Día de los Muerto, Latin America's 'Day of the Dead' and its developments across the diaspora, is not somber or gruesome or scary, it's a joyous celebration to honor departed loved ones.

In part, Day of the Dead (or more accurately, 'Days' of the Dead, since both November 1 and November 2 can be marked) is celebratory because death is believed to be part of the natural circle of life. The belief is that dead souls can more easily visit the living on these days. So families flock to cemeteries to encourage the visits, bearing food and small gifts.

Food writer Cynthia Bertelsen writes:

"November 2 was the day that everyone packed up various mole sauces, tortillas, pozole, candied squash, pan de muertos made into human shapes, tamales, and fresh fruit, and picnicked on top of family graves after scrubbing off lichen, stains, bird droppings, and weeding around the graves. Putting fresh flowers and burning candles on the graves, seeing old friends attending the graves of their loved ones, sharing reminisces, and telling stories. To miss this annual ritual was simply unheard of. We couldn’t do anything else until late afternoon, once we’d visited the cemetery where the grandparents lay under thick slabs of cement, their fading photographs a testimony to the relative shortness and impermanence of earthly life."

Read more about Day of the Dead Food-Laden Altars from Gherkins & Tomatoes

Just this week, Mary from One Perfect Bite featured the most traditional food for Day of the Dead, the bread called Pan de Muerto, the 'bread of the dead'.

"The Aztecs believed that death was a portal to another existence. Oral tradition tells us that the request of the dead before burial is, "Give me bread and sugar to help me on my journey." The bread of the dead, pan de muerto, is made only for the Dia de los Muertos celebration. It is a sweet, egg-rich bread and it can be found throughout Mexico, though its form differs vastly from one region to the next. The bread is supposed to resemble a skull and it is adorned with bones and sometimes tear drops."

Read more about Bread of the Dead - Pan de Muerto at One Perfect Bite

Another traditional food for the Day of the Dead -- if 'sugar' is a food, that is -- is skulls made from sugar, colorful, playful and festive:

"Today's sugar skulls, angels, and other sugar figures were, in bygone years, made of wood and clay. Because wood and clay were so expensive and difficult to work with, artisans searched for materials that not only cost less but were easier to handle. Sugar proved to be ideal."

See photos of handmade sugar skulls at Mexico Cooks.

Heidi Swanson from 101 Cookbooks wrote about how the occasion is marked in the Mission District of San Francisco. Her post features two-layer skull cookies, her take on the traditional sugar skulls.

"This time of year is always my favorite for both cooking and taking pictures. I look forward to the squashes, pears, and apples flooding the markets almost as much as I look forward to the parades, processions, and celebrations that take place around Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. Dia de los Muertos is visually and spiritually stunning and I love to walk to the Mission district to see the procession and view the elaborate alters created in the neighborhood parks."

Get the recipe for Maya's Skull Cookies at 101 Cookbooks

Anne Lossing lives in Guatemala and blogs at Rain Forest Recipes. In 2008, she was gifted by neighbors with a platter of fiambre, a chilled salad traditional for the Day of the Dead.

"Today's dish is Fiambre ... a dish that is famous in Guatemala as the food to serve on November 1st, the Day of the Dead, when all and sundry pack up their gardening tools and paintbrushes, their new plastic flowers, their guitars and their kids and head off to the cemeteries to repair the past year's ravages and party a bit with the departed. ... As all different families brought food to the celebrations, they became mixed, eventually mixing them together to this all-encompassing salad. Ingredients usually include numerous cold cuts and sausages, pickled baby-corn and onion, beets, pacaya flower, string beans, radish, different cheeses, olives, chicken, and sometimes even brussels sprouts or shrimp ... It can take days to make, and like all good traditional dishes, fiambre varies from kitchen to kitchen."

Read more about fiambre at Rain Forest Recipes

And you?
And you, do you mark the Day of the Dead? Tell us your story in the comments!

BlogHer food editor Alanna Kellogg already keeps a private 'shrine' -- just a collection of small kitchen objects, really, in a kitchen window -- representing the many strong women who bless her life. This year, she intends to honor them further with Pan de Muerto, Bread of the Dead, to add to a small collection of celebration breads.