness and died in a foreign country while traveling in the local area.
His body was stored in the cellar for 20 years, and when it was moved out in 1865, people were surprised to find that it was very well preserved.
Good people from all over the world came to visit, and the town became famous and profitable, so it began to think about collecting more intact dry corpses.
The "French doctor" is the "famous corpse" in the museum, and people rush to take photos with him, as if he is a big star.
In addition to the cellars, Guanajuato's dry climate and soil with a large amount of preservative minerals can also make many corpses naturally mummified.
There is a large cemetery next door to the Mummy Museum. Renting a tomb costs £95 per 20 years.
If the family is unable or unwilling to pay the money to renew the rent, or simply does not claim it, the body will be exhumed.
The dried bodies, which were relatively intact, were sent to the exhibition, while the less than satisfactory ones were buried in low-grade cemeteries.
Cemetery gates
Inside the cemetery
A great plague of 1833 caused many people to lie in the cemetery, some of whom later became neighbors of "French doctors". Of course, many unclaimed or unclaimed dry corpses that have no money to renew the rent have also joined the list.
Now, the mummy team has grown to more than 110.
There are also sources that say that because the bodies of nearby cemeteries are often stolen, people have a fantastic idea of displaying the bodies in a centralized manner. But I always find this explanation less convincing.
Local officials prefer to see the exhibition as an intuitive exhortation to cherish life and reason in the face of death: "We have a different view of death. We celebrate the cycle of life and accept the inevitability of death. ”
Now the museum is a major tourist hotspot in Mexico, and there are queues in high season.
I don't know if it is to better preserve the dry corpse, or just to create an atmosphere, the light in the museum is very dark, a dry corpse or standing or lying, some wearing the clothes of the burial, some exposing the dry body...
All this can only be described as eerie horror.
But Mexicans were overjoyed to see it.
The little girl is so calm
Holding a toddler
Young people call on friends, couples hold hands, and some push the elderly in wheelchairs and hold toddlers, just like visiting parks.
They also especially like to take intimate photos with the mummy, one by one, full of spring light, as if they are next to the big stars.
The children are also fearless, and there is a little girl of about seven or eight years old who takes a camera all the way and watches all the way to shoot, and from time to time she seriously discusses something with her mother.
In Mexico, it seems that ghost culture was caught from dolls.
Children look good and serious, ghost culture successors have someone!
Pushing Daddy's Mommy!'
Each mummy has a name and a profile, and many still use "I" tone.
"Who would have thought I would have been invited to exhibit in museums around the world? A traveling mummy! Don't feel like this is purely my good luck, in fact I am the best-preserved mummy. A certain "corpse" said proudly.
"Chinese girl" is more "reserved": "The museum tour guide calls me 'Chinese girl', probably because of my clothing and oriental characteristics... I've known Dr. Leroy and other important people in this room for a long time. ”
But mummies may not always be so serene.
Three people lying side by side in the large glass cabinet, with a wound to the left abdomen, were stabbed to death; the middle limbs were twisted and drowned; the worst on the right, she was mistaken for death, and after burial, she woke up in a coffin, and when she was dug out, she could see that she was struggling in pain and despair for a long time before she actually died.
The museum prides itself on having the smallest mummies in the world. It was a fetus of about 6 months and he died with the death of his mother.
Medical research found that the pregnant woman was almost 40 years old at the time, which was definitely an advanced age and high risk in that era, but she was obviously malnourished and obviously came from a poor family.
It should also be mentioned that, as a cultural powerhouse in Mexico, Guanajuato holds an international film festival every July.
During this period, more than a dozen venues, including the Mummified Museum and the Cemetery, screen movies every day until 4 a.m. the next day.
Think about what it's like to watch a movie in a place like this late at night or in the early hours of the morning?!