Image courtesy of mexicansugarskulls.com
Sugar art has been created in Mexico since colonial times. For the Day of the Dead, sugar skulls represented a departed soul, with the name of the person being honored written on the forehead. The skulls were then placed on home altars (ofrendas) or gravestones in honor of that soul’s return. Today, the skulls are also popular gifts. Like valentines, sugar skulls are exchanged by friends and sweethearts as a token of an affection and love that will transcend death. (If this seems like a strange idea, you may want to ready our post about Day of the Dead imagery.)
The sugar skulls sold in the markets for Day of the Dead are made using a complicated process involving boiled sugar and clay molds. But you can easily make your own skulls at home with just sugar, meringue powder, water, and special plastic molds.
Pan de Muerto or Bread of the Dead is traditionally used on altars or ofrendas for the Days of the Dead. If there is a panadería (Mexican bakery) in your area, they will probably have it for sale at this time of year, but you can also make it with this delicious recipe. This version is adapted from a recipe in one of my favorite go-to cookbooks, Mexican Cookery by Barbara Hansen, now (sadly) out of print, but used versions may be available on 
Ultimately all things wither, fade, break apart and disappear. Every fall, the trees turn and eventually lose their leaves. Following the harvest, empty, barren fields stand as silent witnesses to the end of one cycle of life and the promise of the next cycle of planting and growth in the spring. More than any other season, autumn provides a poignant reminder that death is a natural part of life. So perhaps it is not surprising that harvest festivals, held during the fall of the year by ancient peoples worldwide, frequently incorporated a remembrance of the dead as well.
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