lifestyle, travel This is Cozumel
Cozumel islanders will celebrate El Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, next week, along with the rest of Mexico.

The event remembers and celebrates the lives of ancestors and other deceased members of the family.
 
Cozumel Day of the Dead
Skull art at Discover Mexico

Held on the first and second day of November each year, although the celebrations may sound morbid for some cultures, in Mexico they are approached joyously.

Cozumel Día de los Muertos
Death and Mexican art (Painting: Mario Mizrahi).
  It is a time to celebrate relatives' lives, not mourn their passing away. The belief is that death is not the end, but rather the beginning of a new stage in life.

Special altars are made offering the deceased relatives their favorite items from when they were alive.

It is popular to include flowers and candles, but you may also see food, drink, tobacco and other curiosities.

Island bakers make special sweet skull-shaped pastries and flowers and memorials fill cemeteries. Marigolds are also very popular, a sacred orange flower that represents death.

Skull art on show at Discover Mexico and painting by local artist, Mario Mizrahi.