Julia K Cole

For me, October is the best month of the year.  It is the month that brings us one of my favorite celebrations...Halloween!  But over the years I have started enjoying another celebration... Dia de los Muertos !  The day of the dead.     Don't let the name fool you.  Dia de los Muertos   is not meant to be sad or frightening. On the contrary!  It is an uplifting time to remember loved ones who have died.   It is celebrated with festivities, lots of goodies and the coming together of friends, families and loved ones. It is a time of reverence. Or as Cesareo Moreno, Chief curator at Chicago's National of Mexican Art stated so eloquently...   "Day of the Dead is a very sacred day. It's a day in which we welcome back the memory and the souls of those people who are still — are still — an important part of our family, even though they many not be physically present"    (Click HERE to read his interview with Chicago...

Dia de los Muertos —the Day of the Dead—is a  holiday  celebrated on November 1. Although marked throughout  Latin America , Dia de los Muertos is most strongly associated with Mexico, where the tradition  originate d. Dia de los Muertos honors the dead with festivals and lively celebrations, a typically Latin American custom that combines  indigenous   Aztec   ritual  with  Catholicism , brought to the region by Spanish  conquistadores . (Dia de los Muertos is celebrated on All Saints Day and All Souls Day, minor holidays in the Catholic calendar.)  Assured that the dead would be insulted by mourning or sadness, Dia de los Muertos celebrates the lives of the deceased with food, drink, parties, and activities the dead enjoyed in life. Dia de los Muertos recognizes death as a natural part of the human experience, a continuum with birth, childhood, and growing up to become a contributing member of the community. On Dia de los Muerto...