Death is a part of life.

That’s one of the main messages of the Day of the Dead celebration Rosa Rodriguez and her family will take part in Sunday.

“It’s a way sharing the good memories of when the person was still here to keep their memory alive,” Rosa Rodriguez said.

Rosa made an altar on her kitchen table to remember her brother, Jose Carlos “Joe” Rodriguez, who died of hypothermia three years ago after he crashed his car.

The Day of the Dead is celebrated on Nov. 1, the same day as the Catholic All Saints’ Day. The Catholic holiday All Souls’ Day is celebrated on Nov. 2.

In Mexico, the Day of the Dead is commonly celebrated at a cemetery, where a grave is lined with marigolds. However, Rosa and her family visit Joe’s grave, but most of the celebration is indoors at Rosa’s home, largely because of the Minnesota weather.

The altar is on Rosa’s kitchen table on top of a Mexican flag with many symbolic things items relating to the traditional holiday and Joe’s life.

Different flowers are a part of the altar, including roses, paper flowers and artificial flowers. The paper flowers are made of a thin paper that can blow in the wind, which Rosa said represents the wind that carried the soul home to be with the family.

Many believe that it’s easier for the souls of the dead to visit the living. Candles lit on the altar represent the light that guides the spirit home from the afterlife.

A basin of water, soap and a wash cloth are placed on the table, because tradition is to allow the spirit to cleanse after the long journey. The spirit is believed to arrive Oct. 31 and stay until Nov. 2.

Rose will light a candle on Oct. 31 at Joe’s grave, and she’ll also light the candles at the altar. The candles will stay lit until Nov. 2. About 25 family members and friends will come to celebrate on Nov. 1. She compared the celebration to a birthday party.

Rosa and many in her family are religious, and she said she doesn’t doubt that Joe is in heaven.

“It’s basically his day. … Obviously I believe that there is another life. He knows that we still remember him, that we haven’t forgotten him,” she said.

At the celebration, that family will eat some of Joe’s favorite foods. They will also drink Jose Cuervo tequila. The tequila is on the altar along with cigarettes, and Rosa is going to buy his favorite beer.

An open Bible rested at one corner of the table with a pressed flower in it. Rosa said Joe frequently read the Bible when he was feeling down.

Pictures of Joe and a framed copy of a poem he wrote to a family member are also set on the altar. Rosa said Joe loved to draw, and on the right corner of the table there’s a picture he drew on a white handkerchief.

Skulls are a key symbol of the celebration. The white skulls on the altar were decorated with bright colors and appeared to be missing a tooth. Rosa said this is done to mock death because death cannot take the memories of a loved one.

“They laugh in the face of death saying, you’ll take him physically, but you’ll never take him from us because he’ll just live in our hearts,” she said.

While the day is meant to celebrate the memory of a loved one, Rosa said the day can be filled with mixed emotions.

“Most of the time it’s really loud and we’re all having fun,” Rosa said.

“When we go out to the cemetery, that’s when it hits everybody. Like, oh my goodness, it has been three years, but it seems like it was just yesterday, and then everybody starts getting a little emotional and upset or sad. We try to snap each other out of it and remember the good things because that’s what it is more about,” She said.

At the same time, Rosa said many people aren’t familiar with the traditions behind the Day of Dead. She said some people believe the day is based on the demonic because of the skulls.

“A lot of people don’t really know the meaning of it,” Rosa said. “Then you have the skulls and the religious stuff like the virgin Mary and candles of Jesus Christ, and they think, ‘Oh my goodness — cult.’ It really isn’t about that.”

“It’s basically like a birthday party, just in death,” she added.

Rosa said she doesn’t know of many other families in the area that celebrate the Day of the Dead. In the future, she hopes to find other families that celebrate it, and potentially plan some events to commemorate the holiday.