Dias de los Muertos

Dias de los Muertos - Nov 1st to Nov 3rd - This national holiday (Nov 1) actually lasts for 2 days: All Saints' Day -- honoring saints and deceased children -- and All Souls' Day, honoring deceased adults. Relatives gather at cemeteries countrywide, carrying candles, food, flowers, and colorful decorations, and often spend the night beside graves of loved ones. Weeks before, bakers begin producing bread in the shape of mummies or round loaves decorated with bread "bones." Sugar skulls emblazoned with glitter are sold everywhere. Many days ahead, homes and churches erect altars laden with bread, fruit, flowers, candles, favorite foods, and photographs of saints and of the deceased as a way of remembering them. Traditionally, costumed children walk through the streets both nights carrying mock coffins and pumpkin lanterns, into which they expect money will be dropped. However, in Americanized Los Cabos, costumed kids are out in full force for Halloween rather than on Day of the Dead. November 1 and 2.