The day of dead

I am sure that a lot of you are suprized on the way we mexicans deal with dead. This is our way to deal with it. It is our celebration out of Halloween. We celebrate every 2nd of november the day of the dead. The origin of the celebration comes from our believe that all of us have some one purifying their souls at the Purgatory. We believe that in that day we are able to get a lot of those souls go out off the Purgatory praying and having Communion under their honor. After the Mass Service we visit them at the cementary and make a huge party. The celebration is part Catholic and part tradition. We make althars in honor of the people we love, at the images below you will see that we set food like bread, beans, chocolate, mole to allow the dead people have food for their travel. We also decorate the tumbs and pray for our loved ones. Usually the media makes althars for famous people. Here in Guadalajara they made an althar in honor of John Paul II that is huge. It is almost as big a a foot ball field. The yellow flowers you can see at the pictures are called Xempasuchitl (I am not sure of the spelling... LOL) it is a flower our ancestors said it was the flower of dead. Here you have some images of the celebrations. I hope it will be of interest for you due to the nature of the party... The celebration: http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e304/aglezponce/288203259_596ac39ace.jpg This is an althar: http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e304/aglezponce/diademuertos.jpg Another althar: http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e304/aglezponce/57116657_5eb55425e6.jpg A Cementery you can see the Xempasuchitl flowers here: http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e304/aglezponce/63444985_2715560b54.jpg A woman bringing flowers to a tumb: http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e304/aglezponce/63444986_76d8013828.jpg A cementery by night: http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e304/aglezponce/286697406_1760d380d3.jpg I will try to visit my Grandmother tomorrow with my kids and my wife wants to visit her Grandmother too... I hope the pictures would be of some interest for you... Alejandro from Guadalajara Mexico

Those pictures are very beautiful Alex. It's wonderful tradition that you honor your dead. It keeps them near and dear to your hearts. Hugs, Anna

Yes indeed Anna. I am glad that you found it of interest. Alejandro from Guadalajara Mexico

It is like our memorial day except more grandiose. I wish we had more honor and respect and put more importance in our ancestors. Our culture is to money and matieralistic orented. There is a saying that is quite the thing right now here in the US, :IT'S ALL ABOUT ME' and that is very much what many people in the US believe. That is sad. It says a lot about our culture. Hazel

That is so cool, thanks for sharing the pics! Norma

Absolutely beautiful photos.......Thanks for sharing! Hugs, Chris