Slide 2:
El día de los Muertos is a traditional Mexican holiday honoring the dead. It is celebrated every year at the same time as Halloween and the Christian holy days of All Saints Day and All Souls Day (November 1st and 2nd). It is a time of fiestas and much celebration, but it is also a reflective time of great faith in the afterlife
Slide 3:
In most localities November 1 is set aside for remembrance of deceased infants and children, often referred to as angelitos (little angels). Those who have died as adults are honored November 2.
Slide 4:
Altars are important elements to the celebrations and on these altars are kept the photographs, holy icons and food .
The whole family gathers together at the cemetery or the family altar and remember all those people who they have loved in life but are now gone. El Dia de los Muertos is not meant
to be a scary time.
Slide 5:
Altars must contain:
papel picado
flowers
candy Calaveras (skeletons and skulls)
pan de muertos baked in shapes of skulls
candles
Incense
yellow marigolds known as cempazuchitl (also spelled zempasuchil)
and most importantly a photo of the departed soul is placed on the altar.
Slide 6:
Handmade skeleton figurines, called calacas, are especially popular. Calacas usually show an active and joyful afterlife. Figures of musicians, generals on horseback, even skeletal brides, in their white bridal gowns marching down the aisles with their boney grooms.
Many euphemisms are used for death, La calaca (the skeleton), la pelona ("baldy"), la flaca ("skinny"), and la huesada ("bony").