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Our first blog post is about one of the most important holidays in Mexico, Day of the Dead or Día de Muertos or simply abbreviated as, "Muertos." Books have been written about the history, meaning, practices and beliefs but in a super small nutshell, here's a description... Day of the Dead is kind of like a combination of Thanksgiving (traditional foods, family gatherings, iconic colors, traditional flowers & smells) and Memorial Day (going to the cemetery, cleaning and decorating the grave site, remembering the dead) and is really NOTHING like Halloween. They both share the timing of All Saints Day and they both feature skeletons, but really, they are not even close in terms of a holiday. Americans may get a little confused because there are so many skeletons or skulls around during "Muertos" but these skeletons are happy and doing things that they used to do in life--playing instruments, singing, teaching classes, riding bikes--anything that they would do in life, they do in death. And always with a smile on their face. They like to look on the sunny side. It's a very nice holiday. In Mexico, Day of the Dead is November 1 and 2.