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000094 Visit since
| What do Mexicans celebrate on
the "Day of the Dead" ? |
by Prof. German
Estrada
November 1, 2003 - Photos by: Universidad
Michoacana |
This is an ancient festivity
that has been much transformed through the years, but
which was intended in prehispanic Mexico to celebrate
children and the dead. Hence, the best way to describe
this Mexican holiday is to say that it is a time when
Mexican families remember their dead, and the continuity
of life.
 The
original celebration can be traced to the festivities
held during the Aztec month of Miccailhuitontli, ritually
presided by the goddess Mictecacihuatl ("Lady of
the Dead"), and dedicated to children and the dead.
The rituals during this month also featured a festivity
dedicated to the major Aztec war deity, Huitzilopochtli
("Sinister Hummingbird"). In the Aztec calendar,
this ritual fell roughly at the end of the Gregorian
month of July and the beginning of August, but in the
postconquest era it was moved by Spanish priests so
that it coincided with the Christian holiday of All
Hallows Eve (in Spanish: "Día de Todos Santos,")
in a vain effort to transform this from a "profane"
to a Christian celebration. The result is that Mexicans
now celebrate the day of the dead during the first two
days of November, rather than at the beginning of summer,
but remember the dead they still do, and the modern
festivity is characterized by the traditional Mexican
blend of ancient aboriginal and introduced Christian
features.
Generalizing broadly, the day's activities
consist of visits by families to the graves of their
close kin. At the gravesites family members engage in
sprucing up the gravesite, decorating it with flowers,
setting out and enjoying a picnic, and interacting socially
with other family and community members who gather at
the cemetary. Families remember the departed by telling
stories about them. The meals prepared for these picnics
are sumptuous, usually featuring meat dishes in spicy
sauces, a special egg-batter bread, cookies, chocolate,
and sugary confections in a variety of animal or skull
shapes. Gravesites or family altars are profusely decorated
with flowers (primarily large, bright flowers such as
marigolds
and crysanthemums), and adorned with religious amulets
and (in smaller villages) with offerings of food, cigarettes
and alcoholic beverages. Because of this warm social
environment, the colorful setting, and the abundance
of food, drink and good company this conmmemoration
of the dead has pleasant overtones for most observers,
in spite of the open fatalism exhibited by all participants,
whose festive interaction with living and dead in an
important social ritual is a way of recognizing the
cycle of life and death that is human existance.
The traditional observance calls
for a feast during the early morning hours of November
the 2nd, the Day of the Dead proper, though modern urban
Mexican families usually observe the Day of the Dead
with only a special family supper featuring the "Bread
of the Dead" (pan de muerto). It is good luck to
be the one who bites into the plastic toy skeleton hidden
by the baker in each rounded loaf. Friends and family
members give one another gifts consisting of sugar skeletons
or other items with a death motif, and the gift is more
prized if the skull or skeleton is embossed with one's
own name.
Two important things to know
about the Mexican Day of the Dead are:
- It is a holiday with a complex history, and therefore
its observance varies quite a bit by region and by
degree of urbanization.
- It is not a morbid occasion, but rather a festive
time.
 The
Day of the Dead can range from a very important cultural
event, with definite social and economic responsibilities
for participants (exhibiting the socially equalizing
behavior that social anthropologists would call redistributive
feasting, e.g. on the island of Janitzio in Michoacan
state), to a religious observance featuring actual worship
of the dead (whether Catholic priests recognize/approve
of it or not, e.g., Cuilapan, Oaxaca), to simply a uniquely
Mexican holiday characterized by special foods and confections
(the case in all large cities.) See map of México
(look for Michoacan and Oaxaca in the southwestern portion
of the country).
In general, the more urban the setting
within Mexico the less religious and cultural importance
is retained by observants, while the more rural and
Indian the locality the greater the religious and economic
import of the holiday. Because of this, this southern
Mexico than in the northern part of the country, which
is characterized by a more dilute Indian cultural influence.
Source: From an article written by
Ricardo J. Salvador and with his authorization.
gestrada@pvnet.com.mx
Prof. Germán
Estrada is the author of the best selling book,
"México
Mágico: Everything You Wanted To Know
About... But Nobody Told You..." available in Puerto
Vallarta at The Net House, Mail Boxes, Etc., Books,
Books as well as directly from the author by internet.
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