I have some vague ideas about this annual event among some Spanish speaking peoples. For example, maybe it:
happens before or near Hallow’e’en,
honors dead relatives,
has offerings of food left for the dead,
is a happy occasion, despite the “dead relatives” part
is linked to the Catholic church,
and is misunderstood by folks like me.
Can you fill in some blanks for me?
I thought this thread was about the movie (dumb, dumb Diosa).
Personally, here in CA I have quite a few friends with families from Mexico who still celebrate Dia de los Muertos.
Some facts (stolen-- er-- borrowed fromhere–Italics are mine.)
[ul]
[li]The souls of children are believed to return first on November 1, with adult spirits following on November 2.[/li][li]Some wealthier families build altars in their homes, but most simply visit the cemeteries where their loved ones are buried and decorate their graves with ofrendas, or offerings. These include wreaths of marigold, which are thought to attract the souls of the dead toward the offerings, and toys brought for dead children (los angelitos, or little angels) and bottles of tequila, mezcal, pulque or atole for adults.[/li][li]Those gifted like to write “calaveras” – short poems mocking epitaphs of friends. If I recall correctly, people dress up as “spirits” and go around making fun of people with dead family members. [/li][/ul]
Mostly, I think it is just a reason to party. There is quite a bit of ceremony involved, but people drink and decorate and have parades.
On 2 November the Catholic church celebrates the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (more commonly known as All Souls’ Day). On that day masses are offered particularly for the repose of the souls of our deceased family, friends, parishioners etc. People often visit the graves of their family members and I’ve sung the Office of the Dead on several occasions in chapels at Rookwood (a very large cemetery in Sydney). I gather that similar things happen in Spanish-speaking countries, although with a greater atmosphere of “fiesta”.
Dia de los Muertos (day of the dead) is All Saint’s Day. Halloween (All Hallowed Evening) is the night before, so it’s no accident. What you said is kinda like saying Christmas Eve is before or near Christmas. Of course it is! 
Well, Day of the Dead is November 2, so the idea of Halloween – October 31 – being the night before kind of doesn’t work.
Isn’t the order Halloween, All Saints Day, and then All Souls Day?
Good point, but I thought El Dia de Los Muertos was celebrated on both days (Nov 1 and 2). If I’m wrong, I’ll stand corrected.
To quote my ever so brilliant self in post 2:
Meaning the fiesta starts on the first with the mourning of the children. The next day, the adults are taken care of.
Well, like so many things, this doesn’t go for all of Latin America, but my fancy, imported, Mexican wife says that they don’t do anything at all on the first, and that they call it “el día de todos los santos” (I like the sound in English, better). When I asked her about the children, she said she had no idea and never heard of that.
If she’s wrong, I guess I could be in the market for trading her in for one of those fancy wives from another Latin American country. I met a Venezuelana at the Cervantes festival the other day that was somewhat interesting… 
I’ve never noticed it as being a big deal here in Panama. I think it’s more important in Mexico than most of the rest of Latin America.
Yes. Mexico and the Phillipines.
Actually, now that I think of it, I’ve seen families in the United States during Memorial Weekend (i.e., Memorial Day plus or minus a couple of days) doing the family-feast-in-the-graveyard thing. It never looked all that festive, but in any case, is this related to Day of the Dead celbrations, or is there a separate history here?
In the Philippines, Nov 1 is mostly an excuse to hang out at the cemetary. The whole extended family gathers at (or more likely on top of) some respected ancestor’s grave to chill out with pancit (noodles), lumpia (spring rolls), and beer.
On the Mexican southwest side of Chicago, in Little Village, one of the most prominent aspects of Dia de los Muertos is the sugar skull - calaveras. They are often decorated and placed on the altars and used for appearances, as opposed to eating them, although people do. People make them and decorate them at home, but now you can find them sold in all the stores, too. FWIW. xo, C.
Memorial Day is intended to honor fallen war veterans. It dose not really have any thing to do with Day of the Dead.
I don’t mean Memorial Day (which has become the default day to honor all of our departed; not just dead veterans) – I mean that around memorial day, I see more than a small number of groups at the cemetaries having elaborate-looking picnic meals. There may or may not be a US flag on the site (i.e., they’re not necessarily veterans). I’ve never been close enough to see if they’re Mexicans or Philipinos, but I’d venture Italian – maybe. Hence, the question isn’t whether Memorial Day has anything to do with Day of the Dead, but whether this behavior observed during Memorial Day has any roots to Day of the Dead, or if there’s some other cultural impetus (as I said, I’d guess Italian).
Dia de los Muertos is recognized in other countries besides Mexico and the Phillipines, it’s just not as big (and they call it Dia de los Disfuntos, in Cuba and Colombia, for example). I would say it’s not really so much about partying–at least not in the way that “Cinco de Mayo” has become an excuse for people not of Mexican origin to party in the Southwest U.S. Just like Cinco de Mayo, it depends a lot on which part of Mexcio you’re from. Cinco de Mayo became big in the U.S. in large part mostly to just sell tortilla chips and that pisswater known as Corona. Most people in Mexico don’t pay that much attention to it, though the state of Puebla (where the battle took place) celebrates it more.
Dia de los Muertos is celebrated most in Oaxaca, which has a large (purely) native population. So in the U.S., it depends upon the origins of those particular immigrants whether or not they really celebrate it. I know that on my block most people are from Mexico, and there are no plans to “party.” Most are from Michoacan or DF. Then again, their ancestors are buried in Mexico. When I was a kid I made “Day of the Dead bread” in elementary school–it went along with the sugar skulls.
It’s interesting that Dia de los Muertos originated from the native population–as did Halloween–and both were co-opted by the Catholic church, in the sense that All Saints’ Day comes the right between the two. In fact, the same thing happend with Christmas. Who cares when Christ was born? Nobody really knows, and some say it was actually October. It’s when he was resurrected that matters.
Thank you all. I’m neither Mexican nor Catholic, but I think I’ll buy some tequila and some Jack Daniels to honor a lady who died nearby and my dear friend who died this summer.
Memorial Day used to be called Decoration Day, it was the day when people went to decorate the graves of the Civil War dead. In addition to the decorations (flags, flowers, bunting, that sort of thing), families would bring picnics and hang out at the grave. Because families were often buried together in plots, it did become the sort of thing where one would also remember Aunt Matilda who was buried right there next to Uncle Joe the union soldier. It would seem mean, I suppose, not to do anything for her grave when you were standing right there on top of it. Also, in some cases, the dead Civil War soldier wasn’t actually, you know, there in the grave, but he might have a memorial marker in the family burial area.
So anyway, the picnic is part of the original observation of Memorial Day/Decoration Day, although I can see how a family of a culture that celebrates the Day of the Dead might be more comfortable observing the picnic aspect of Memorial Day than other modern day Americans.
The Day of the Dead is celebrated in Italy as well, it’s called the giorno dei morti, and it’s also November 2. November 1 is Ognissanti, all saints.