Every year, for example, many people in Mexico go to cemeteries on November 2 to commemorate All Souls’ Day, also called the Day of the Dead. Flowers, food, and alcoholic beverages may be left there for deceased loved ones. Some even arrange for musical groups to play the songs their loved one enjoyed listening to. Many Catholics also build an altar in their home and may place a photograph of the dead loved one on it.

The Enciclopedia de México notes that certain practices in connection with the celebration of the dead seem “to preserve elements of the Indian ceremonies of the months ochpaniztli and teotleco, during which cempasúchil flowers and corn tamales were offered to the manes [souls of the dead] at a time of the year in which the harvest had just been gathered​—at the end of October and the beginning of November.” As the encyclopedia notes, some of the customs reflect similar festivities held during pre-Hispanic times, which included a certain carnivallike spirit.

[Picture on page 23]

Musicians at the graves on November 2