El dia de los muertos is a two day celebration that originates in Mexico that runs through November 1st (the kids are celebrated) and the 2nd (the adults are celebrated).

On these two day people celebrate their loved ones who have passed by making them an ofrenda full of their loved ones pictures and decorated with Cempasuchil  (Mexican Merigold), papel picado,calaveritas de azucar ,  their loved ones favorite foods, pan de muerto, candels and items they loved.

The ofrenda  is always put up because it is believed to show their love to their family members despite not being alive anymore and help them rest in peace. In the Mexican community, these two days are important.

You might think that these days are sad and nope, people see it as a celebration of life. In different parts of Mexico kids dress up as skeletons and go around on the first asking for  Calaverita, which is similar to trick or treating here in the U.S.

Spanish teacher  Dinay Carreto mentioned “I believe it is important to teach about Dia de los Muertos because it is part of people’s culture and we are letting others know of the different celebrations. Giving people an understanding of the celebration is also very important. We are not celebrating that a person died but that the person was once here with us on this earth. It is also important to teach the difference to the celebration of Halloween.”

I believe that it’s important to teach other people our culture so when Disney came out with the movie “Coco”  my family and I were so excited. Every year my family puts up an ofrenda filled with loved ones’ pictures  and different things.

After the movie many more people started celebrating from all over the world.

“In my classroom we will create colorful portraits of calaveras (suger skulls) in dedication to someone that has passed away (famous person or relative. We will also make a flower to dedicate to that person,” Carreto said. 

El dia de los muertos — The Day of the Dead