Image credit: Thomas Backa  (Flickr: Creative Commons)

I don’t like Halloween.  Never have.  Never will.

Not for of any particular religious reasons, but simply because it always seemed a pretty pointless exercise to me.

Until I moved to live in Spain.

Although the American-style “ghosts and ghouls” type of Halloween has now started to creep into the Spanish calendar each year, this time of year is celebrated here in a different form, as “El Día de los Muertos” or the “Day of the Dead”.

The festival of Todos los Santos (All Saints´ day) is a national holiday on November 1st each year, when cemeteries are packed with families paying homage to their dead and tending the gravestones of their ancestors by placing fresh flowers and candles.

This is a commemoration for loved ones with nothing ghoulish or scary involved and, thankfully, without commercialism.  

Exactly as it should be.

How do you honour loved ones who have passed away, in your part of the world?

Related articles:

Death in the Afternoon: The Round Cemetery of Sayalonga

The Day of the Dead: A Celebration of Life 

The heart of Cómpeta: El Paseo de las Tradiciones