The Day of the Dead: A Visual Compendium

The Mexican...is familiar with death, jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates it; it is one of his favourite toys and his most steadfast love." Octavio Paz, El laberinto de la soledad, (The Labyrinth of Solitude, 1961. The Day of the Dead is a comprehensive, visual compilation of all forms of artistic material celebrating the world-famous annual Mexican festival. According to Mexican tradition, one day in the year belongs exclusively to the dead, a day on which they are granted celestial permission to visit friends and relatives on earth. In modern Mexico, festivities for the dead are idiosyncratic. Blending pre-Christian and Christian elements, celebrations for All Saints' and All Souls? are unique in the Catholic world. Mexicans are as tormented by the idea of mortality as other nations, yet they honour and receive the departed with good cheer, visual splendour and imagination. Families welcome the returning souls with flowers, incense, candles and special foods.