in mexico on november 1st and 2nd, people honor their loved ones that have passed on by remembering and celebrating them with different traditions and many festivities. this year my family and I went to a cemetery in mexico to take flowers to those we have buried there.

 

we take fake flowers, so they last more. but many people purchase real ones. there are many vendors outside the cemetery in case you want to buy some.

   

if you’re from the u.s. you know that the majority of cemeteries don’t look anything like this. they’re mostly just grass with a plaque on the floor or a cross. I personally like how the ones in mexico look; big cement tombstones where you walk around and not step on. however, as you can see in the photos above, they might break after years. and since this is an old cemetery, the tombs are really close to one another too. still like it though.

to conserve the tombstones clean, from both weeds growing and dirt getting on them, men or kids offer you their services to clean them. some people just do it themselves.

musicians also offer to play your loved ones’ favorite songs.

my mom tells me, and I also have very faint memories of when I was younger, that in years before this area would get so full of people and merchants. now they built a bridge that makes it harder to navigate around, and also the violence here got worse that many people moved out and are scared to visit.

since my grandmother’s house is a few blocks straight from this cemetery, mom and her siblings would offer their house’s front ward to park cars. it’s was like a mexican version of a lemonade stand to make money, haha.

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the best part about being mexican: FOOD!

    

the white and chocolate bread are called conchas– delicious by the way! and the bread next to them is the pan de muerto, the traditional bread.

delicious pastor above // the making of enchiladas below

 

how mexican housewives become immune to the heat of a stove and oil is beyond me! I can’t even flip a tortilla without it hurting..

 my breakfast: tamales made by abuela.

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If you read my blog, you know I always say this, but I’m gonna say it again:

I love Mexico.

I do. The people, the culture, the places, the food. <3

Nothing other like it.

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I hope you enjoyed this post and that if maybe you’ve always wondered how people in mexico celebrate day of the dead, this helped you visualize it a little more. of course there are way more traditions that people do, but this is what we do in our little town :)

Have a good week, dear readers.

–diana