Feliz Dia de Los Muertos!

Today, in Mexico, the Day of the Dead is celebrated. Personally, one of my favorite holidays. The exact reason to why it is one of my favorite holidays I don’t know for sure. I love to get crafty and set the altar and all the different components there are to it. From the cut outs, the cempasuchil petals, the photos of the dead to the food and all the items placed to help the dead to go on in peace, everything just fascinates me. However, is it really just getting creative or is it something bigger? I love the idea of knowing that there is more after death, and that we celebrate them so they go to their next journey peacefully. Most importantly, I feel that this is a celebration for the living to accept that death is part of life and it just doesn’t end there. A way, in a way, to get closure and not be so scared of death.

Death is definite, or so we think. Once you die there’s no coming back, unless you are Sam and Dean Winchester (he he he). Seriously though, if you think about it, you can come back from anything, any failure, accident, brake up, you get the point… but from death, not so much. Can it all really end there? I like to believe that there is more to death than just the end. There is an afterlife, and that’s why in the Mexican culture we celebrate death. I always tell my family that if I was to die before anyone else, I want them to have a celebration, no crying, because I don’t want to cause them that pain. On the contrary, celebrate what good I did when I was alive, celebrate that they are still alive to remember me, that I won’t be forgotten, because I’m pretty sure that in the afterlife I will be able to see them, and it would brake me to leave and see them sad. Of course my mom says that’s impossible, but I’m sure that if that was to happen, she would remember and smile.

That is why the Day of the Dead means so much to me, I respect the fact that death is part of life and that sooner or later, hopefully super late, we are all going to die. By celebrating death we are also celebrating life. We are celebrating those who left and we are also celebrating that we can still remember them alive. We are celebrating the knowledge that eventually we will all die and therefore we have to live to the fullest, with no regrets and no complaints.

Feliz Dia de Los Muertos!☺