Day Of The Dead
Imagine yourself in a cemetery, commemorating
your great-grandpa. Dia De Los
Muertos (The Day of the Dead) is celebrated in
Mexico on November 2nd. The Day
of the Dead is one of Mexico's traditional
holidays reuniting and honoring
beloved ancestors, family, and friends. To
begin, the historical roots of this
celebration date back to the pre-Hispanic
cultures of Meso-America of the
indigenous people, especially the Nahua
(Aztecs, Mayans, Toltecas, Tlaxcaltec,
Chichimec, Tecpanec) and others
native to Mexico more than 3,000 years ago. Life
was seen as a dream. It was
believed that only in dying, a human being was truly
awake. Death was not a
mysterious and fearful presence but a realistic
recognizable character as
much a part of life as life itself. When Christianity
was introduced in the
16th century, religion and its symbols became part of the
altars we now find
in Mexico today. November 1st, All Saints Day, is when the
spirits of the
children, called "los angelitos" (little angels), are
expected to return.
Traditionally, it is a time when family members share
memorable stories that
would commemorate their lives together. Secondly, there
are many items that
people do to celebrate the Day of the Dead. On November 2,
family members
clean and perhaps paint the headstones, arrange flowers, and
lighting
candles. Mexican families construct special home altars dedicated to
the
spirits of their deceased loved ones. The altars range from simple to
the
very elaborate and are usually filled with objects that provided pleasure
to the
departed person in life, including favorite food and drink. Altars
dedicated to
the spirits of deceased children often include toys, candy and
other sweets. I
think that building alters for the dead is a good concept.
They teach the
younger generations about the past, as well as commemorate the
dead. No matter
what kind of a person was, everyone leaves behind a legend.
Some books, for
example, are biographies, praising and telling about a person
in the past or
present. Like a book, the alters tell the history of a person.
The alters tell a"story" of the dead individual. Alters tell the age, their
likes, and many
other interesting facts about the dead individual’s life. I
think that these
alters compensate the work of an earlier generation. The
altars or "ofrendas"
as they are called, also usually contain objects made
from sugar or sugar
sculpture known as "alfenique." These objects may be
small animals,
such as lambs, miniature plates of food (enchiladas with
mole), small coffins,
often with pop-up skeletons, and of course, the sugar
skull or "calavera."
The skulls are made by pouring a mixture of boiling
water, confectioner's sugar
and lime into clay molds, which have been
previously soaked in water. The
calaveras are decorated with paper foil for
eyes and a kind of colored icing for
hair. Names can be added to the skull
and Mexican children often exchange named
skulls with their friends. I think
that the skeleton represents the spirit still
living after it has left it's
flesh on this earth. The spirit of an individual
lives on forever. Ofrendas
often include "papel picado" or Mexican
cut-paper. Papel picado has a long
folk tradition in Mexico and the little town
of San Salvador Huixcolotla, in
the state of Puebla, is known for its fine cut
paper. Although papel picado
is used as a decoration for many festive occasions
such as weddings and
baptisms, papel picado with themes relating to Day of the
Dead is also
very popular. The Mexican papel picado is similar to origami.
Although
origami is folded, it too has spiritual meaning. In conclusion, I think
that
Dias De Los Muertos is important for the family to maintain
good
relationships with the dead for it is they who intercede and bring food
fortune
to the living. It is a time to come to terms with our mortality and
become aware
of cycle of life and death. The Day of the Dead is a day for
honoring are
beloved ones.