Local Travel Tip

When traveling, be sure to check before hand to see if there are any local holidays or festivals in the area that you can participate in.

An interesting local holiday that I encountered while I was in Mexico is El Dia de Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead). This holiday is on November 2nd and is sometimes confused for the Latin Halloween, but this is a misconception. I’m not certain how religious or cultural it is, but there seems to be some Catholic ties to it.

The natives will create shrines for deceased loved ones mostly at cemeteries. These shrines will include pictures of the deceased, their favorite foods or beverages (often tequila), marigold flowers, and toys for deceased children. The people will often leave pan de muerto (bread of the dead) which has an X on it, topped with sugar and has a slight orange taste.

Sugar skulls are another common item presented at the altars. It is believed that the altars with the gifts will bring the spirits there and they will hear the prayers and stories told about them.  I’m not sure if it socially acceptable but I ate the pan de muerto and the sugar skulls, and think that the dead must have good taste. I was in northern Mexico for both of my encounters with the Day of the Dead, and people celebrated both Halloween and Day of the Dead. One thing that surprised me was there were even altars at public schools and government offices.

Tags: Culture

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