Los Angeles

A Look At The Meaning And Significance Of Día De Los Muertos

November 2, 2021 / 7:05 AM PDT / KCAL News

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LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a time when people remember loved ones who have passed on.

Dozens of Día de los Muertos celebrations have been taking place across Los Angeles, including at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, which over the weekend featured over 100 elaborate altars created by community members in remembrance of their ancestors and loved ones.

People dressed as the Catrina, the Mexican traditional representation of death, attend Hollywood Forever Cemetery's 19th annual Dia De Los Muertos celebration in Hollywood, California, on October 27, 2018. - Dia De Los Muertos is one of Mexico's traditional holidays reuniting and honoring beloved ancestors, family and friends. The historical roots of this celebration date back to the pre-Hispanic cultures of Meso-America of the indigenous people, especially the Nahua (Aztecs, Mayans, Toltecas, Tlaxcaltec, Chichimec, Tecpanec) and others native to Mexico more than 3,000 years. (Photo by Agustin PAULLIER / AFP) (Photo credit should read AGUSTIN PAULLIER/AFP via Getty Images)

Día de los Muertos was originally observed for two months by Native Mexicans and Aztecs. But the Catholic church eventually chose two days, Nov. 1 and Nov. 2, to celebrate it: the first as All Souls Day, and the second as All Saints Day.

Altars welcome people back from the afterlife for one night, and if you've seen the film "Coco," you know the main theme is that people we have lost, want to be remembered.

Bertha Rodriguez, COO of the Mexican Museum in San Francisco, spoke to CBS2 News This Morning's Suzanne Marques about the significance and meaning of Dia de los Muertos. Watch her interview in the player above.