Día de Los Muertos

Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a Mexican holiday that takes place on November 1^st and 2^nd in which we celebrate, remember and honor our dead ones.

We believe that the souls of our dead ones are able to cross over for a temporary visit, and we welcome their souls into our homes or at their gravesites, and we celebrate them with their favorite foods, drink, music and other offerings. On November 1st and 2nd our dead ones are honored and death is celebrated.

The holiday is celebrated in all of Latin America but the holiday originated in Mexico in Pre Columbian times through the Mayans, Nahua, Purepechas, Totonacas and other Indigenous cultures.

To our ancestors, death represented the beginning of a long journey to a destination of eternal rest and because of this they would provide food, water and tools to aid their dead on this journey. They would leave these items at their graves therefore creating the ofrenda. When the Spanish arrived, they came with their celebration of All Souls Day which are celebrated the first two days of November. Their celebration also included the bringing of wine, spirit bread and flowers to their loved one’s graves bringing these traditions with them to the new world. This all resulting in Día de Los Muertos today.

We welcome our beloved dead through altar (ofrendas). The ofrenda can be places in the home or the gravesite. Our ofrenda is a sacred altar that we create to not only represent those who we are welcoming but also a guide with essential elements to bring them back home safely.

These are the essential elements that every altar must have:

1. Water: The source of all life. It is to quench the thirst of our dead ones for the long journey to us and then their return.
2. Salt: This element represents purification. It prevents the corruption of the body on the journey and enables their return next year.
3. Candles: They represent fire, light and faith. They also guide our dead to their old homes while they lived.
4. Incense (Copal): Fragrance of reverence. It is used to clean the space from any bad spirits, so the soul can enter their home with no danger.
5. Flowers: We use the flower Cempasuchil to mark their way home for our dead. The bright color and the aroma will aide our dead ones in their journey home.
6. Pictures: Pictures of those that you are welcoming.
7. Sugar Skulls (Calaveras): Our ancestors through several Indigenous cultures used the Skulls as offerings to their Gods. It symbolized both death and offering. They became a symbol of death. They are made from sugar or barro and used on the ofrenda.
8. Perforated Paper: We use this in several colors to symbolize the celebration.

At times it is the hummingbird, At times it is the Raven

At times it is the owl, they will tell us when it is time to leave.

But us, the Mexicans do not die,

We only change homes and bodies.

And every year we return here.

La Bonita Supermarkets carries the majority of these essential elements.