Sometimes Americans tend to think of Dia de los Muertos as “Mexican Halloween.” While it is often a national holiday in Latino countries, with days off of school and work, it is also a religious Holy Day. It is a holiday that is both deeply spiritual and sentimental.
As part of Latino traditions and customs, on the day of the faithful departed relatives visit their deceased in cemeteries. They bring their loved ones flowers, clean and paint their graves, weed around the grave and bring food and drinks. It could be said that it is the day in which the community holds a small picnic next to the remains of their loved ones who have passed away.
This tradition is celebrated a little differently in each country and even within some Latin American countries the celebrations vary. As Latinos we don’t even all have the same name for this holiday. In Mexico, it is called Dia de los Muertos. In El Salvador, it is usually called Dia de los Santos, but some regions call it Dia de los Difuntes. As a way of honoring and remembering our deceased loved ones, on November 1 in some places families spend the night in cemeteries. The idea is to sleep and wake up with them on November 2. They eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with them. The foods and drinks that are consumed during this time are all those things that your loved ones liked. In other places, families only have a tradition of visiting the grave, cleaning it, painting it and decorating it. There are families that in addition to going to the cemetery, they also prepare an altar in their homes.
For this year, on November 7 we will prepare a small ofrenda inside the Spanish Sanctuary to remember all the deceased loved ones of our members. We have asked for the collaboration of the families to prepare and decorate the altar with flowers and with those things that loved ones liked (this could include fruits, objects, foods, etc.). After our worship, we will have a small lunch as a community with the foods that were favorites of the deceased. We do this with the purpose that families can celebrate and remember their loved ones based on their traditions. Most importantly, we celebrate God’s promise of eternal life on this day.
Edwin Aparicio, Spanish Language Minister & Pastoral Intern
Brothers, we do not want you to be left without knowing what will happen to those who have already died, or to be sad, like those who have no hope. Just as we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also God will raise up with Jesus those who died in him. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14)
