How is Halloween celebrated in Mexico: these are their traditions

willbelysy

@willbelysy1672679627 · 10 Oct 2021

How is Halloween celebrated in Mexico: these are their traditions

#halloween For many, Halloween is a traditional holiday marked by pumpkins, the famous “trick or treat” of the United States and the fact of spending a “scary night”, but in Mexico, this celebration is known as the (Day of the Dead) and is not limited to the night of October 31, but is also celebrated on November 1 (the same way as in Spain celebrates All Saints' Day).

For Mexico, the Day of the Dead is an ancient holiday celebrated to joyfully remember loved ones who are no longer there, honoring life. And in fact its main characteristic is the colors. Colorful altars, smiling and decorated skulls, festive parades in an explosion of rites that invade the whole country.

That is why in every house in Mexico, the celebration of Halloween is commemorated with royal altars that somehow serve to “receive the return of the dead” on the night of November 1 to 2. Candles will represent the element of heaven, marigolds and incense represent the element of the world beyond, sweets such as sugar skulls, the characteristic bread of muertos, the pumpkin in syrup and the caramelized fruit symbolize the earth element. In addition, flowers as well as colorful paper ornaments and painted skulls offer the cheerful touch that fills the house with joy.

The famous Catrinas

Also makeup and accessories are essential to participate in the Mexican-style Halloween party. The symbolic character of the Day of the Dead is Catrina, who is a skeleton of a woman richly dressed in seventeenth-century clothes, who usually wears big hats, wide skirts and flowers everywhere. Catrina has to remember the features of a skull and that is why it is composed with its base in oil paint, enriched with flowers and floral or fantasy decorations, to keep alive the feminine characteristics of the character.

Do you know any other facts about this emblematic tradition of Mexico?