Day of the Dead and Halloween

Since I've been in Mexico, I've come to appreciate Day of the Dead traditions. It's truly a celebration of life and a time set aside to spend time with loved ones that are gone. I've participated several times. This year I probably won't go to the local cemetary because I don't know anyone there but I'm thinking of setting up a small altar in our courtyard for some people that I miss and think of often. I miss my mother a lot. She would, ofcourse, be horrified if she were alive and I told her what I was going to do. She was a strict Episcopalian and I'm pretty sure she would have thought this practice to be sacrilegious which is defined as:
"when the sacrilegious offence is verbal, it is called blasphemy. "Sacrilege" originates from the Latin sacer, sacred, and legere, to steal, as in Roman times it referred to the plundering of temples and graves. By the time of Cicero, sacrilege had adopted a more expansive meaning, including verbal offences against religion and undignified treatment of sacred objects".
I think this definition is a little harsh and conservative because the practice of celebrating and remembering important people in your life appeals to me in a huge way and it's a positive and happy event. When you go to the cemetary (Pantheon) on Day of the Dead, it is filled with people talking and laughing with their dead friends and relatives. You hear music and people stop by to visit. There are photographs, candy, sometimes beer and tequila,lights and beautiful altars. It's colorful and lots of fun which is as it should be. Many times there are vendors at the entrance to the Pantheon selling candles and religious items as well as food and drink. I went a few years ago with my friend, Elvira, to visit her father and we spent three hours there laughing, crying and talking. I think it helps us deal with the pain especially when it involves a young person or an unnatural death. It's part of the culture here just as it's in the culture to place a cross or monument on a road to mark the place of a traffic fatality.

Since we live in a predominantly American/Canadian town it is really tied in with Halloween. We've heard that we'll have trick or treaters and we have candy for them. It's going to be a big night because there are also two costume parties to go to. My understanding is that Halloween is the day to remember the children and the next day is to honor adults. For me, my little altar will be a stage for reflection and a time for me to spend some time thinking and talking to my mother and some other important people that are gone. I hope to make it a personal tradition from now on. I am looking forward to it. I'm thinking my mother will forgive me for any blasphemy committed.