Today is Halloween day and it is a very big deal in North America! At EC Montreal we always celebrate it with our students! We have many activities leading up to Halloween like our cupcake decorating, Halloween movie, costume shopping and Halloween costume competitions!
The EC Montreal team always dresses up with a theme. Last year we were hippies, the year before we were witches and in 2016, we were cops! This year, we decided to celebrate Mexican style with the day of the dead costumes. We got the idea from our activity leader, Danae, who is Mexican and who had planned to wear the “Catrina” outfit! As my husband is Mexican and my girls are well, half Mexican, we thought this would be a beautiful way to honor the Mexican culture and tradition. The entire team was onboard and had fun putting our costumes together!
We even decided to show the Disney movie, Coco, to our students yesterday, in keeping with the Day of the Dead theme.
We decided to do a little bit of research to find out why Mexican’s celebrate the dead. This is what we found out! The day of the dead is a holiday designed to remember the importance of living and understand the meaning and beauty of death. Rather than being morbid about the subject of death, it is celebrated in a joyous and colorful way. Houses and cemeteries in Mexico are filled with flowers, food, candles and lots of love. On the first day of November family of the departed, gather in the graveyards and put together large altars. They stay up all night just to be in the company of the spirit of the person who has passed away. These altars represent the message of welcome. It is common to place photos and clothing of the person so he can easily find his way to his own tomb. The cemeteries are filled with flowers, sugar skulls and dishes prepared by the locals. It is common to listen to music and to perform traditional shows to honor the deceased. You can also celebrate the day by enjoying the traditional “Chocolate Caliente” and “Pan de Muerto” which translates to -hot chocolate and bread of the dead-.
It is a beautiful tradition and one that we will continue to celebrate here at EC Montreal. We all have loved ones that have passed on and it is comforting to know that they are still alive as long as we remember them.
Happy Day of the Dead from all of us at EC Montreal!
At EC English School Montreal we love to celebrate different cultures!