Dia de los Muertos (“Day of the Dead”) is celebrated on November 1^st and 2^nd.  In Catholic religion, November 1^st is “All Saints Day” and November 2^nd is “All Souls Day”.
Day of the Dead is celebrated throughout Mexico and South America. With cultural awareness spreading, this unique celebration is becoming more popular in America each year. 

Colorful parties take place in homes and elaborate ofrenda altars are created to honor family members and dear friends who have passed on. Beautiful, elaborate events also take place in cemeteries. 

The culture behind this unique holiday translates into an accepted balance of life and death. As a part of life, death is a companion of birth to be accepted (and even joked or played with in cultural folk art). Dia de los Muertos celebrates the lives of loved ones, resulting in beautiful tableaus, floral art & arrangements, and very creative colorful folk art depicting skeletons doing everyday activities.

Celebration of Dia de los Muertos or “Day of the Dead” is not linked to a cult, or the occult. It is a Catholic Christian ritual intermixed with Latin folk culture. It is not a sad ritual- it’s a day of happiness, a day of remembering our loved ones. The Day of the Dead doesn’t honor death itself, but memories of our relatives who have passed away… Celebrating Dia de los Muertos is about Love!  (text adjusted from inside-mexico.com)

Dia de los Muertos is celebrated throughout Mexico on November 1^st and 2^nd. As Christians in America, we observe that November 1^st is “All Saints Day” and November 2^nd is “All Souls Day”. In Latin folk culture, the “angelitos” or spirits of the little children that have passed away come back to visit with their families for one day on November 1^st (All Saints Day), and then the spirits of adults come to enjoy the festivities and food on November 2^nd (All Souls Day)… and afterwards, back to heaven!

Special Masses and visiting cemetery tombs are part of the traditional activities… in Mexico colorful parties take place in the cemeteries and elaborate ofrenda altars are built in the homes to honor specific family members who have passed on. (text adjusted from Mexicansugarskull.com) See “Honoring the Dearly Departed” article next.