How to Celebrate All Saints Day in Mexico

People all over Mexico celebrate All Saints Day on November 1. It's the first of two very festive Dias de Muertos (Days of the Dead). In many parts of the world All Saints Day is a solemn day set aside to honor the deceased. In Mexico, los Dias de Muertos are set aside for families to rejoice and celebrate the memory of their dead together.

Instructions

1. Eat Pan de Muertos, the Bread of the Dead. The traditional sugar covered Mexican offering is molded into shapes of skulls, skeletons and bones. In Oaxaca, "master bakers" produce thousands of loaves of the bread. They bake three different recipes, identifiable by the particular spices and amount of egg used.

2. Remember the angelitos (little angels) on November 1. In Mexico, the first Day of the Dead is dedicated to honoring the memories of deceased children and infants. Though it is sad, it is not common to cry on this day. It's believed that tears will make the paths to and from Heaven, Hell and Puragatory slippery for the souls of the dead, making it hard to return to visit with the living.

3. Create an altar at the burial site of your loved ones. It's customary to decorate with offrendas (offerings) of colorful flowers, trinkets and special foods, including loaves of pan de muerto. Also distributed to visitors during the Days of the Dead, pan de muerto cannot be eaten until it has been placed upon the altar of an elder.

4. Celebrate in the cemetery, where on this day it's customary to hold family reunions and have picnics. The celebrations incorporate elements both religious and secular, juxtaposing traditional Catholic Masses with dancing and fireworks.

5. Participate in a comparsas, a joyful parade. In many towns the procession begins in the town's center and winds its way to the cemetery. Often townspeople are dressed as ghouls and ghosts carrying a open coffin which is filled with fruits and flowers as the parade travels through the streets and marketplace.

6. Attend a candlelight vigil. Some vigils are night long sessions during which prayers are chanted and incense lit. Others are more joyous, with the people dancing and playing music as they light candles and stand watch over the altars of their loved ones.

Tips & Warnings

• Zempasuchil, a native marigold, is the preferred flower for an offrenda. Chrysanthemums are also frequently used.