Mexico:
El Dia de los Muertos
More than 500 years ago, when the Spanish
Conquistadors landed in what is now Mexico, they encountered
natives practicing a ritual that seemed to mock death. It was a
ritual the indigenous people had been practicing at least 3,000
years, a ritual the Spaniards would try unsuccessfully to
eradicate.
The ritual known today as Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead,
is celebrated in Mexico and certain parts of the United States.
Although the ritual has since been merged with Catholic theology it
still maintains the basic principles of the Aztec ritual, such as
the use of (ceremonial) skulls.
Today, people don wooden skull masks called calacas and dance in
honor of their deceased relatives. The wooden skulls are also
placed on altars that are dedicated to the dead. Sugar skulls, made
with the names of the dead person on the forehead, are eaten by a
relative or friend.
The Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations kept skulls as
trophies and displayed them during the ritual. The skulls were used
to symbolize death and rebirth. The skulls were used to honor the
dead, whom the Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations
believed came back to visit during the monthlong ritual.
Unlike the Spaniards, who viewed death as the end of life, the
natives viewed it as the continuation of life. Instead of fearing
death, they embraced it. To them, life was a dream and only in
death did they become truly awake.
"The pre-Hispanic people honored duality as being dynamic," said
Christina Gonzalez, senior lecturer on Hispanic issues at Arizona
State University. "They didn't separate death from pain, wealth
from poverty like they did in Western cultures." However, the
Spaniards considered the ritual to be sacrilegious. They perceived
the indigenous people to be barbaric and pagan. In their attempts
to convert them to Catholicism, the Spaniards tried to kill the
ritual. But like the old Aztec spirits, the ritual refused to die.
To make the ritual more Christian, the Spaniards moved it so it
coincided with All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day (Nov. 1 and 2),
which is when it is celebrated today.
Previously it fell on the ninth month of the Aztec Solar
Calendar, approximately the beginning of August, and was celebrated
for the entire month. Festivities were presided over by the goddess
Mictecacihuatl. The goddess, known as "Lady of the Dead," was
believed to have died at birth. In rural Mexico, people visit the
cemetery where their loved ones are buried. They decorate
gravesites with marigold flowers and candles. They bring toys for
dead children and bottles of tequila to adults. They sit on picnic
blankets next to gravesites and eat the favorite food of their
loved ones.
In the United States and in Mexico's larger cities, families
build altars in their homes, dedicating them to the dead. They
surround these altars with flowers, food and pictures of the
deceased. They light candles and place them next to the altar.
All preceding information (largely unchanged) came from this
source: Miller, Carlos. “Indigenous people wouldn’t let ‘Day of the
Dead’ die.” The Arizona Republic. Online Edition.
A few years ago when my wife, RaniB, and I started our family we
wanted our daughters to know their grandfathers. Both had died
before either of our children were born. So, even though we are not
Hispanic, we decided to get books to learn about El Dia de los
Muertos so that we could celebrate it with them as a way to
remember our departed family members. Today, our kids look forward
to the time when we bake pan de Muertos, or Dead Bread, and
decorate the “altar” with Papa’s and Dada’s favorite things (see
photo below). I hope after reading this you’ll celebrate your
ancestors in a similar fashion. I really cannot think of a higher
honor.
