Halloween and Day of the Dead
Day of the Dead: What is it and what are its customs?
By
Kiwilimón - 2018-10-16T09:19:43.116743Z
Day of the Dead is a Mexican celebration that honors ancestors on November 2, coinciding with the Catholic celebration of All Souls' Day. Although primarily seen as a Mexican festivity, it is also celebrated in many communities in the United States where there is a large Mexican-American population, and to a lesser extent, it is celebrated in some parts of Latin America.
This festivity is celebrated joyfully, and although it occurs close to All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, instead of feeling fearful of malevolent spirits, the mood on Day of the Dead is much more relaxed, similar to Halloween, with a greater emphasis on celebration while honoring the lives of the deceased.
The origins of the Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico can be traced back to the time of the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica, such as the Aztecs, Mayans, Purepechas, Nahuas, and Totonacs. The rituals that celebrate the lives of ancestors have been performed by these civilizations for at least the last 3,000 years. In the pre-Hispanic era, it was common practice to preserve skulls as trophies and display them during rituals symbolizing death and rebirth.
The festival that became the Day of the Dead fell in the ninth month of the Aztec solar calendar, close to the beginning of August, and was celebrated for a full month. The festivities were presided over by the goddess Mictecacihuatl, known as the Lady of Death (currently corresponding to La Catrina). The festivities were dedicated to celebrating children and the lives of deceased relatives.
When Spanish conquerors arrived in America in the 15th century, they were horrified by the pagan practices of the indigenous peoples, and in an attempt to convert Native Americans to Catholicism, they moved the festival to early November to coincide with the Catholic festivities of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. All Saints' Day is the day after Halloween, where the latter was also a pagan ritual of Samhain, the Celtic Day of the Dead Banquet. The Spaniards combined the customs of Halloween with the similar Mesoamerican festival, thus creating the Day of the Dead.
Customs
It is believed that the souls of children return on the first day of November, and the souls of adults return on the second day of November. One of the common symbols of Day of the Dead is the calacas; they are skulls that celebrants represent with masks. Sugar skulls have the names of the deceased (or in some cases living people as jokes) inscribed on the forehead, and are consumed by relatives or friends. Other special dishes of Day of the Dead include Pan de Muertos, a sweet bread made with eggs that is baked in various shapes, from simple round forms to skulls and rabbits.
Another important form this celebration takes is the famous lithographs (also often called “calaveras”), which consist of verses where La Catrina (death) jokes with real-life characters, alluding to some peculiar characteristic of the person in question, and ending with phrases stating that she will take them to the grave. Nowadays, it is common to see lithographs in major newspapers in Mexico, where parodies of political figures are made alongside La Catrina around the dates close to November 2.
Plans for the festival are made throughout the year, including the gathering of offerings that will be displayed for the dead. During the period from November 1 to 2, families usually clean and decorate graves with colorful wreaths of flowers (of roses, sunflowers, etc.), which are believed to attract the souls of the dead.
If it is not possible to visit the grave (either because the grave of the deceased no longer exists or because the family is too far away to visit), detailed altars are also made in homes, where offerings are placed, which can be food dishes, pan de muertos, glasses of water, mezcal, tequila, pulque, or atole, and even toys for the souls of children. All this is placed alongside portraits of the deceased surrounded by candles.