Day of the Dead
That Little Voice
Homecoming is next week, and families are preparing for the annual reunion.
Altar designs are being discussed, gravesites cleaned, celebrations planned, special foods cooked, marigolds purchased, calacas decorated and displayed.
Next week the Mexican people will welcome their loved ones back from the dead.
The celebration, known as the Day of the Dead, gets underway on the evening of October 31 for Halloween, and is completed two days later on All Souls Day, November 2, in every community, town and city throughout Mexico.
Tradition includes setting up altars with pictures of these not-forgotten ancestors, marigolds flowers, candles, food and drinks favored by the visiting, calaca’s, a Mexican Spanish name for a figure of a skeleton, and calaveras, Spanish for decorated skulls.
The calacas and calaveras are used as decorations for the festivities, although many are displayed year around. Mexicans think of calacas as living skeletons usually depicted smiling and laughing.
“Calacas illustrate the Mexican belief that the joys of life continue after death. Family members echo this sentiment by celebrating their loved ones on Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) with the foods, music, and activities their ancestors enjoyed,” as stated on Wikipedia.
As part of the celebration activities, family altars (ofrendas) are set up in homes, and along city streets, some elaborate, some simple in design, but all with pictures, colorful marigolds, and items favored by the visiting spirits.
The two days are filled with music, parades, dances, cemetery visits, face painting, and crowds strolling in neighbors observing the ofrendas. Although festive, the atmosphere is also solemn, as family members reminisce and remember their loved ones.
Street decorations adorn business and home doorways, colorful paper banners wave in the breeze across city streets, and white and yellow marigolds are prominent in windows, and on stairways.
Day of the Dead is a reunion of the living with those who once lived, a homecoming of hope, stories, love, and joy.
Welcome home loved ones. We look forward to your visit.