Death is much different to Mexican culture than it is to American culture. Americans view death as a tragic finality. In some ways it may be. In Mexican culture death is celebrated much like a birth, the beginning of the after life. Yes, of course Mexicans also mourn the loss of their loved ones. Each year they commemorate their passing and remember the importance their life meant. This is done at the beginning of November as it is believed this is when the two worlds of living and spirits intersect. They make shrines to the deceased with their picture, flowers (often Marigold), their favorite things in life and lots of glowing candles.
One ancient culture, the Egyptians, didn't even have a word for death. The closest word they had to death is "westing." Westing as in west, the direction of the setting sun. As we know, the sun also rises, and to the Egyptians their dearly departed loved ones entered a wondrous afterlife, a new cycle of existence. Cycles we know to be a very true way our world works. Old gives way to the new. New eventually becomes old and so on. Pacific Northwest natives didn't believe in "death" as we know it either. Instead they called it a "change of worlds."
I explained all this to my 12 year old niece while coloring with my husband and mother-in-law Christmas Day.
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