Time to remember deceased

By Linda Prendez, On-Line Forty-Niner

Thursday, October 29, 1998

While children dressed as ghouls and goblins go from door to door, filling their bags with sweets and getting tricked by the bah-humbugs of Halloween, others are preparing altars adorned with human skulls, flowers, bread, and other offering to honor the daed.

On Nov. 2, the living who celebrate Dia de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, will have a feast in teh early morning hours to remember their loved ones who have passed away and to celebrate the continuity of life.

The original celebration can be traced back to the month-long Miccaulhuitontli festivities of the Aztecs, presided over by the goddess Mictecacihuatl, Lady of the Dead. After the conquest of the indigenous people , Spanish priests declared that the activities were to be confined to one ritual, which was to coencide with the Catholic holidays.

In Mexico and other Central American countries, the holiday is one of the most popular. In Halloween fashion, townspeople dress up and parade through the town carrying an open coffin.

A papier-mache corpse within smiles as it is carried through the narrow streets of small towns. At home, families arrange altars with offerings from the living world and pictures of deceased family members.

In the late afternoon, special all-night burning candels are lit. It is time to remember the departed.