Day of the Dead (El Dia de los Muertos)

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El Dia de los Muertos is one of the most globally popular Hispanic/Mexican Holidays.  Also known as, Day of the Dead; it spans the first two days of November.  Since celebration begins at midnight October 31, Day of the Dead has often been confused with Halloween (another holiday filled with misconceptions).  El Dia de los Muertos is actually a celebration of life!

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Day of the Dead received additional stigmatism due to its use in sub-culture zombie films, causing individuals to associate it with raising deceased bodies from the ground that are then allowed to wander the earth.  Like most cinematography concepts, this one is loosely based in truth.  

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El Dia de los Muertos can be more directly related to the Catholic Holidays 'All Saints Day' and 'All Souls Day'.  On these days, it is believed the gates of Heaven are opened and all the spirits are allowed to descend on earth to celebrate with family and friends.  The first day (also known as Day of the Innocents) focuses on the children and saints, while on the second day, all remaining spirits are allowed to join in the festivities.  

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Frequently local communities come together in marketplaces to celebrate these holidays.  They will sell toys, cakes, food, cigars and other assorted items that family members will buy and set out as gifts for the visiting spirits.  In this way, they symbolically honor the dead and take a day of remembrance for those whom they've loved and lost; while reminding everyone how fragile and brief life is.

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Merging the beauty and morbid frailty of life into a widely recognized, family oriented holiday has created a unique artistic style being widely adopted as "sugar skull".  This style is primarily any skull or skeleton adorned with bright coloring and/or detailed designs.

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The sugar skull style has been openly adopted by the tattoo community as it embraces life and death in very similar fashions.  Often one gets a tattoo as a memorial for a specific individual but any time we receive a tattoo we are creating a memorial on our skin.  Tattooers often face life and death through their art.  

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While traditional sugar skull style is a solid white skull portrait adorned by primary or pastel colors and intricate designs, it can also include a full skeleton, be created in black and grey, to focus on the design aspect, or be a simplified color design to signify a specific characteristic or aspect of ones life.  

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No matter how an individual decides to express the 'Sugar Skull style' it should contain these basic components; a skull or skeleton (usually solid white for contrast), vivid colors and/or intricate designs.  Additionally, the imagery should focus on a memorial for the wearer that will remind them of life's fleeting moments or a loved one from the past, who has shaped their life for the better!

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Sources:
http://www.mexicansugarskull.com/support/dodhistory.html
http://spanish.about.com/cs/culture/a/dayofdead.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088993/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints%27_Day