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Brian: To conclude the show today, your calls on the Day of the Dead. Yesterday was Halloween, and if you thought we were done with all that, know a lot of the world isn't. If you celebrate the Day of the Dead if this holiday is part of your culture, what does this holiday mean to you and your family. How do you celebrate your departed loved ones on this day or even in your everyday practices? (212)-433-WNYC, (212)-433-9692. If there's any other tradition that's separate from Halloween, separate from Day of the Dead in whatever culture you're from that has to do with recognizing or celebrating those of your loved ones who have departed this life, what is it in your culture? (212)-433-WNYC, 433-9692.

On Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos, two-day Mexican holiday, where the dead are celebrated for the impact that they made on us while they were alive. Washington Post journalist Mariana Alfaro, who is Salvadoran and Mexican, recently wrote, "While mourning and joy are not two emotions that inherently fit together, on Día de los Muertos, we party with our dead. We tell them how much we miss them while we play their favorite songs, while we prepare the meal they loved in life, while we remember all the bad jokes they made and the great adventures they went on."

If you're celebrating this holiday in any way like that, we want to hear from you. We want to give you the opportunity to give voice to your rituals or just whatever you do for the Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos. (212)-433-WNYC, or if you have something like that from any other culture that you're from. What does it sound like in your home on Day of the Dead? Do you have some favorite songs maybe playing in the background right now, and who are they for?

How does some of those favorite foods of your loved ones taste if you're making them? What sort of decorations do you have in your home for Day of the Dead or for any other way that you in whatever culture do this kind of partying with your dead, as the Washington Post journalist put it? (212)-433-WNYC. I have a branch of my family that on the birthday of one of my relatives who died a while back, they all go to this Jewish deli in the Bronx that he used to frequent and talk about uncle Sam, so that's one little thing.

How about for you? (212)-433-WNYC, (212)-433-9692. According to USA TODAY, "Known for dazzling displays and the colorful Calaveras, decorated skulls, people make or use as makeup, the holiday's origins go back a couple of millennia in Mexico to the time of the Aztec empire. Then later when the Spanish arrived, they infused the tradition into the Catholic All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day." That's another thing you could call on.

Do you celebrate All Saints' Day or All Souls' Day? What are the rituals of those for you, and how are they similar to or different from the Day of the Dead? (212)-433-WNYC, (212)-433-9692. Are there certain prayers that you're saying today and tomorrow? Again, to cite my Jewish tradition on Yom Kippur, there's a particular service for all the departed from the year past, the ofrenda, Spanish for offerings, is also part of the Day of the Dead celebration.

"These altars are devoted spaces to deceased family and friends and are viewed as the bridge between the living and the dead," according to an NBC Telemundo article written by their correspondent in Mexico City. "Most include aspects of the four elements, water, fire, wind, and earth. Fresh water is placed on the ofrenda to help quench the thirst of spirits after their long journey back to the world of the living. Fire is represented through candles, wind is represented by Papel picado, colorful paper banners with cut-out details, and earth is represented by pan de muerto, bread of the dead."

Did you and your family build an ofrenda for your loved ones this year, ever? If so, what do you place on them, family photos, toys, candles, sugar skulls, somebody said, maybe your loved one's favorite meal, or their favorite bottle of alcohol perhaps? (212)-433-WNYC, (212)-433-9692. I know there's face painting and more. Talk about your tradition, or if you celebrate Day of the Dead in particular, which is today, talk about that.

I'll throw in one other. The Japanese Buddhist festival of Obon, and I don't know if I'm saying that right, O-B-O-N, where, according to National Geographic, the souls of the dead revisit the living, and like the Day of the Dead, is defined by dancing and family. Do you celebrate your departed loved ones on the Buddhist festival of Obon or any other holiday, including or similar to the Day of the Dead, which is today? Mel in Bay Ridge, you're on WNYC. Hi, Mel.

Mel: Hi, Brian. Thanks for having me. I just wanted to share that I am of a Polish-Irish background, so I did not grow up with Día de los Muertos. However, my best friend is Mexican, so I started to learn a lot about it many years ago. We do our own ofrenda now. I spent the morning shopping to buy a lot of different food for both my parents who are deceased, my husband's father who's deceased. We're going to do one meal for his father, one meal that's for my parents.

I grew up with All Saints' Day, very Catholic family, so I knew what All Saints' Day was, but as a kid, it's very vague, it doesn't make sense. When I started to see how Day of the Dead was done in another culture, it made sense, everything clicked for me. I think it's a very beautiful celebration. I'm happy to have brought it into our home, and my six-year-old loves it. We have marigolds, we do everything we're supposed to do according to the Day of the Dead traditions. That's all.

Brian: Great story, Mel. Thank you very much, appreciate it. José in Florida. Where in Florida are you, José? Hi.

José: Hi, Brian. I am en route from Miami to New Orleans. I'm moving to New Orleans. I'm starting the process by arriving in New Orleans tomorrow, and I'll be searching for an apartment.

Brian: Good luck.

José: That is what I'm doing. Thank you very much. I'm formerly of Park Slope. I am of Cuban background. In our tradition, we feel that the dead are with us. It's a very Afro-Cuban thought, whether you're in the religion or not. Even my mother used to put up a glass of water for the dead in the house. My birthday is tomorrow, it's the second day of the Day of the Dead. It'll be my second birthday without my mother, and I will be in New Orleans celebrating my birthday but also celebrating my mother, who gave me birth on that particular day. Hopefully, I'll be second lining and listening to funk and jazz somewhere.

Brian: [chuckles] Did she like that music?

José: Well, it's not her particular-- She was listening to songs and [unintelligible 00:08:31], and I'll be listening to some of that as well on the way over.

Brian: Thank you, José, beautiful. Ryan in Tinton Falls, you're on WNYC. Hi, Ryan.

Ryan: Hey, Brian. How are you?

Brian Lehrer: Okay.

Ryan: I've always thought of the Day of the Dead as something very meaningful to a lot of people. I'm by no means Mexican or any Central American culture, but I would like to celebrate the people in my life that have passed in that sort of way. I have a lot of Mexican friends. I don't want them to look at me as some person appropriating their religion and who they are as a people. I don't know how to feel about it, but I'd like to celebrate it. Any thoughts?

Brian: You mean you'd like to do it in some of the ways that Mexicans celebrate the Day of the Dead, but you're not Mexican, so you don't want to appear to be appropriating their holiday and their traditions?

Ryan: Absolutely.

Brian: Well, not being Mexican myself, it's really not for me to say, but I guess I would tiptoe into saying that it's probably a tribute to how much you respect the traditions of the Day of the Dead that you've observed and that it's probably a good thing if religions and different national traditions influence each other, as long as one does not colonize the other. When appropriation comes up, it's often that somebody is making money or developing power off somebody else's traditions who are more marginalized, which I don't think would apply in your case. Again, it's not really for me to say, but I tend my first impulses to be sympathetic to you and say, "It sounds like you're doing it out of love."

Ryan: I appreciate it. Yes, definitely. Definitely love.

Brain: All right.

Ryan: Well, thank you.

Brain: Ryan, thank you. Anybody who is Mexican and wants to weigh on that, we're not going to have time to get a new set of callers on that, but feel free to tweet @BrianLehrer and Ryan, watch our Twitter feed. Audre in Chicago. You're on WNYC. Hello, Audre.

Audre: Hi Brian. So glad to call into your show. I'm Lithuanian American and so we celebrate tomorrow, which is All Souls Day. It's a Catholic tradition, but it's become even bigger. I did it as a child with my parents. We would go to grave, the grave site of my grandparents, put candles on the grave. After college, after the fall of the Soviet Union, I went to Lithuania and lived there and worked as an actor there.

My relatives took me on All Souls Day and that was astounding because you would drive through the countryside at dusk and you would see candles flicker from all these little old grave sites, and so the whole country celebrates it. We honor the dead and it's a national day off so people don't go to work, and it's a very important holiday in Lithuanian culture.

Brain: Another good one and another one that a lot of our listeners probably didn't know about. Thank you very much. We'll go next to Carlos in Brooklyn. You're on WNYC. Hi Carlos.

Carlos: Hi Brian. How are you doing today?

Brain: Good. Celebrating the day of the dead.

Carlos: Correct. Yes. Día de Los Muertos, I am actually of Chicano descent, first generation in New York City. The way we honored Día de Los Muertos and our altar will place photos of our loved ones as well as any particular dish. For example, from our loved ones, we usually put a traditional mole negro, which is a sauce made with amazing chocolate taste with cinnamon, and the taste is so amazing that it has you licking your fingers. My children, every time we have this mole dish we add, chicken, avocado, sour cream, and tortilla, they enjoy it.

We also put in our altar [unintelligible 00:12:33], which allows our loved ones to enjoy this traditional bread as well. My children's just a few days ago made something called Cavallaro's, which Cavallaro's are pretty much what children make from [unintelligible 00:12:46], and yes, that's pretty much Brian.

Brain: What do you say to the kids? Obviously, it's different at different ages, but to communicate the idea of communing on whatever level with relatives who are departed without freaking them out.

Carlos: I think the best thing that we can do is share the movie, Coco. I think the movie Coco does a great way of just illustrating how the passing is not just about being sad, but also about being joyful at the moment that we had the good time to celebrate with our loved ones. The laughs, the music, the lyrics, and really enjoying and allowing them to understand that it's a bridge from one place to another.

Brain: So nicely said. Carlos, Thank you. Please call us again and we have time for one more. Elsa in the East Village. You're going to get our last minute. Hi, Elsa.

Elsa: Awesome. Hi Brian. I am in the East Village and I have my old friend all set up, and I have my pops front and center, and I'm excited to get home from work and cook a big meal. One of his favorite ones, listen to Johnny Cash. He loved Johnny Cash. Listened to some TexMex, share some stories about how funny he was, and just celebrate.

Brain: Beautiful Elsa, thank you very much. A good way to end the segment. Thanks to all of you for your day of the dead ritual descriptions, and some of you who called to represent other cultures and how you do a similar thing. Others are coming in on Twitter. If you want to see them go to our Twitter feed @Brian Lehrer, and listeners, thanks for your calls. As always. Thanks for your ears as always, and that's The Brian Lehrer Show for today.

Produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, Esperanza Rosenbaum, and Emily Lowinger. Today, Zach Gottehrer-Cohen produces our Daily Politics podcast, our interns this term are Trinity Lopez and Brianna Brady. Megan Ryan is the head of Live Radio and we had Matt Marando at the Audio Controls. I'm Brian Lehrer.

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