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Celebratory 'Day Of The Dead Bread' Baking In Detroit's Mexicantown

DETROIT (WWJ) - While some in metro Detroit are busying picking costumes and carving pumpkins, in Mexicantown they are prepping for el Dia de los Muertos or the "Day of the Dead."

Some in Southwest Detroit are celebrating the holiday all month long with the baking of a special bread in honor of loved ones who have passed away.

The colored sugar is flying at the Prince Valley Market on Michigan Avenue, where manager John Robinson said he's been extremely busy.

Day of the Dead Bread
Employees of Prince Valley Market: Earnesto Nava, Karina Lamaren and Rosa Gomez. (credit: Marie Osborne/WWJ)

"We've become one of the largest, fastest-growing bakeries in the area at this time," Robinson told WWJ Newsradio 950's Marie Osborne. "I mean, you will come here on a Saturday or Sunday and this thing is just totally overwhelmed over here."

In Mexico, this festival is considered to be the most important holiday of the year.

Mexican-trained Pastry Chef Earnesto Nava said on Sunday, Nov. 2 they'll observe All Souls Day — a time to remember friends and family member who died by displaying all their favorite foods and drinks.

Nava said in Mexico people spend the night in the cemetery in honor of their lost loved ones.

"They come, they eat, they drink, or whatever they wanna do, you gotta put it over here," he explained.

It isn't morbid, Nava said, but a celebration so popular he can't even estimate how much "pan de muert," or "bread of the dead" he baked today.

Day of the Dead
(credit: Marie Osborne/WWJ)
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