On Saturday, November 1, the Embassy of Mexico opened 'The Altar' in 'Celebration of the Day of the Dead' at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica building in St Andrew.

The event is an annual Mexican tradition. Sounds morbid? Maybe, but not if you think about it carefully.

Perhaps your relatives, or the relatives of someone you know, have an annual family reunion on the anniversary of the death of a loved one. Now, imagine this being multiplied all over the country, where every family in Jamaica has this family reunion on the same day at the family home.

What exactly is this 'Celebration of The Day of the Dead'? A beaming Ambassador Leonora Rueda Gutierrez explained that this tradition can be traced to the Ol Meca, the Aztecs and Mayan tradition of worshiping life through death.

"The celebrations of the dead are held by the family. They are private, but possess a collective, communal dimension," she said. They are held on November 1 and 2 each year. On the first day, it is believed that the souls of the children arrive and the second day the souls of the adults arrive.

In an attempt to get Jamaicans to understand this indigenous culture, the Mexican Embassy created an Offernda Altar for Emiliano Zpapata and Enarasco Villa, two revolutionaries of 1910.

well decorated

The walls of the room in which the altar lies are decorated with black fabric, and on two sides of the walls are posted words of popular Mexican phrases printed on green and pink papers.

An example is, 'Mas vale morir de pie, que vivir de rodillas.' (It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees). Of course, in a family setting the words would have related to the deceased relative.

Hanging from the ceiling and pasted on the walls were paper decorations in assorted colours, similar to that seen at a Christmas party. But in this case, instead of fig tress and bells, skulls and skeletons are depicted.

The Altar comprises three levels. On the highest level, along with framed pictures of Emiliano Zpapata and Enarasco Villa, are bottles of tequila, mescal, beer, corn and skulls made from paper and sugar cane. The latter is eaten by the living, at the end of the celebrations.

On the mid-level lies a skeleton made from papier mché with four candles placed at the corners, while on the lowest level, created by a mat, are more lit candles, more corns, flowers and pan de mueros (dead's bread).

Mexican chef

Another custom of this indigenous celebration is the eating of sweet bread and pastries with hot chocolate. To reinforce the importance and respect shown by the people of Mexico towards 'The Celebration of The Day of The Dead', a Mexican chef was commissioned to bake the pastries for the event.

It is also important to note that this festivity was added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's list of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2003.

So what do you think of the celebration now?