Sofia, from Mexico, shares a bit about how a festival with similar roots to Halloween — Day of the Dead — is celebrated in her country, and what she thought about on the day this year.
As you know I’m a Mexican girl and I really wanted to write about a beautiful tradition that we have in my country “the Day of the Dead”.
It doesn’t matter if I am in Mexico or here, to remember loved ones that aren’t here now is always a special thing. On 2nd November we try to remember how our loved ones enjoyed life.
In our houses we build a little altar that we call 'altar of the dead' and we put photos of the people that we love but who died recently or many years ago. We also put in bread, Mexican desserts, Mexican food dishes and beer or tequila. To give the final touch we decorate the altar with beautiful Mexican yellow flowers: cempasúchil. Apart from being beautiful, the smell is amazing.
This year on the Day of the Dead I particularly wanted to remember all the lives that we have lost to Coronavirus during this time. I turned my thoughts to the victims of Covid-19, because some of them were close to us, some were doctors trying to save lives, but the most important thing is that all of them were humans, with emotions, dreams and desires.
And I thought about all that we can do to contribute to our society.— including following the rules, for the good of everyone. We need to care about the people we love, about our friends and teachers from our schools, because everyone is important.
So please if you are reading this, take care of yourself and follow the rules. It is the only thing that is in our hands.
