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 Day
of Dead in Mexico
One of Mexico's best known and most
eagerly awaited holidays is the celebration of the Day
of the Dead on November 2nd. This colorful event is
also uniquely representative of the mixture characterizing
our culture.
The History
 We
know little of the customs of the earliest settlers
of our land, the builders of the great ceremonial center
of Teotihuacan, who flourished between 200 and 800 AD;
but we do know that the broad avenue between the pyramids
of the Sun and the Moon is the Way of the Dead, and
that they buried theirs with food, weapons, toys and
tools. Their city and ceremonial site were mysteriously
destroyed at some time during the eighth century. At
the beginning of the 14th century, the Aztecs found
the sign they were seeking and established their capital
the city, Tenochtitlan, on the lake near the ruins of
Teotihuacan. And, though they were said to be a rough
and crude people, by the early 15th century, they had
formed the vast Mexica empire.
The Aztecs were open to learning
new rituals and beliefs from other cultural groups and
the people they conquered. They exacted tribute and
took prisoners for human sacrifice, but they did not
impose their laws and religious beliefs on their subjects.
The Mexica believed that what happened
to people when they died depended on the manner of their
death, and not on their lives. There were four places
that people went after death:
Children who died before tasting
corn went to Chichihuacuauhco, where they were fed by
a tree producing milk. They were destined to be reborn
and repopulate the earth after the current race (the
fifth) was destroyed.
Common people who died an ordinary
death went to Mictlán. The journey was long and
perilous, and their relatives gave them food and prayers
for the trip, fires to light their way. It was believed
that they would require the assistance of a dog to cross
the river Apanohuaya. After that, the spirits must traverse
mountains, snow-covered hills, and endure bad weather
and attacks by snakes and lizards before reaching their
destination.
Quetzalcoatl, the plumed serpent,
was the symbol of death and resurrection. Legend has
it that he traveled to Mictlán with Xolotl, a
god with the head of a dog, to bring back the precious
bones of the ancient dead. He then ground them up and
anointed them with his own blood to create the people
living under the fifth sun, our universe.
Those who died by lightening, drowning,
or diseases relating to water were under the special
protection of Tlaloc, God of Rain. They went to Tlalocan,
the mansion of the moon. This place was fresh and happy,
with green boughs and ripe fruits.
The fourth mansion of the dead was
that of the sun, Tonátiuh Ihuícac, where
joy was endless and flowers never wilted. Men who died
in war and women succumbing in childbirth went here.
The men accompanied the sun on its morning journey,
and the women in the afternoon. After four years, these
spirits were allowed to return to earth: the warriors
as birds and butterflies, and the women as goddesses
who could reclaim their utensils and appear to their
bereaved husbands.
In 1521, the Great Tenochtitlan fell
to the Spanish conquistadors. Their conquest was not
only a military affair, but a religious one from the
beginning. In Latin America, though the indigenous population
was decimated, it was not physically or culturally extinguished.
Many of the missionaries sent to convert the "pagans"
became fascinated by their culture and arts. They encouraged
them to write Codices describing their customs so that
these would not be lost. There was much intermingling;
the missionaries taught Catholic symbols to the native
population and used native craftsmen for church construction
and for the production of religious objects. Native
techniques and styles were accepted. Thus, Indian crafts
and motifs survived, and a greater degree of syncretism
occurred than in many conquered regions. Furthermore,
the colonizers brought with them the wealth of tradition
and the varied imagery and forms of their homes.
One Mexican town famous for its celebrations
of the dead, is also an excellent example of this cultural
and religious mixture; it is Mixquic, located within
the Federal District. Its very name may be derived from
Mixquiztl, the Goddess of Life and Death. According
to the Mendoza Codex, Mixquic was one of the first places
conquered by the Aztecs in 1430. The inhabitants of
this lovely city were forced to render tribute to Teotihuacan.
When the Conquistadors arrived, Bernal Díaz del
Castillo tells us, they gave them rich gifts and told
them of their grievances with Moctezuma. Mixquic joined
the Spaniards against the Aztecs, later becoming an
important part of the colonial system. In 1533, the
Augustinian missionaries arrived and changed the name
to San Andrés Mixquic, after the Apostle Andrew.
But the Catholicism practiced in Mixquic, and all over
Mexico, continues to be mixed with pre-Hispanic symbolism.
Today, Mixquic is one of the main
centers for celebration of the dead, the Fieles Difuntos
(Faithful Deceased). Here the ritual is elaborate and
formal. The festivities begin well before the traditional
Day of the Dead on November 2nd.
First, the house must be cleaned
and utensils made or bought to receive the honored visitors.
The cemeteries are also cleaned, repaired and decorated
in advance. Lanterns used to be fashioned of cane and
paper and placed over the doorway with a candle to inform
the dead that the people within believed in them, and
were preparing to receive them.
Again, the dead are divided according
to how and when they died, not their lives. On October
28th, those who perished in accidents are received.
Young children are invited to visit the living on November
1st. And November 2nd, the day we know as Day of the
Dead, is the celebration for adults who have passed
on. On the 3rd of November, the living may eat and share
the objects from the altar. People give their neighbors
presents, saying they were left for them by the deceased.
In Mixquic, a bellman rings out the
hours at which the various rituals should be performed;
offerings at home and at the graveyard are presented
in strict order. But in most places throughout Mexico
the celebration is somewhat less formal. People still
take their offerings to the graveyards and share a meal
with their loved ones who have passed away, though many
cities now prohibit eating and drinking within the burial
grounds. And a great many families, even businesses,
put up altars or ofrendas.
The offerings to the dead should
contain the following elements:
Water
- which represents life in pre-Hispanic cultures and
baptism in Catholicism. The spirits are also believed
to be thirsty after their journey.
Salt
- is for purification, and to preserve the bodies
against decomposition.
Copal
or incense - Today incense is used to guide
the dead back through their sense of smell. In ancient
times, it signified reverence; in Christianity it
symbolizes a conveyance of prayers to heaven.
Candles
- have taken on the task of lighting the dead on their
journey back. The Mexica burned ocote so the dead
would not lose their way to Mictlán.
Calaveras
- The word calavera means skull, but refers to a great
many items used in the Day of the Dead celebration.
Candy skulls are a true form of folk art, and are
made from sugar, chocolate, amaranth seeds, gum drops,
candied fruits and almost anything you can think of.
Flowers
- are another essential element of this ritual. They
are not only placed on the ofrendas and tombs of loved
ones; but, since their scent also leads the dead,
a pathway of flowers is laid from the front door to
the altar. White flowers are offered to children,
representing their purity. But the flower known as
the Flower of the Dead is Cempasúchitl (the
Marigold). Legend has it that Tenoch was saddened
by all of the death during the conquest of Tenochtitlan.
He asked Tonatiuh (the Sun God) to help him remember
the deceased. The next morning, the fields surrounding
what is now Mexico City were covered with these bright
orange flowers.
A
petate - or straw mat is used to represent
the shroud, and for the dead to sleep upon if they
are tired.
Food
- Fruits, mole, and the special breads made for the
dead with crossed bone decorations are a must for
any offering. Usually cigarettes and alcoholic beverages
are included. Anything the remembered dead particularly
liked is considered appropriate.
 Papel
picado - is a special form of punched out
paper used for many occasions in Mexico. It is believed
to be derived from the pre-Hispanic custom of working
magic with figures cut from amate bark. Probably because
these figures were frequently included in burials
for protection, they are popular on altars and surrounding
the celebrations for the dead. Many of the designs
used today, however, are those of José Guadalupe
Posada.
Guadalupe Posada, an early 20th century
engraver, began making political cartoons and broadsides
using skeletons as his characters. His work, which was
low-priced and extremely popular, has come to be representative
of the Day of the Dead. His "Catrina", or
elegantly dressed lady skeleton, is one of the most
widespread images of the Day of the Dead and appears
in all kinds of folk art, papel picado, on wrappers
of candy skulls, and even in our illustrations. Posada
called both his engravings of skulls and skeletons as
well as the satirical verses with which he accompanied
them calaveras.
Short, humorous, sometimes quite
biting, literary calaveras are still written in the
form of epitaphs, or describing encounters with Death,
who is most certainly a Lady in Mexican lore. This custom
is so popular that most newspapers publish a section
of calaveras about public and political figures, and
many a modern office finds itself deluged with photocopies
of satirical verses about the bosses or co-workers.
Our indigenous forefathers buried
along with their dead, not only weapons and food, but
toys and the tools of the trade they practiced in life.
Small representations of dogs might help them get to
Mictlán.
Nowadays children frequently go from
door to door -or car to car at stoplights- asking for
money or candy. One tends to think that this is in imitation
of Halloween, and certainly we have been-and are being-influenced
by our neighbors to the north. But indigenous communities
also had a tradition of children going from house to
house asking for tamales. It was considered a blessing
on the ofrenda to give them one; in the olden days,
candles were also given to the children, who went to
the graveyard at the end of their rounds and lit them
for the forgotten dead.
And the crafts relating to the Day
of the Dead abound. Small depictions of skeletons enjoying
daily life, courting one another, or mocking our mortal
foibles, are made of wood, clay or other readily available
materials.
The Day of the Dead in Mexico is
a time to remember those who have gone before us, thank
them for enriching our lives, and contemplate our own
mortality, both with reverence and with humor.
Perhaps a fitting end for this brief
look at the Day of the Dead is the epitaph written by
Octavio Paz (1914-1998), Nobel Laureate and one of the
great exponents of our mestizaje, the mixture of blood
lines and creeds which formed our modern Mexico.
EPITAPH ON NO
STONE
Mixcoac was my town: three nocturnal
syllables, a mask of shadow on a solar face. Our Lady
came, the Mother Whirlwind. She came and ate it. I was
wandering the world. My words were my house, my tomb
the air.
* Source: Latin American Library/
Tulane University & The Austin Chronicle.
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