Happy Day Of The Dead ! Viva Dia de los Muertos!
Its Day Of The Dead Honor and Celebrate The Deceased. They may look spooky, but skulls are a symbol of life and regeneration in Mexico.
The Day of the Dead (Día de los Fieles Difuntos or Día de los Muertos in Spanish) is a holiday celebrated mainly in Mexico and the Mexican immigrant community living in the United States, with variations of it also observed in other Latin American countries and other parts of the world. The Mexican celebration occurs on November 1 (All Saints’ Day) and November 2 (All Souls’ Day).
Though the subject matter may be considered morbid from the perspective of some other cultures, celebrants typically approach the Day of the Dead joyfully, and though it occurs roughly at the same time as Halloween, All Saints’ Day and All Souls Day, the traditional mood is much brighter — with emphasis on celebrating and honoring the lives of the deceased. Revelers of the Day of the Dead celebrate the continuation of life — believing not that death is the end, but rather the beginning of a new stage in life. In Mexico and Mexican immigrant communities in the United States and Europe, the Day of the Dead is of particular cultural importance.
The Day of the Dead is celebrated to a lesser extent in other Latin American countries; for example, it is a public holiday in Brazil, where many Brazilians celebrate it by visiting cemeteries and churches. In Spain this holiday has great festivals dedicated to it also: there are big parades, and at the end of the day people all gather around cemeteries and pray to their loved ones who have died. Most of them are Catholic. The holiday is also observed in the Philippines. Observance of the holiday in Mexican-American communities in the United States has become more important and widespread as the community grows both numerically and economically each generation. Similarly-themed celebrations also appear in some Asian
and African cultures.
Observance in Mexico
Origins
The Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico can be traced back to the indigenous peoples such as the Olmec, Zapotec, Mixtec, Mexica, Maya, P’urhépecha, and Totonac. Rituals celebrating the deaths of ancestors have been observed by these civilizations perhaps for as long as 2500–3000 years In the pre-Hispanic era, it was common to keep skulls as trophies and display them during the rituals to symbolize death and rebirth.
The festival that became the modern Day of the Dead fell in the ninth month of the Aztec calendar, about the beginning of August, and was celebrated for an entire month. The festivities were dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl,known as the “Lady of the Dead”, corresponding to the modern Catrina.
In most regions of Mexico November 1st honors deceased children and infants whereas deceased adults are honored on November 2nd. Check Wikipedia for more info Day Of the Dead
