Google celebrates Day of the Dead with a doodle.
(Picture: Google)The Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos in Spanish, has coloured the streets of Mexico with celebration and vibrant artwork once again.
Google has joined the festivities by painting their logo with the multicoloured sugar and clay skulls usually used to decorate people’s homes and faces.
But for those new to the observance, it’s vital to note that this Hispanic holiday is not a Halloween alternative.
So what is the Day of the Dead about?
What are Day of the Dead beliefs and traditions?
The Day of the Dead is rooted in 3,000-year-old Aztec and Mexican beliefs that the spirits of family and friends could visit the living one day a year – a practice that was adopted by 16th-century Spanish settlers in America.
According to UNESCO, who officially recognised the day as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008, celebrated have spread across cultures now as it is celebrated by non-Mexicans too across the world.
Every year, shrines are collected, food like round bread that represents the circle of life is shared, and family members who have passed over are invited back home.
Chicunamictlán (the Land of the Dead) is where dying people are believed to travel, to face nine stages of challenges that could last years. Food and offerings are also tokens to help them along this journey.
The final resting place, Mictlán, is the ultimate goal.
Home altars, called ofrendas, are lined with candles, which are believed to help guide the spirits back to this world for their temporary reunion, before returning to Heaven.
Copal incense is lit to invite others into their homes to admire neighbours’ altars and greet the dead.
Graveyards are often filled with families decorating tombs with bright marigolds and personal belongings to remind the departed of their lives in this world.
Unlike Halloween, which focuses on horror and the supernatural, Día de los Muertos is when families commemorate loved ones with stories and laughter.
What are the symbols of the Day of the Dead?
Skeletons and skulls are typical symbols, decorated with bright patterns – as well as bright marigolds, often used as diadems.
The icon is often attributed to the cartoonist José Guadalupe Posada whose political art La Calavera Catrina, or the Elegant Skull (1910), was co-opted for the festival.
Candy and masks are made with the skull in mind, as well as other common recurring products, such as spicy chocolate and a corn drink called atole.
