All Souls Day is often over-shadowed by All Saints Day. All Souls Day is the day that we pray for friends and family members who are in purgatory. In Mexico as well as other countries, this is a day for celebrating the life of those who have passed on. As Catholic Christians we believe that death is not the end of life but really the beginning. Nowhere is it as celebrated as in Mexico.
Plans for the festival are made throughout the year, including gathering the goods that will be offered to the dead. During the period of October 31 and November 2 families usually clean and decorate the graves. Some wealthier families build altars in their homes, but most simply visit the cemeteries where their loved ones are buried and decorate their graves with ofrendas, or offerings. These include wreaths of marigold, which are thought to attract the souls of the dead toward the offerings, and toys brought for dead children (los angelitos, or little angels) and bottles of tequila, mezcal, pulque or atole for adults. Ofrendas are also put in homes, usually with foods and beverages dedicated to the deceased, some people believe the spirits of the deceased eat the spirit of the food, so after the festivity, they eat the food from the ofrendas, but think it lacks nutritional value. In some parts of Mexico, like Mixquic, people spend all night beside the graves of their relatives.
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