The Day of the Dead, All Souls Day, is an official holiday of the Catholic Calendar. All Souls Day is on November 2, following All Saints Day. The day was founded to honor all the faithful departed.
Customs of the holiday can include the creation of an altar is made with an offering of food upon it. It is believed that the dead partake of the food in spirit and the living eat it later.
The "ofrendas"- offerings, are beautifully arranged with flowers, marigolds (zempasuchitl) which are the traditional flower of the dead. There is a candle placed for each dead soul, and they are adorned in some manner. Incense is also used. Mementos, photos, and other remembrances of the dead are also adorning the ofrenda.
"Calaveras," like an obituary, are used as placards, they can describe the character of the individual. They all have a jovial or satirical tone.
A popular type of decoration used to commemorate the holiday in Mexico is the tissue banner. At first the banners were made using scissors, but since the 1940's they have been cut with tiny chisels, "fierritos." Today skilled artisans use more than 50 different chisels to make various cuts in up to 50 sheets of tissue paper at a time.
Papel picado, colored banners, are displayed on October 31, the day the angelitos arrive, at 3 p.m. On November 1, the angelitos depart and the animas arrive. When this occurs the colored banners are removed, and the black and white ones are displayed.
Food is considered indispensable for the celebration. Typical foods include: bread, fruits vegetables, and sweets. Other delicacies are: sugar skulls (bought from the bakeries with the names of each on of the members of the family who are alive and of the deceased), candied fruit and pumpkins, tamales (corn meal with meat or raising wrapped in corn husk) and maize dough cakes, as well as enchiladas and chalupas (thicker corn tortillas with topings).
Beverages which are placed on the memorial include: water, coffee, beer, tequila, and atole (corn starch fruit flavored hot drink, a special drink made from corn meal.)
The traditional pan de muerto, bread, is commonly decorated with sugar. Bread is always placed on the altar and not removed until the visit to the cemetery for the soul.
Day of the Dead can also be a very private celebration as a great deal of the event focuses on the home and the cemetery. Each community can bring their own heritage and culture to the event creating variations in expression.
