Some aspects are very similar to Halloween in the United States, with a heavy emphasis on skeletons. Many of these are quite humorous as friends exchange small tokens. One Mexican friend of ours gave Jim a small figure of a skeleton seated at a computer (which Yvonne says is entirely appropriate!).
We were fortunate to be invited into a Mexican friend's home to see the altar they set up every year to honor their deceased relatives. The altar is decorated with flowers and food items. The tradition is that on the Day of the Dead, the spirits of the deceased relatives return to 'smell the flowers' and eat of the 'spirit' of the food offerings. The 'mortal shells' of the food items are then eaten by the living relatives, sometimes in the cemetery.
The marigold is the flower of the Day of the Dead. We have seen plantings in the earlier autumn just for this occasion. In 1996, we visited the small village of San Juan Bautista Jayacatlan (which is about 20 miles from the paved highway over a mountain ridge and back into another valley on a dirt/gravel road that ascends some 2000 feet before decending a like amount) on the day the townspeople went to the cemetery to decorate the graves and visit with the dearly departed.
It was really an incredible and beautiful experience!. The cemetery is up a steep grade to a spot overlooking the valley (where else?). People were winding their way up the hill with enormous loads of flowers. The cemetery was crowded with people who were busy decorating the graves and/or visiting with their neighbors. It was a very colorful scene.
