Features
: Holidays : Day of the
Dead / All Souls Day
  El
Dia de los Muertos - Day of the Dead
El Dia de los Muertos occurs just after Halloween,
on November 1 (All Saints Day) and November 2 (All Souls
Day).
Day of the Dead is a festival of reunion between dead
relatives and their living family members - a celebration
of life. It is a happy time of fiesta, much like the
celebrations of Cinco
de Mayo.
Generally, November 1 is the day of remembrance for
little angels (angelitos) - infants and children - deceased
adults are honored on November 2.
 Day
of the Dead festivities take place every year throughout
Mexico and in many regions of the USA, but the celebration
dates back many centuries.
The ancient indigenous peoples of Mexico (Purepecha,
Nahua, Totonac and Otomí) believed that the souls
of the dead returned each year to visit with their still-living
relatives to celebrate with food, drink and festivities
at a family reunion.
 Families
prepare shrines and altars in honor of the departed.
They place offerings of food such as bread (sometimes
baked in a skull shape or figure or decorated with bone-like
shapes), votive candles, sweets - including skulls made
of sugar - incense, yellow marigolds (zempasuchil),
and a photo of the departed soul on a small decorated
altar.
Day of the Dead celebrations include creating
an altar plus a day spent at the cemetary, cleaning
and decorating family graves and decorating the plot
or crypt with elaborate papel
picado, banners, votive candles and skeletons in
festive colorful clothing posed at merrymaking. Often
there is music and fireworks in the evening and families
spend the entire night camped out in the cemetary, celebrating
the dear departed.
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