By Deana Mitchell
Nov 2, 2011 8:55am
Dia de los Muertos: Day of the Dead
If all goes as planned, souls of deceased loved ones will be welcomed home this evening, at least in Mexico, where friends and family have been preparing for their arrival for weeks. Today is Day 2 of Dia de los Muertos, the day when adult souls are welcomed home. The souls of children arrive one day prior at midnight Oct. 31., according to goMexico.com. Not to be confused with Halloween, Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead, is its own entity. Born out of the Aztec festival for the goddess of the underworld, Mictecacihuatl, and the Catholic Spanish conquistadors’ All Saints/Souls Day, the modern tradition has become a Mexican National Holiday and the country’s biggest celebration of the year.
Candy skulls, chocolates, sweet bread and candles are prepared to present at alters and grave sites of the deceased. Cemeteries are adorned with hundreds of candles to light the way home. Alters are erected in homes and furnished with food and drink to nourish the dead, decorated with the symbolic Mexican flower of death, the Marigold. Even a bar of soap and a mirror might be presented in case the deceased would like to freshen up. “No place on Earth do the dead receive such a warm and festive welcome from the living than during the observance of el Dia de los Muertos in Mexico,” California-based academic Ray Hill told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Courtesy of Deana Mitchell writing for ABC News.
You can find stories about this Mexican custom in books at the Orland Free Library. We also have a book about La Llorona a tale about The “Weeping Woman” another Mexican legend.
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