Dia de los muertos

At a taco stand in a park in Oaxaca at night, Kelly and I met a British guy and his Mexican friend - by function of speaking English. We asked how long he's been in Oaxaca and he said since Dia de los Muertos. In the moment I couldn't remember the date of the holiday, not even the month, which made it hard to grasp his answer to our question. But I just nodded knowingly, because it seems that Dia de los Muertos was a day that one should know. I imagine that the city burst into color, food, light, like in the movie Coco. A day to look forward to each year, not to forget the date. Maybe if I knew the date of dia de los muertos, if I knew when to put up my ofrenda the ritual would make death more manageable. Something we can do in this increasingly precarious world.