Today is the Mexican Day of the Dead. Technically, this observance goes from midnight October 31st to the night of November 2nd. The fist day honors children who have passed on and is called Dia de los Inocentes. The second day, Dia de los Muertos honors the adults who have passed.
Dia de los Muertos is a mixture of the ancient Aztec celebration for the goddess Mictecacihuatl, the Lady of the Dead, and Catholic holy days, All Souls Day and All Saints Day.
Read more about it here.
Here‘s a really beautiful gallery of Dia de los Muertos photographs. (It’s the really fast-loading, easy to flip through kind, not the reload a new page for every image kind. Because I love you.)
Maybe you’d like to incorporate this holiday into your life?
You can light a candle and pour a shot of liquor for your relative/ancestor/hero to enjoy. Leave both on the windowsill overnight for any wandering souls to enjoy. I like to pour a shot of tequila for Frida Kahlo. If the person you choose to honor didn’t drink alcohol, you could leave an offering of coffee, tobacco, perfume or candy. Traditionally, spirits tend to like those things.
You could also build an altar or decorate a mantle for the dead. Like this one for Frida:
Or, go to the cemetery where your ancestor is buried, light candles and place flowers on their grave:
Baking is another component of Dia de los Muertos celebrations. Pain de los Muertos is baked and sugar skulls are sculpted out of marzipan or fondant:
