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More than 500 years ago, when LOS CONQUISTADORES landed in what is now Mexico, they encountered natives practicing a ritual that seemed to mock death. It was a ritual that the native people had been practicing at least 3,000 years. A ritual the Spaniards would try unsuccessfully to destroy. A ritual known today as Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. The ritual is celebrated in Mexico and certain parts of the United States.

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Celebrations for Día de los Muertos are held each year. Although the ritual of Día de los Muertos has since been joined with Catholic religion, it still has the basic principles of the Aztec ritual, such as the use of skulls. Today, people use skulls called Calaveras. They can be made of sugar, wood, or plastic. They are placed on altars that are dedicated to the dead.

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In Mexico on Día de los Muertos, skulls are used to honor the dead, whom the Aztecs (who were the natives from Mexico) believed came back to visit during this celebration. Unlike the Spaniards, who conquered the Aztecs and who viewed death as the end of life, the natives viewed it as the continuation of life. Instead of fearing death, they celebrated it. To them, life was a dream and only in death did they become truly awake. The Spaniards did not like this tradition and tried to kill their ritual. To make the ritual more Christian, the Spaniards moved it to All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day (Nov. 1 and 2), which is when it is celebrated today. Today, Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico and in certain parts of the United States and Central America.

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In Mexico on Día de los Muertos, people visit the cemetery where their loved ones are buried. They decorate gravesites with marigold flowers (flores) and candles (velas). They bring toys for dead children. They sit on picnic blankets next to gravesites and eat the favorite food of their loved ones. In the United States and in Mexico’s larger cities, families build altars in their homes for their loved ones. They surround these altars with flowers, food and pictures of the dead. They light candles and place them next to the altar. They offer incense, flowers and play their favorite music. The altars that are made are not only dedicated to friends and family members who have died, but to others as well. El Día de los Muertos is not seen as a sad day, but a day to celebrate the lives of those passed.