Special event: Day of the Dead

In Mexico, Day of the Dead is an annual festival where families gather to remember the dead. This year, celebrate Day of the Dead at the British Museum with free events and activities.

Various regions have different beliefs, but some believe that the souls of children that have died come to visit the living on the 31st October. The sould of dead adults arrive a day later. Everyone seems to agree that all the souls depart on the 2nd November. The presence of the souls is not scary or ghoulish as Halloween is in the UK or America, rather it is a reassuring, pleasant and peaceful feeling, and an opportunity for the living to show how much they still love and miss their relatives and friends.

The British Museum organised a special event on Sunday 1st November 2009, with Carnival parades and special displays, food and music. I attended and the Museum was so full of people! Official estimations were of arun 30,000 people in the Museum! 

A colleague of mine has filmed this bit of the parade which took place inside the Museum, there are photos which you can also access through this link: click here. You can also find more information through this link: Day of Dead Celebrations.

It would be fantastic to blog about Eid and Diwali too, so if anyone has any photos of their celebrations, that would be great!

Terhi