Today, November 2nd, is a public holiday throughout Mexico and in many other countries around the world.
It is a day chosen for people to honor the memories of their deceased relatives and friends.
It is traditional to build private altars, called ofrendas and to decorate graves with sugar skulls, marigolds and favorite foods and beverages of the departed.
Relatives bring their own food and drinks and music, often spending the night at the cemetery in a sort of melancholy picnic atmosphere.
These pictures were taken at the cemetery in Ajijic, a small village on the north shore of Lake Chapala where we first lived when we made our excursion to Mexico.
It was an interesting and somewhat macabre introduction to the native culture for us.
I have since read that the origins of the holiday date back thousands of years to indigenous peoples and an Aztec festival dedicated to a goddess.