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The Day of the Dead (El Día de los Muertos ) is a celebration of the deceased which occurs on November 1 and November 2, mostly in Mexico and among Mexican Americans, coinciding with the Roman Catholic celebrations of All Hallows Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. The origins of this celebration can be traced back to the Aztecs and Mayans as long as 3,000 years ago. Then along came the colonizers.
Pre-Catholic festivities were presided over by the goddess Mictecacihuatl, known as the "Lady of the Dead", and were dedicated to the celebration of children and the lives of adult dead relatives.
When the Spanish Conquistadors arrived in Central America in the 15th century, in an attempt to convert people to Catholicism, they moved the festival from late summer to the beginning of November. That way they made it coincide with All Hallows Eve, All Saints and All Souls days. ( All Saints' Day is the day after Halloween, which was in turn based on the earlier pagan ritual of Samhain, the Celtic day and feast of the dead. So everything pretty much got stacked together. Or, another way to view it is that the need to celebrate the dead is universal, appearing in various forms throughout the history of religions. )
The Day of the Dead is far from a mournful occasion. This is a time to really party about and with the lives that went before us. Rather than fear evil or malevolent spirits, families plan for weeks in advance to make tributes to their ancestors that are happy and respectful and even playful.
For example, families build altars to the dead in their homes They surround these altars with flowers, food and pictures of the deceased. They light candles and place them next to the altar.
The day also includes visits to the cemetery to clean and decorate graves. Some families may offer gifts there, or may actually spend the night there with loved ones by candlelight, offering food and strong drink or milk to their ancestors.
t is believed that the veil between death and life is thin at this time, so that communication with the dead is possible. Marigolds are a flower commonly put on graves in Mexico to help attract the souls to the grave so that communication may occur. But this is not a spooky sort of scary time. It is a fiesta. People laugh and recall funny memories of the departed. Picnics are held at graveside by some. Smiling sugar skulls are eten and used as decoration.The good times are remembered.
As I researched this article I thought how wonderful it must be to be able to picnic at a loved one's grave site -- for some reason the idea just turns the American way of grieving on its head. We almost make death itself sacred in this country and in many other western countries.
As for me, I love the idea that people might decorate and tidy up my grave every year and laugh about the good times. I'd sure visit them if I could. We could hang out and share a sip of tequila, have some Day of the Dead bread and maybe fly a kite. It would be nice to visit with everyone, to find out how they are doing, to check in once a year.
I think that on the day I may just bring lunch over to my parents' grave -- you know, just to tidy things up, relax, check in with them, and laugh about how sweet it was (correction: IS) to be a family.
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RELATED BLOGS
Lady of the Dead has an excellent photo gallery of Los Angeles Day of the Dead celebrations.
Catherine Al-Matan explains:
Traditionally, the altar consists of four sides and four levels, representing the four stages of life and the four directions. The four seeds used in building the altar include tomatillo, corn, chile, and cacao. Each of the four elements is represented in the altar, fire (candle), air (flute, feather), earth, and water (shell). Each of the four stages of life are represented in the four growth stages of corn (seed, fresh, dried, and corn used in different foods like tortillas and tamales)...Offerings are also
