October 31st is an exciting holiday for many. Celebrated around the world in different ways, it is a spooky night filled with superstition and creepy legends. According to ancient belief, the dead walk among us Halloween night.
In America we love to show off our creative and unique costumes. Halloween brings out everything from hot dog suits, lions, aliens, Kardashians, and cops to human centipedes, witches, and ghosts. We go door to door collecting candy, attend Halloween parties, and carve jack-o-lanterns.
In Latin America, the celebration to honor All Saints Day is much different.
Día de los Muertos ("Day of the Dead") is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and other parts of Latin America in which people honor the dead by parading the streets dressed as skeletons, setting out altars for the deceased, and holding parades with larger-than-life skeleton figures.
Families leave out food, water, bright flowers, and other offerings on altars or gravesites for their deceased loved ones, as they are believed to be visiting the earth during these few days on their spiritual journey. Generally, children are believed to return on the 1st of November while adults return to the earth on November 2nd.
While it may seem like a grim holiday, Día de los Muertos is quite the opposite. Instead of mourning their loved ones, families spend the day appreciating the lives they lived and memories they shared together, which is believed to make their spiritual journeys easier.
Celebration of the dead as a joyful time is unique in the world. Some cultures such as Egyptian, view death as the ultimate sadness. Other cultures, like America's, avoid the topic of death. Loved ones "pass away" or "enter the next life." The topic of death is never an open conversation topic, something to be directly discussed. Still, in cultures such as Japan's, the expression of grief for death is strongly discouraged.
Día de los Muertos is a unique and beautiful holiday celebrating death and the existence of the body and soul. It sets apart Mexican culture by celebrating death as a part of life, not afraid to accept that life is temporary.
The elaborate makeup and costumes, colorful flowers and altars, and one-of-a-kind parades and celebrations make it an unforgettable and unique tradition celebrated in Latin America. While Halloween may not be celebrated the same in the United States and Latin America, the dead are said to be among us during these few days, walking the earth whether for bad or for good.
