Mexican Day of The Dead as Us Memorial Day

Day of the Dead is November 2nd and is celebrated all throughout the Mexican culture countries. It is a celebration of the lives of family members who have passed away. It is said that every day should be like that but it is highlighted on November 2nd which is dedicated to all souls. A common belief is that souls make a journey back to earth to give advice and council to their loved ones. Gravesites are very different than that of the United States, cemeteries are more publicly owned or managed by churches. It is up to the families and friends of the dead to clean up their gravesites and keep it maintained how they liked. In the US, there are more privately owned cemeteries and paid workers to clean and maintain the gravesites. 

A majority of the people take the days of Day of the Dead to go clean the sites by pulling weeds or cleaning the headstone or even just decorating it. Even though death is very dark and in the US it is highlighted that black is associated with death, but in the Mexican culture, they have altars that are extremely colorful. They decorate altars with all types of flowers and colored skulls or even chalk paintings filled with their loved ones' favorites. Also, on the altar families will cook the person’s favorite dishes and put them on the altar, and in some beliefs that alcoholic beverages should be put on the altars as well. Salt is also a very big part of life in that culture so you will find salt on the altars a lot of the time as well. 

Another common belief is that amongst the spirits, the spirits love the scents of marigolds and burning copal which is seen as an invitation to the spirits to come back home. It is a day commemorating the ones who have passed and telling stories and memories that they celebrated with them. Family is extremely important and a massive part of life in the Mexican culture. It is very clear that Hispanic families are very close and celebrate each other. With a celebration this big and dedicated to family members it shows also the amount of love that they are like a pack of wolves, you mess with one and you mess with the whole pack. 

They stick by each other through thick and thin but when they’re gone they still commemorate each other and celebrate the time they had together. A similar holiday in the US or the closest resemblance is Memorial Day. Day of the Dead is a larger scale of our Memorial Day here in the states but also there is more to it. The celebration style is different as well. Day of the Dead is also such a positive because instead of mourning the dead and that they’re gone, they celebrate the lives of their lost ones and are happy with the time they got with their families. They celebrate also with parades and costumes with different skeleton paintings on their face and really enjoy the days dedicated to the loved ones.