But the most authentic celebrations take place in Mexico. If you find yourself in Mexico City the weekend before Day of the Dead this year, make sure to stop by the grand parade where you can join in on live music, bike rides and other activities in celebration throughout the city.
MEXICO CITY — Day of the Dead, or Día de Muertos, is one of the most important celebrations in Mexico, with roots dating back thousands of years, long before Spanish settlers arrived.
While Mexico is the country most renowned for Día de Muertos, the holiday honoring the dead is celebrated across Latin America and beyond. From Brazil to the Philippines, November 1 and 2 are the days of the year when families and friends gather to pay tribute to their deceased loved ones.
Mexico City definitely goes over the top with its Day of the Dead celebrations. Everything is big in terms of the scale of parades, ofrendas and cemetery gatherings. The large-scale celebrations might not be as traditional as those in smaller cities and towns, it makes for a great introduction to this Mexican holiday.
In some parts of Latin America, it is a bigger celebration than Christmas. Rooted in pre-Columbian traditions and Catholicism, Día de los Muertos is the largest religious holiday of the year in Mexico.
Lady of the Dead is an homage to the FRIAS heritage and family and we refer to her as Catrina. Catrina is our interpretation of Day of the Dead, Dia de los Muertos (October 31-November 2), and she is one alluring and sexy Lady.
El Dia de los Muertos is perhaps the most popular holiday in Mexico. Families come together to honor their ancestors. The inevitability of death is accepted rather than feared. El Dia de los Muertos goes back to the Aztecs, who had not just a few days but an entire month dedicated to the dead.
Sugar skulls, tamales and spirits (the alcoholic kind) — these are the offerings, or ofrendas, you might find on altars built this time of year to entice those who've passed to the other side back for a visit.
Countries That Celebrate Day of the Dead
Mexico is not the only country that celebrates Day of the Dead. Many other Latin countries like Columbia, Ecuador, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Peru, and Venezuela all have their distinct ways of welcoming back their passed loved ones.
There is no wake or viewing of the body in the Islamic tradition. The body is to be buried as soon after the death as is possible. The funeral service, called the Salat ul Janazah, is actually a prayer service in which petitions are offered to God asking for forgiveness for the sins of the deceased.
The Day of the Dead (el Día de los Muertos), is a Mexican holiday where families welcome back the souls of their deceased relatives for a brief reunion that includes food, drink and celebration.
The Day of the Dead today
Today, the Day of the Dead is celebrated by most Catholics throughout Mexico in an entirely orthodox way.
Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, celebrated on Nov. 1 and 2, draws on pre-Hispanic Mexican and Spanish Roman Catholic traditions intended to facilitate the return of departed souls to the Earth.
Lady Death originated as the villain that was perceived as a hallucination by the boy Ernest Fairchild. She promised to "love Ernie forever", love he'd never had, in exchange for his loyalty. That loyalty was to kill everyone on Earth.
catrina (plural catrinas) An elegantly dressed skeleton figure; used as a symbol of the Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos, celebration.
This is La Calavera Catrina – the 'elegant skull' – often simply La Catrina. And however superficially festive it may appear, La Catrina's presence throughout Mexico's Day of the Dead mythology makes a much deeper statement of mortality, destiny and the societal divisions of class.
The Day of the Dead is regarded as a joyous occasion, not a sad one. It's a time for the living to remember, and celebrate, the departed.
The celebrations of Christmas in the Philippines have deep influences of Catholicism, tracing their roots back to Spanish colonial rule from 1521 to 1898. Currently, the Philippines holds the longest running festivity of the Christmas season in the world, which begins on September 1.
While both holidays may be considered “spooky,” Halloween revolves around darkness, death, ghosts, witches, candy, and costumes. On the other hand, Day of the Dead is explicitly about the afterlife and remembrance. The skulls symbolize the continuation of memories and of life.
The Islamic faith doesn't allow coffins or burial caskets. Instead, those burying the body will place stones or wood at the bottom of the grave to prevent the body from contacting the soil and gently lay their loved one on top with their right side facing the qibla.
Equally the Quran says that: 'If anyone saves a life, it is as if he saves the lives of all humankind'. Thus many Muslims understand from this verse that donating one's organs is a blessed act. In 1995, the Muslim Law (Sharia) Council UK issued a fatwa, religious edict, saying organ donation is permitted.