The Day of the Dead, known in Spanish as Dia de los Muertos, is a holiday honoring the spirits of the deceased. The celebration coincides with the Catholic holidays of All Saints’ Day on November 1st and All Souls’ Day on November 2nd. How does it all play out with Halloween and the Catholic holidays sequencing one after the other? The following sums it up:
“On October 31, All Hallows Eve, the children make a children’s altar to invite the angelitos (spirits of dead children) to come back for a visit. November 1 is All Saints Day, and the adult spirits will come to visit. November 2 is All Souls Day, when families go to the cemetery to decorate the graves and tombs of their relatives. The three-day fiesta is filled with marigolds, the flowers of the dead; muertos (the bread of the dead); sugar skulls; cardboard skeletons; tissue paper decorations; fruit and nuts; incense, and other traditional foods and decorations.”
— Frances Ann Day, Latina and Latino Voices in Literature
