The East Aldine District hosted a Fall Festival and DIA DE LOS MUERTOS last Saturday, October 28 from 11am to 3pm at the East Aldine Amphitheatre. Famillies came to pay their respect and celebrate memories of their departed relatives.
The event included Music, Live Entertainment, Food, Hay Ride, Pumpkin Patch, Haunted House, and a Costume Contest. Local groups decorated altars in memory of those departed.
The Day of the Dead is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days may be included depending on the locality. It is widely observed in Mexico, where it largely developed, and is also observed in other places, especially by people of Mexican heritage.
Celebrations: Creation of home altars to remember the dead, traditional dishes for the Day of the Dead.
Significance: Prayer and remembrance of friends and family members who have died.
The multi-day holiday involves family and friends gathering to pay respects and to remember friends and family members who have died. These celebrations can take a humorous tone, as celebrants remember funny events and anecdotes about the departed.
Traditions connected with the holiday include honoring the deceased using calaveras and marigold flowers known as cempazúchitl, building home altars called ofrendas with the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these items as gifts for the deceased. The celebration is not solely focused on the dead, as it is also common to give gifts to friends such as candy sugar skulls, to share traditional pan de muerto with family and friends, and to write lighthearted and often irreverent verses in the form of mock epitaphs dedicated to living friends and acquaintances, a literary form known as calaveras literarias.