Day of the Dead- Celebrating New Traditions

One of the most exciting and the most difficult times for an expat is a holiday. It’s fascinating to incorporate a new culture into your life and create new traditions, but it can be difficult to give up the old and comfortable things that make the holiday special for you. I am a huge Halloween fan and during our first October in Mexico, I was nervous about all the things I wouldn’t be able to do in the same way. But, instead of focusing on that I put my energy into learning about the Mexican tradition: Dia de los Muertos.

        
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With roots nearly 4000 years old, this three day festival is very important in Mexican culture. It’s all about remembering and honouring the dead, and giving the departed a chance to visit Earth to celebrate with their families. Usually November 1st is set aside to honour children, while November 2 is for adults. On these three days family gets together to tell stories of the deceased, and clean and decorate grave sites.

Things that symbolize the Day of the Dead:

  • Ofrendas (private alters honouring the dead)
  • Sugar skulls
  • Marigolds
  • Skulls (calavera), often represented in masks (calacas)
  • Pan de muerto (sweet eggbread)
     

 

In some parts of the country a new tradition is starting that resembles trick-or-treating; children knock on doors and ask passersby for money or candy while in costume. In Cancun we didn’t except trick or treaters so we headed out to Parque de Las Palapas to check out the festivities. On our walk there we were approached by a handful of children asking for candy. As someone coming from a major Canadian city, having children approaching strangers asking for candy on the streets is somewhat alarming to me, but I reminded myself that Cancun is not Toronto. Feeling guilty we ran over to Chedraui and bought a couple bags of candy to hand out to the children while we explored.

Parque de las Palapas was full of festivities! From mask making, to Ofrendas and dancing, there was something for everyone. There was even a haunted house! I would say about half the children were dressed up, but most had their face painted like a skull.

Get your face painted

Then show it off!
The energy was higher than I’d ever seen it and everyone was having a good time! There were lots of people dancing:
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And singing: