One of the most colorful holidays known worldwide, the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) brings to the fore the Mexican tradition of families spiritually reuniting with their deceased relatives, celebrating with food, drink, merriment and… more filly.
The Day of the Dead is celebrated all over the world at the end of October
A mix of Mesoamerican ritual, European religion and Spanish culture, the celebration takes place every year between October 31st and November 2nd. While October 31 is American Halloween, November 1-2 is All Saints’ Day or Day of the Dead. According to tradition, the gates of heaven are opened at midnight on October 31, and the spirits of children can join their families for 24 hours. Adult spirits can do the same on November 2nd.
The roots of the Day of the Dead, celebrated in contemporary Mexico and among those of Mexican heritage in the United States and around the world, go back about 3,000 years to the rituals of honoring the dead in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, as history notes. com. The Aztecs and other people of the Nahua culture who lived in what is now central Mexico had a cyclical view of the universe and saw death as an ever-present integral part of life. After death, a person was believed to travel to Chicunamictlán, the Land of the Dead. Only after passing through nine challenging levels, a journey of several years, could the person’s soul finally reach Mictlán, its final resting place. In the Nahua rituals of honoring the dead, traditionally held in August, family members offered food, water and tools to help the deceased on this difficult journey. This inspired the contemporary practice of Day of the Dead, where people leave food or other offerings on the graves of loved ones or place them on makeshift altars called “ofrendas” in their homes.
Day of the Dead vs All Souls Day
In ancient Europe, pagan celebrations of the dead also took place in autumn and consisted of bonfires, dancing and feasting. Some of these customs survived even after the rise of the Roman Catholic Church, which adopted them (unofficially), All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, celebrated on the first two days of November.
In medieval Spain, people brought wine and pan de ánimas (spirit bread) to the graves of their loved ones. They also covered graves with flowers and lit candles to light the path of dead souls back to their homes on Earth. In the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors brought such traditions with them to the New World, along with a darker view of death, influenced by the devastating bubonic plague period.
Food prepared for the Day of the Dead. PHOTO: Pexels
El Día de los Muertos is not, as is commonly believed, a Mexican version of Halloween, although the two holidays share some traditions, including costumes and parades. On Day of the Dead, the boundary between the spirit world and the real world is believed to dissolve. During this short period, the souls of the dead awaken and return to the living world to feast, drink, dance and sing with their loved ones. In turn, living family members treat the deceased as an honored guest and leave the deceased’s favorite foods and other offerings at the graves or “ofrendas,” these small altars that can be decorated with candles, bright marigolds called “cempasuchil” , baskets and stacks of tortillas and fruit.
The most prominent symbols associated with the Day of the Dead are “calacas” (skeletons) and “calaveras” (skulls). In the early 20th century, cartoonist José Guadalupe Posada incorporated skeletal figures into his art, satirizing politicians and commenting on revolutionary politics. His most famous work, “La Calavera Catrina” or “The Elegant Skull”, features a female skeleton adorned with make-up and dressed in fancy clothes. The 1910 engraving was intended as a statement about Mexicans adopting European fashion over their own heritage and traditions. The painting was then recognized as one of the icons of the Day of the Dead.
The work “La Calavera Catrina” by José Guadalupe Posada PHOTO: Wikipedia
During contemporary Day of the Dead festivities, people commonly wear skull masks and eat sugar candies molded in the shape of skulls. The pan de ánimas of Spain’s All Souls’ Day rituals are reflected in pan de muerto, the traditional baked sweet dish of today’s Day of the Dead celebrations. Other foods and drinks associated with the holiday, but consumed year-round, include spiced dark chocolate and the corn-based drink called atole.
UNESCO holiday, transposed to the big screen
Traditionally, the Day of the Dead was celebrated mostly in the rural, indigenous areas of Mexico, but starting in the 1980s it began to spread to the cities as well. Since 2008, Mexico’s “Indigenous Festival of the Dead” has been included in UNESCO’s intangible heritage. In recent years, the tradition has developed further due to its visibility in pop culture and growing popularity in the United States of America. For example, inspired by the 2015 film “James Bond Spectre,” which featured a large Day of the Dead parade, Mexico City held a similar one for the first time in 2016. In 2017, Disney and Pixar released the animated film “Coco ,” a $175 million homage to the Mexican tradition in which a boy is transported to the Land of the Dead and meets his long-lost ancestors.
The Day of the Dead is also celebrated in Romania, being known as the Fall Estates or Illumination. On the first Saturday of November, Christians go to church with a basket and merindas, which they then distribute, light candles and take autumn flowers to the graves of those who have passed into eternity, thus commemorating them.
