On October 31, a family will go to the market and buy food, candles, incense and flowers. At home, the families prepare ofrendas, altars laden with offerings of food, candles, incense and flowers for the departed in their families. Then they go to the cemeteries and adorn the graves of their loved ones. Rituals at the cemeteries differ from town to town, but most feature feasting and mariachi music. After dark in many traditions, solemnity reigns.
Many people remain at the cemetery throughout the night.
The overall tenor of the two days of welcoming the dead is one of happiness. Toys and trinkets abound, and the bakers' shelves are lined with holiday food. The dead are seen by the living as playful and happy beings who want to be entertained and feasted and cherished, and the holiday celebrates life, not death. Gale Group Inc. 2001.