Get Ready to Celebrate the Day of the Dead
By Samantha Bradley
Slytherin students are in for a huge treat for Halloween this year. This reporter has been lucky enough to speak to several members of House Staff (whose names are best unmentioned), and I was able to get the low down on what's in store. Would you like to know, or would you prefer it to be a secret? If you really want it to be a surprise, then I advise you to put this article now and go and find something else to occupy your time. But if you actually do want to know then please, read on and I shall divulge all the details to you.
You're still here, huh? Well then, let me tell you all about what's to come. You can consider this a primer for the big event. The big news is that we're going to be celebrating Dia de los Muetros, perhaps better known as Day of the Dead. It is all going to begin on October 31, All Hallows Eve. All Slytherin students will be able to work on a children's altar to invite the spirits of the dead children to come back for a visit. Think of how much fun that will be! You might find someone like Moaning Myrtle in that group, someone you can be friends with forever and who will never leave you alone. Wouldn't you like that?
The next day, November 1st is All Saints Day, and this is when the adult spirits come to visit. November 2nd is All Souls Day, where families go to the cemetery to decorate the graves and tombs of relatives. I heard we were going to visit some of the graves of professors who have passed away. The entire festival is filled with marigolds (the flowers of the dead) muetros (also known as the bread of the dead), sugar skulls, cardboard skeletons, tissue paper decorations, fruit and nuts, incense, and other traditional foods and decorations. All students are invited to help in the preparation of things for the celebration and it is definitely going to be fun. You don't want to miss out on those sugar skulls, they are the best part of the whole thing!
And there you go, something to really look forward to. Hope to see you there! I am certain the spirit of Severus Snape would want you there, too. Remember, he is still watching over all of us from wherever he is and this would undoubtedly be the best time of year to actually see him, if there ever is any.