Día de los Muertos: Mexico's Sacred Conversation with the Dead
On the night of November 1st and through November 2nd, the cemeteries of Mexico come alive. Families arrive with marigolds, candles, food, photographs, and the favorite objects of their dead relatives and construct, around the graves, elaborate altars ( ofrendas ) that invite the souls of the deceased to return for one night to the world of the living. The air is thick with the scent of marigold ( cempasúchil ), whose color and smell are believed to guide the souls home along the path from the land of the dead. This is not a morbid ritual. It is a joyful reunion — a night of music, food, and conversation with the absent, in which death is not denied or hidden but integrated into the fabric of ordinary life. The Día de los Muertos tradition synthesizes two streams: the pre-Columbian Aztec festival of the dead (the month of Miccailhuitontli, dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl, lady of the dead), and the Catholic feasts of All Saints and All Souls introduced by Spanish missionaries —...