A night to remember
ON Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, people that have passed away are believed to return from the spirit world to visit their living relatives.
The joyous occasion has its roots in Latin American culture and is recognised all over the world.
People hang up colourful paper flags called papel picado (literally, ‘pierced paper’), dress in fancy make-up and costumes and hold parties and grand parades to celebrate the lives of their lost loved ones.
The festival began thousands of years ago. People indigenous to Latin America considered mourning the dead to be disrespectful. They liked to think the dead were still with them in memory and spirit and they believed lost family members would return to the land of the living around the time of the autumn maize harvest.
The celebration centres around an altar, or ofrenda, which is built in homes and graveyards.
Decorated with orange marigold flowers, it is loaded up with presents and offerings for the spirits so they can eat and drink after their long journey back from the spirit world. Traditional food placed on the altar includes pan de muerto, or bread of the dead, a sweet aniseed bread decorated with bones and skulls made from dough.
Sugar skulls are pressed in moulds and brightly decorated with colourful patterns. Drinks include sweet pulque made from agave (plant) sap; atole, a thin cornflour porridge with sugar, cinnamon and vanilla; and hot chocolate.
This year the festival falls on November 2 and people across Mexico will celebrate in different ways. In Mexico City, there is a grand parade with live music and celebrations.
In the small city of Tuxtepec, locals compete in a sawdust rug competition in which they carefully arrange coloured sawdust, rice, petals, pine needles and other natural materials in elaborate, rug-like patterns on the streets.
And in Aguascalientes there is a Festival of Skulls which lasts nearly a week and finishes with a grand parade of skulls.
At the end of the celebrations, marigold petals, scattered from the altar to the grave site, are believed to guide souls back to their place of rest… until next year.