Belize Celebrates Dia de Los Muertos

The Day of the Dead, traditionally celebrated on November first and second, sometimes extends to dates like October thirty-first or November sixth, depending on the locality. This vibrant multi-day holiday brings together family and friends to honor and remember their departed loved ones, creating a heartfelt and festive atmosphere filled with memories and respect.  In Belize, the Mexican Institute has erected an altar to remember the dead.

 

Jose Francisco Zamora, Consular, Mexican Embassy

“ The idea of Dia de Los Muertos is that you have to believe that your ancestors, your friends, your relatives, every person you love that has passed away is not dead, they just continue their trip in another realm and they are going to be living forever, as long as you remember them.  So the Dia de Los Muertos is a kind of remembrance is to remember to enjoy the life of your ancestors and your relatives and your loved ones and, according to the Hispanic tradition, on Dia de Los Muertos, they are allowed to leave the underworld or the heaven and come back to earth to spend time with their relatives and their loved ones.  So that’s why we prepare the Altar de Los Muertos, as you can see, behind me.  The altar has several elements, the most important, of course, is on the top.  It’s the pictures of the people that you are dedicating the altar, they are usually your relatives or your grandmother, godmother or even your pets.  So it’s the people you love or admire that have already started the trip to the eternal life, so you put the pictures to remember them.  Then you have to put some special souvenirs, something that makes remembering them special and make you proud of them, for example, a medal if they used to do sports and they won a race and you keep the medal.  Every time you look, you remember, “Oh, my grandpa was a very good athlete.  So that’s an important element of the altar.  And also, on the Dia de Los Muertos which is today and tomorrow, you have to put the food that they liked in life because the idea of the tradition is that their spirit is coming back and you are going to enjoy one more meal with them.”