Día de los Muertos, the Mexican Day of the Dead

Photo Credit: Ken Lee Photography

 Many people today mistakenly believe that that the Day of the Dead festival is just another version of Halloween and is all about partying and/or getting candy. This is not entirely true. The origins of this traditional holiday have a deeper meaning.

Los Dias de los Muertos, or the Mexican Days of the Dead Festival, shares some of its origins with Halloween. And some of the practices today are also similar, from decorating with pictures of skeletons, to ghoulishly shaped sweets. But Los Dias de los Muertos, which may be one of Mexico’s best-known holidays, is also a blending of the European traditions brought by the invading Spanish conquistadors and the Aztec and Mayan peoples who were the inhabitants of much of Central America before the arrival of the Spanish.

The Aztecs’ Festival of the Dead was not a day-long or week-long celebration, but went on for nearly two months in which the fall harvest was celebrated and death was honoured. The festival was presided over by the goddess known as Mictecacihuatl, or the Lady of the Dead. Over the course of the festivities participants would create offerings for the dead such as foods, alcohol, flowers and ceramics.

Aztecs and Mayans both believed that one day of the year the souls of the departed would return to the realm of the living, where they could visit their families and loved ones. With the arrival of the Spanish, and Catholicism, the new rulers of Mexico attempted to marshal the fiestas dedicated to the dead under the auspices of All Saints Day (November 1st) and All Souls Day (November 2nd). The dates of these two Catholic holidays are now celebrated in Mexico as Los Dias de los Muertos.

This fiesta is marked by the invitation by the living to the dead to return to their family home for a visit. Families place photographs of their loved ones who have passed on at the deceased’s grave site or on a family altar. They also place offerings of flowers, drinks and food alongside the photographs. This ritual is particularly important for those who have been lost in the year since the previous festival, and is a way of coming to terms with the death of someone loved and missed.

Extended families will often meet in the cemeteries on the evening of the festival, and will collect together at the grave site of a recently deceased relative. The family may keep vigil through the night, all the time eating the foods they have made in preparation for the fiesta, visiting with their relatives, and praying for all the members of the family, alive and dead.

The preparation of the altar is an integral part of this fiesta, and some of the objects that are prepared especially for the altar have become a familiar sight to many outside of Mexico. Altars are often decorated with flowers, whose brief life span is meant to be a reminder of the brevity of all life. Brightly coloured and intricately cut tissue paper festoon the altar, waving like multi-coloured flags. Sweets, fruits, and other foods are joined by the staples: bread, salt, and water. Grooming supplies, such as a washbasin and soap, are provided for the spirits to tidy themselves after their long journey. Finally, the well-known Calaveras statues depicting skeletons participating in the activities of the living- from cooking to playing in mariachi bands- take their place on the altar, where their comic appearance brings a smile to the faces of the grieving.

There are 2 distinct nights of celebration with this holiday. At midnight of October 31, it is believed the gates of Heaven are opened and the spirits of all deceased children are allowed to reunite with their families so toys and sweets are left for them. On November 2, cigarettes and shots of Mezcal are offered to the adult spirits.

This celebration is not treated casually or lightly. It can be a very expensive undertaking for families to honour their dead. Some families spend upwards of 2 months’ salary to show, what they believe, is proper respect. In turn, they believe that the spirts will honour them with good luck, protection and happiness. The townsfolk gather together, sharing stories of those passed on, remembering good times, sharing laughs, sharing food. This interaction keeps the people close and makes for a harmonious life the whole year long.

Perhaps the recent popularity of different aspects this festival in Western society have come about because we don’t really have a way to celebrate and honour our dead. In our society, death has been treated as an end to a person’s life and must be met with solemn stoicism and kept hidden away. We seem to feel that we must not tell silly stories or laugh about things the departed did while alive. As if, that is being disrespectful to their memory.

Now, with more information becoming available about other countries’ views on death, we realise that it is okay to openly enjoy a departed loved one’s memory.  We can laugh and share and enjoy what they mean to us.

As with any form of celebration, different aspects of it will filter over into other times of the year. The colourful style of dress, the masks and the specific imagery of the sugar skulls are all used for party decorations and home décor. Some people think this will show disrespect to the Mexican people but I disagree. As long as you are not mocking them or their beliefs, I believe, we should all embrace this colourful and vibrate style of expression. There is no disrespect by spreading joy and happiness at any time of the year.

{Sources of information for this article are: mexicansugarskull.com; http://mashable.com/2015/10/30/celebrations-for-the-dead;

http://edsitement.neh.gov/not-just-halloween-festivals-dead-around-world}