Families will prepare the dearly departed's favorite meals, foods, and drinks as well as set the table with a seat open for their past loved ones. Along with the sugar skulls and paper flowers, it is common for photographs of the dearly departed to be placed at the altar along with real flowers, candles, religious symbols, and personal items belonging to the deceased. To celebrate the holiday, artisans spend hours turning sugar, hot water. To welcome them, the family build altars in their honor. Skulls were a powerful symbol in the Aztec culture, and some were used as tribute to Mictecacihuatl, the goddess of death. Seeing these sugar skulls displayed throughout all the vendor stands in the city made me pause for a moment. In this case, its a mix of indigenous cultures of Mexico and Catholicism brought in from the Spanish. El da de Los Muertos is celebrated on November 1st and November 2nd, in which the spirits of the dead are believed to return home and spend time with their relatives on these two days. My first thought was that Día de Muertos was right around the corner, and my second thought was that I could buy some sugar and chocolate skulls to take to my aunt, whom I was going to visit during the weekend before Día de Muertos. Even the colors have symbolic meaning: yellow represents death, purple represents grief, and white represents purity and hope. What do sugar skulls represent in Dia de los Muertos Where do they come from Day of the Dead is a syncretic tradition, meaning that it is a celebration that is a mix of two cultures. The Spanish term for skulls, calaveras, are not the only decorations present on the ofrendas during the festivities. Hand painted flower-like swirls and other fanciful designs are inked around the skull's eyes, cheek bones, and head. These skulls are decorated beautifully, as they have the name of the deceased scrawled across the skull's forehead.

Dia de los muertos skull