Instead of our very commercial tradition, Dia Die Los Muertos is a rather joyful period of remembering the dead. Elaborate altars of rememberance covered with photographs and food are built, and November 2 begins with a morning picnic in a cemetery filled with marigolds. Folk tradition tells us that Animals must return to Heaven on October 31, Child ghosts must return on November 1, and the adults get to stay out late until November 2. And so each day of the event is used to remember a different group of the dead. In our game, the object is to provide food for the dead over the three days of the celebration.
Most people know the Day of the Dead through the very ornate folk art which surrounds the event.
We use some of these images to illustrate our cards, but more on this topic on our Day of the Dead Art Page . The big difference is that you do not follow suit. Instead, you can only play cards in colors that have not already been played. Even worse, as each hand progresses, you begin to learn a bit about both your partner's hand, and your opponents. Which turns the game into one requiring a bit of deduction.