Day of the Dead

Celebrants wear wooden skull masks called calacas and dance in honor of their deceased relatives. The wooden skulls are also placed on altars that are dedicated to the dead. The altars are decorated with ofrendas, or offerings, which may include photographs, bread, other foods, flowers, toys and other symbolic offerings.

Sugar skulls, made with the names of the dead person on the forehead, are eaten by a relative or friend. People visit the cemeteries where loved ones are buried, and decorate grave sites with marigold flowers and candles. They bring toys for dead children (los angelitos, or little angels) and bottles of tequila, mescal[?], pulque[?] or atole[?] for adults. The celebrants sit on picnic blankets next to the graves and eat the favorite food of their loved ones.

Special food for El Día de los Muertos includes Pan de Muertos, or bread of the dead, a sweet egg bread, made in many shapes, from plain rounds to skulls and rabbits.

See also: Day of the Dead (movie)