The Day of the Dead is a Mexican national holiday dedicated to the commemoration of the departed. The holiday falls on October 30, near the homonymous Catholic holiday celebrated on November 2.
During this period, families honor their departed decorating graves with sugar skulls, marigolds, food and drinks they liked in life.
The celebration of the Mexican Day of the Dead draws its origins from the indigenous culture and, perhaps, from the Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl or "Lady of the Death". The festival fell in the ninth month of the Aztec calendar (more or less the beginning of August) and was celebrated for an entire month.
Currently, the holiday covers a period of three days and the most common symbols includes skulls, used since pre-Hispanic era as a symbol of death and rebirth.
The skulls, which represent a departed soul, are made of sugar by skilled artisans, whose craft is slowly disappearing. Sugar skulls had the name of the dead written on the forehead and is placed on the graves to honor the return of a particular spirit.
They often have big happy smiles, colorful icing and sparkly tin and glittery adornments. They are edible and the most common ingredients used for the construction are: powdered sugar, egg white, corn syrup, vanilla, and corn starch.