Early this weeks I posted a blog about cemeteries across the country celebrating Halloween in unique ways. Well it appears that cemeteries and many people in general are beginning to celebrate in the U.S. a similar holiday with increasing attention. November 1 is known in Mexico as Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead. The same day is also known among Catholics as All Souls Day. November 1 for many is like a second Memorial Day, a day to remember the departed. The day gives people the chance to reflect on their ancestors and the lives they led.
Studying the past, remember the dead, and celebrating the lives of our ancestors is what family history is all about. This is why we conduct genealogical research. The more cemeteries, organizations, and families celebrate Halloween and Dia de los Muertos with a reflection upon the past the more exciting these days become. I look forward to an further increase in the celebration of these days in the future.
Here is one article I found discussing the growth of Day of the Dead celebrations in Texas:
Day of the Dead celebration grows in national popularity
Fernando del Valle
Valley Morning Star
LAS RUSIAS — For two days, Mike Salazar worked to repair the broken bricks that surround his family’s gravestones.
Monday, his wife Aurora placed flowers that fluttered at the foot of the old tombstones at the edge of the cemetery along U.S. 281.
Today, they’ll pray for their loved ones as they celebrate Dia de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, in the historic cemetery that dates to some of the region’s earliest settlers.
“There’s a lot of history here,” said Salazar, a retired inspector for the Texas Department of Transportation. “This is something we do for those who went before us. We have to honor the dead. It’s unfortunate we only try to do something for the graves for the day we honor the dead.”
Like many Mexican Americans, Salazar celebrates Dia de los Muertos, a holiday steeped in Meso-American tradition, with All Souls Day, the Roman Catholic holy day.
Across much of the United States, the folk art and tradition that surrounds Dia de los Muertos has helped spread the holiday into mainstream America, said Melissa Tijerina, special events officer at the Museum of South Texas History in Edinburg.
“The event in Texas and different parts of the country has grown,” she said. “More people are interested in the history of it.”
For eight years, the museum has staged an exhibit that’s grown along with the holiday’s popularity, Tijerina said.
Through Sunday, the museum will showcase 13 altars that area residents decorated to honor their loved ones, she said.
The altars hold mementos that the deceased treasured in life — everything from cowboy hats and tequila to mole and fresh fruit, she said.
“It’s a tradition fused in European and Meso-American traditions,” Tijerina said. “Dia de los Muertos is a sort of veil between life and death. It’s not a morbid occasion. It’s a celebration of life rather than death. We take a day to remember our passed loved ones and reflect on what they meant to us.”