The Day of The Dead is a time when Mexican families remember their dead and the continuity of life. The caped skeleton is a pervasive symbol of the holiday. This one hangs on a doorway that is hundreds of years old. It is not the skeleton as subject alone that gives this image its emotional power. It is the incongruity of its placement -- hanging in a doorway, partially in and partially out. The crumbling stone around the door is as evocative as the caped skeleton itself. The door just beyond the skeleton is just as important. It offers context – the lanterns suggest age, while the cross symbolizes the religious belief in an afterlife, which is so much a part of this holiday.