November 2 (Friday) marked the Day of the Dead, so I went to Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, to see what it is all about. Mind you, I've read about Day of the Dead activities and mentally knew it was a festive celebration, but all the reading in the world couldn't have prepared me for the spectacle. At the Panteón Nacional (National Cemetary), El Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) is a rich, elaborate, colorful, multi-day happening--a sharp contrast to the somber, quiet, reflective cemetaries in the United States. El Dia de los Muertos is not a time for sadness, as the belief is that the spirits of departed loved ones return--so families bring offerings of food and beverage (those that were favorites of the departed) and spend their days and nights at the gravesite feasting and remembering. The gravesites are weeded, cleaned, and scrubbed. Then they are decorated with fresh and paper flowers, photographs, stuffed animals, toys, and trinkets. Bands play. Singers sing. Children play, scampering about the graves. At one end of the cemetary, a carnival is in full swing, while at another, a mercado (market) offers everything from "fast food" to rugs to bracelets depicting saints to fashion wear. Strolling vendors hawk their cotton candy and candied apples and pan de muerto (literally, "dead bread," but actually it is a slightly sweet bread prepared for this occasion). And everywhere one sees calacas, skeleton figures, doing everything the living do and reminding all that rich and poor, beautiful and plain, talented and untalented, ultimately share an equal fate. At market stalls, children select calaveras, sugar skulls, that are personalized with their names and gobbled up--a sweet, cementery (spanglish, for "cemetary") treat, and another reminder of human-kind's shared fate.