In life, death is only the beginning.
An excerpt from “The Smitten God: The Mesoamerican Mythological Tradition,” decrees, “For bones are like seeds: whatever dies goes to Earth, and from it new life is born in the sacred cycle of existence.”
Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, honors that sacred cycle by honoring the dead and celebrating their annual return to the world of the living.
What is the day of the dead?
Día de los Muertos is an interweaving of pre-Columbian ritual and European tradition. It celebrates the richness of life and the inevitable journey of death.
It is important to note that Día de los Muertos celebrations vary from region to region, and not all communities in Mexico celebrate the holiday.
During Día de los Muertos celebrations, family members often visit cemeteries where their lost loved ones are buried, cleaning and decorating the graves and gathering at the graveside to eat, play music, and talk about and with the dead.
To show the dead that they are not forgotten, altars or offerings are built at home.
When is the day of the dead and where is it celebrated?
Dia de los Muertos is observed by those of Mexican heritage throughout Central, South and North America on November 1st and 2nd. The first date is dedicated to the spirits of dead children, while the second is reserved for the spirits of adults.
These dates correspond to the Catholic feast days of All Saints and All Souls. Mexico City and Oaxaca are known for the extent of their Día de los Muertos celebrations, while San Antonio is home to the largest Day of the Dead celebration in the United States.
The History of the Day of the Dead
The origins of Día de los Muertos stretch back 3,000 years to the death rituals of the Nahua people of Mesoamerica.
The Nahua, which includes the Aztecs, saw the universe in cyclical terms and humanity as an emergent duality. Death was not a separation from life, but an integral part of it.
According to the National Center for Hispanic Culture, “Humans were the bridge between heaven and earth—the point of contact between the divine and the profane, the spiritual and the material, the rational and the irrational. Man was the union of opposites and responsible for maintaining the balance between the conflicting forces of the universe. ”
For the Nahua, death was not an end, but a kind of embarkation. Upon death, a person takes the soul’s journey to Chicunamictlán or the underworld.
After a trying journey of nine levels and four years, the spirit would finally surrender to Mictlán, its final resting place.
Initially, rituals to honor the departed were held in August and the living offered essentials such as food and water to help their ancestors through this journey. These ancient offerings served as inspiration for the altars and alms that mark contemporary Día de los Muertos celebrations.
Spanish influence
In the 16th century, the Spanish conquistadors, fresh from the dark days of the Black Death and riding high on the fumes of Christianity, took a grim view of death, not that that stopped them from delivering it en masse to those who colonized mercilessly. deviate.
The Christian faith has a long history of “renaming” the holy places, myths and celebrations of those seeking to convert.
In this way, temples are torn down to make way for churches, the nuanced underworld becomes a hellscape of fire and brimstone, and holy occasions coincide with feast days. Such was the fate of the pagan festival of Samhain, and so the Nahua death rituals were adapted to All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day.
Despite the best efforts of the Spanish to regard death and the afterlife of the soul as something to be feared, the essential ethos of the universe as cyclical and death as celebration continues in and through the continued observance of Día de los Muertos.
The ethos of death as celebratory and the universe as cyclical continues in and through the observance of Día de los Muertos.
UNESCO recognized the importance of Día de los Muertos in 2008 when the organization added the holiday to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, citing, “It the encounter between the living and the dead affirms the role of the individual within society and contributes to the strengthening of the political and social status of Mexico’s indigenous communities.
Day of the Dead traditions
altarscried altars of Muerto OR offerings, are among the most prominent and significant features of Day of the Dead celebrations. theirs function is to show the dead that they are not forgotten and to guide them home. Depending on the region and tradition, altars are built with a different number of levels and a wide variety of offerings. In this context, ofrenda describes the altar and offerings.
These offerings may include photos of lost loved ones, salt, water and alcohol to quench their thirst and skullglittery decorated skulls made of sugar and meringue that represent what has passed and serve as a symbol for the sweetness of life.
Punching in colorful curved paper known as papel picado it allows traveling spirits easy access, while the delicacy of the paper symbolizes the fragile nature of life itself.
Pan de Muertobread of the dead, is one of the many food items placed in offerings.
Flowers, including marigolds and marigolds, are commonly added to altars. Petals are sometimes scattered from the house to the altar in the hope that the vivid color and strong fragrance of the flowers and the flickering light of the candles will serve as guides to the ancestral spirits.
Día de los Muertos preparations are made with great care to ensure that the dead are welcomed and enjoyed. They are believed to carry the power to bestow pain or prosperity, depending on the quality of the offerings and the execution of these rituals.
Day of the Dead is NOT a Halloween holiday
Although themes of death feature heavily in both traditions, Día de los Muertos is NOT the same as Halloween, and the conflation of the two and the commodification of the former is a source of controversy and cultural appropriation.
As the Los Angeles Times argues, “Day of the Dead has effectively become wrapped up in Halloween retail hype, troubling some observers who see it as cultural appropriation that turns centuries-old Day of the Dead memories into commercialism crazy”.
Halloween is closely related to the ancient pagan harvest festival known as Samhain. Modern Halloween celebrations share little beyond skeletal imagery and a seasonal convergence with the Day of the Dead.
“The costume is for Halloween, and Día de los Muertos is not a costume.”
Jessica Razo
As Jessica Razo reminds us, “Dressing up is for Halloween and Día de los Muertos is not a costume.” So please, unless you grew up in a community that traditionally observes the holiday, don’t put your sugar skull in a costume. sometimes.
Day of the Dead and cultural appreciation versus appropriation
Mourning (along with friendship, music, language, love of Paul Rudd and abhorrence of incest) is one of our major cultural universals, and Día de los Muertos can provide impetus to explore our ancestral traditions of death and remembrance.
However, there is a very fine and uncertain line between appreciating and appropriating and bending and borrowing from.
“The biggest way to change the culture of acquisition is with your wallet.”
Jeremy Cohen
Día de los Muertos is an important cultural holiday, not a name or an aesthetic that can be bankrolled for profit, much to the chagrin of the Walt Disney Co., which tried to do just that in preparation for the release of “Coco ” and Mattel, who were attacked for Day of the Dead-themed Barbies.
Sigh.
Those who did not grow up with the traditions of Día de los Muertos, but are attracted to the holiday, can educate themselves and observe the festivities with the ultimate curiosity and reverence.
Learn and engage, but don’t take from. Ask permission to take pictures. Observers and assessors should be mindful of how and where they spend money related to the holiday and related items.
“The biggest way to change the culture of acquisition is with your wallet,” explains Jeremy Cohen on Talk Death. “If you want to buy sugar skulls or Day of the Dead merchandise, make sure your money goes into the hands of people who actually benefit from it, not into the hands of foreign conglomerates.”
By spending carefully, honoring respectfully, and investigating your ancestral traditions, you can pay homage to the sacred cycle of existence that counts bones as seeds and birth and death as equal blessings.
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