5 Ways To Celebrate Día de los Muertos

One way to celebrate Día de los Muertos is cooking. When I was in Mexico City, I picked up a great cookbook: Las fiestas de Frida y Diego, written by Diego Rivera’s daughter Guadalupe. It is a wonderful compilation of recipes from the legendary Mexican artist couple. The book is divided by months, and the October month suggests to cook sopa de jocoque to militares de París. It’s not only beautiful to honor the holiday, but Mexico’s culture in its entirety.

wp_*posts

Visit Oaxaca

Although Día de los Muertos is celebrated around the world, Oaxaca is known to have the biggest and most ornate celebration starting on October 30th and proceeding until November 2nd. Located in southwestern Mexico, Oaxaca is a sovereign state and has the most concentrated group of indigenous natives, traditions, and culture.

wp_*posts

Build an altar.

On this day, altars are built to place ofrendas, or offerings such as food and drinks to the dead visiting from the other world. Here is a step-by-step instructions to build an ofrenda at home.

wp_*posts

Visit love ones.

Take tus seres queridos marigold flowers, clean the tombstones of your loved ones, light a candle for each, and bring them pan de muerto. In rural parts of Mexico, have a picnic next to the tombstone eating the food their loved ones liked.

wp_*posts

Honor the deceased.

The purpose of Día de los Muertos is to celebrate and honor the deceased. It is a joyful holiday in remembrance of the life they led. Just as much as we celebrate life, let’s remember to celebrate those we have lost. So blast Juan Gabriel and sing along to Asi Fue.