The day of the dead… sounds scary but it’s really not. In Mexico, this is the day that we celebrate death (and life).

The day starts on november 1 and ends on november 2nd. Just before then we have a little celebration called Halloween of course, but they should really not be confused. Día de los Muertos is celebrating death while Halloween is about mourning and scaring people, totally different points of view.

For us at Play Español, the day of the dead is very special, the reason: we just got our first child. He was born on November 2nd, 2021. This explains the lack of updates from Play Español, we will do better :-).

Celebration

According to the mighty internet, Día de los Muertos originated from Mexico and is celebrated in the US and in Latin America. There are some differences in the way the altar (called ofrenda) is set up, but mainly the it features papel picado hanging (usually in front of the table, not from the ceiling), the special flowers cempasúchitl (Nahuatl for “Marigold flower”), the calaveras (sugar skulls), salt in the shape of a cross (because it cleanses the souls) and a glass of water for the dead to drink (because the dead traveled a long way to earth, they are thirsty no doubt).

Below you can click on the items to get a sense of how to pronounce them in Spanish. I’ve played around with something I call “phony pronounciation” for lack of a better term, which we will be featured more in future posts.

The face painting often has elaborate details around the eyes and mouth (to not scare the kids too much we presume). It is supposed to look like the sugar skulls. Another food item on the ofrenda is the pan de muertos. The bread features bone shaped decoration on top and can be used for the offering.

Conclusions

So, the day of the dead is about remembering the dead and being glad and greatful for the time you got to spend with them.

Here is a tip: if you wish to see a good movie about the day of the dead, we recommend Coco, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2380307/.