Happy Day Of The Dead!

from Flickr

Today is the Day of the Dead, a national Mexican Holiday, and I am missing my Mexico so much. All the color, the celebration, and the food!

The Day of the Dead is such a beautiful tradition. People build and decorate altars for their loved ones that have passed away. They fill the altars up with the deceased's favorite things, foods and drinks. During this day relatives and friends stop by their house and visit the altar bringing more items to the collection. I remember in school every class had to make their own altar and work as a team, and at the end of the day, the best altar would win a prize. We would get creative and choose some famous Mexican person to dedicate the altar to and remember funny anecdotes about that person. My favorite parts were writing the "Calaberitas", which are funny poems that sometimes made no sense, and making a path with marigold petals to welcome visitors. My hands would be so yellow and smell terrible even after washing them several times lol! And, of course, after the winner was chosen we would eat all the delicious food :)
I love this tradition of building altars on the Day of the Dead because it brings out the artist and crafter in everyone!

Here are some cute Etsy finds to commemorate this day.

1. 2. 3. 4.

And my favorite find are these mexican skulls rings aren't the awesome?!

Feliz Día de Muertos!