Mexico, Day of the Dead

Picture is a bit blurry, as it was taking out the window of a moving van. The Day of The Dead is a busy holiday in Mexico. People of all ages are out and about. Kids are out of school. Up and down main roads you see people walking, riding motorcycles, riding bikes, getting off and on public transportation, and parking cars. People lining the streets to buy and sell tokens,
It's hard to see how ornate the cemeteries are, or how decorated they are. I was a good distance away here, and the only one in the group interested in cemeteries; thus the van continued to move along towards it's destination.
Beyond the entrance here is a cemetery and if you click to enlarge, you see the large numbers of people inside it's walls. Graves are decorated with food, drink, pictures, flowers-mostly paper wreaths, and other memorabilia.
Here you can see lots of items for sale. The day of the Dead dates back to an Aztec festival dedicated to a goddess, Mictecacihuatl. The Aztec calendar was a 9 month calendar, August it's 9th month was the month of the celebration. Now days, with some differences state to state in Mexico, Nov 1 is the day for infants, while Nov 2, is the day for adults. Nov 1 is referred to as the Day of The Innocentes.

People go to the graveyards to be with the souls of the departed and build alters, (the food, drink, pictures,etc.) It is believed this action encourages visits from the souls so they'll hear your prayers. Many families picnic at the graveside. Often the visits last a full day, and many families sleep there the night. Before the alters are built the stones are cleaned.

In some areas of Mexico, the day has taken on some resemblance to our Halloween, in that children go door to door for treats.

**This my post for M in the Z-A challenge, all Z-A posts Here
If you like to see and read more about traveling to Mexico:
Not a Typical Day at the Beach, Manzanillo Mexico
Villa Paraiso, Manzanillo Mexico
Kicking off our Travels to Mexico