Día de los Muertos

 As you all well know, Halloween was just couple days ago, on the 31st of October. Here in the Valley, Halloween is celebrated along side another holiday called "Día de los Muertos," or Day of the Dead.

 Here is an explanation of the traditional celebration of this holiday.

At first glance, the Mexican custom of the Día de Muertos — the Day of the Dead —
may sound much like the U.S. custom of Halloween. After all, the celebration traditionally starts at midnight the night of Oct. 31, and the festivities are abundant in images related to death. But the customs have different origins, and their attitudes toward death are different: In the typical Halloween festivities, which are of Celtic origin, death is something to be feared. But in the Día de Muertos, death — or at least the memories of those who have died — is something to be celebrated. The Día de Muertos, which continues until Nov. 2, has become one of the biggest holidays in Mexico, and celebrations are becoming more common in areas of the United States with a large Hispanic population. Its origins are distinctly Mexican: During the time of the Aztecs, a monthlong summer celebration was overseen by the goddess Mictecacihuatl, the Lady of the Dead. After the Aztecs were conquered by Spain and Catholicism became the dominant religion, the customs became intertwined with the Christian commemoration of All Saints' Day. Specifics of the celebration vary with region, but one of the most common customs is the making of elaborate altars to welcome departed spirits home. Vigils are held, and families often go to cemeteries to fix up the graves of their departed relatives. Festivities also frequently include traditional foods such as pan de muerto (bread of the dead), which can conceal a miniature skeleton.--taken from http://spanish.about.com/cs/culture/a/dayofdead.htm

A few years ago, we went out near the time of Day of the Dead to look at the decorations they had up at the local cemeteries. They all had pretty much the same things: a couple of flowers and at least one bottle of beer as offerings to the dead.

Someone left a couple bottles of beer for their deceased loved one.

The offering at this grave is beer and a bottle of whiskey.

Someone left a couple cans of beer for their deceased loved one.

We, my Mom, brother and I, went to the local grocery store recently to see if we could find anything Día de los Muertos related. Here are a few examples of what we saw.

A display of everything Día de los Muertos related.

They even combined Halloween tradition (this jack o' lantern) with Day of the Dead decor.

Also, remember from the text above how it talked about "pan de los muertos"? They also had an advertisement in the local grocery paper for this bread.

Pan de los Muertos for sale at our local grocery.

So, you have read a brief explanation of some interesting local culture in the Valley. Have you heard of or experienced something unique in a different culture than you are used to? If so feel free to share it with me through Facebook or the comment section below.