The Day of the Dead

The Day of the Dead is one of the most representative festivities of Mexican culture, declared intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. This tradition is celebrated on October 31st , November 1st and 2nd, and coincides with All Saints' Day in the Roman Catholic calendar. Traditions related to the holiday include the construction of private altars called "ofrendas", honoring the deceased using skulls, candles, cempasúchil flowers, and the deceased's favorite foods and drinks. A day of joy, full of color, celebration, and tradition to share with family, with fun toys that look like skulls, and with chocolate and marzipan sweets that are shaped like skeletons. To offer, on the Day of the Dead, is to share with the deceased bread, salt, fruit, culinary delicacies, water, and, in the case of adults, wine. To offer is to be close to our dead to conduct dialogue with their memory, with their life. The offering is a reunion with a ritual that recalls the memory. The Day of the Dead offering is a cultural mix wherein the Europeans put some flowers, waxes, and candles; the indigenous people added incense with their copal and food and the cempasúchil flower (Zempoalxochitl). The offering, as we know it today, is also a reflection of the syncretism of the old and the new world. The dead are received with natural, frugal and intangible elements - we include here the trails of smells and fragrances that origen from the flowers, incense and copal. Instituto Cervantes will put up an alter to celebrate this important day