"...chases after it, mocks it, courts it, hugs it, sleeps with it; it is his favorite plaything and his most lasting love." - Octavio Paz on Mexicans and death
The Day of the Dead is a peculiar holiday in Mexico that takes place on November 2nd also known as All Souls Day. November 1st is All Saints Day and is reserved for remembrance of children and the 2nd is reserved for those who died as adults.
The Day of the Dead is a holiday that is deeply associated with food. To honour the memories of those passed on, people build large, colourful altars that house many of the foods that the dead person liked. Altars often include crepe-paper cut-outs (papel picado), wreaths and crosses decorated with silk flowers, skeleton motifs or candy skulls with the deceased's name on them (above), candles and flowers. Amongst the food that the person enjoyed in his/her past life is a special bread called "pan de muerto" (pictured on top) that completes the altar.
The idea is that the dead come back and enjoy these feasts with their living loved ones, a concept that seems extremely strange to those in a country where people fear death. In Mexico, death is often joked about. Here are some testimonials about Dia de los Muertos from some Mexican people in Fredericton:
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