Since the Day of the Death or as we call it, el Dia de los
Muertos, is approaching Mexicans are starting to do what we traditionally do. First
of all we start by setting an altar somewhere in the house, we make sure that
is well decorated according to what every family likes. We start off by buying the most commonly known,
cempasúchil, which is a beautiful round like orange flower. This flower is the
most known to use for El Dia de Muertos. Once we have the flowers and a place
to set the altar, we begin to form the altar. What we first do is get the
pedals from some of the flowers and once that is done we form a cross in the
middle of the altar with the pedals (keep in mind that not everyone does the
same thing with the cempasúchi). After those steps are done we get pictures of
our loved ones that have passed away and set them somewhere on the altar. We
also make sure to get all their favorite food or the food they used to eat when
they were alive, put them in a beautiful plate and set it all over the altar.
Of course we can’t forget to set fruit and several cups of water. We do this
because we believe that since the death have been buried for a long period of
time, they will come back hungry as well as thirsty. Also, we tend to put
several of the traditional Mexican candy especially made for the day of the
death like: sugar skulls, the most popular ones. Once we have set food and
water form them, we light up several candles and set around the altar so the
death can feel illuminated and loved. All of this is called ofrendas, ofrenda for offering, because we offer all of this food to the death. Lastly we can’t forget to put lots of flowers
around the altar. One of the most important things when former an altar for El
Dia de los Muertos is to get creative.
Altars
sugar skulls
cempasúchi
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