Día de los MuertosDay of the Dead

La Cultura – Unidad 2

Introduction

• Let’s look into the WHO / WHAT / WHEN / WHERE / WHY / HOW of Day of the Dead – Día de los Muertos.

Who Started the Holiday?

• Día de los Muertos originated centuries ago in Mexico, where it is still widely celebrated to this day.

• The holiday is a blend of Aztec beliefs and Spanish Catholic beliefs.

• Over the centuries, their traditions transformed into the present Day of the Dead, bestowing Día de los Muertos with the color, flavor, and excitement that has made it a world-famous holiday.

• Even the old Aztec Goddess Mictecacihuatl found a new identity as the modern "Catrina" – the lanky, skeletal female figure wearing sumptuous clothing and giant ornate hats, who serves as a reminder that death is a fate that even the rich can't avoid.

Who Celebrates the Holiday?

• Día de los Muertos is celebrated ALL throughout Mexico.

• Many other countries around the world celebrate similar versions as well, by having special days for honoring the dead.

• These celebrations occur in various countries in Central and South America, Europe and Asia, where they celebrate the holiday according to their own local customs.

• Day of the Dead has also taken hold in areas with a high Mexican immigrant population, particularly in California, Texas, Arizona and other parts of the United States.

What is the Holiday?

• Basic Definition: Día de los Muertos is a holiday for remembering and honoring those who have passed.

• It is a festive, joyous time of celebration.

• Day of the Dead is Mexico's most important holiday, which means they invest a lot of time and money into celebrating it, more so than any other holiday.

When is the Holiday?

• The Day of the Dead falls on November 1 and 2 of each year, coinciding with the Catholic holidays All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day.

• Usually the preparations and some festivities start even earlier than that. So really, the "Day" of the Dead can also be called the "Days" of the Dead, because the holiday spans more than one day.

• Traditionally, November 1 is the day for honoring dead children and infants.

• November 2 is the day for honoring deceased adults.

Where is the Holiday Celebrated?

• The Day of the Dead is celebrated in both public and private spaces. It is most often celebrated in homes and graveyards.

• In homes, people create altars to honor their deceased loved ones. In some places it is common to allow guests to enter the house to view the altar.

• In graveyards, families clean the graves of their loved ones, which they then decorate with flowers, photos, candles, foods and drinks.

• People stay up all night in the graveyards, socializing and telling funny stories about their dead ancestors. Musicians are hired to stroll through the graveyard, playing the favorite songs of the dead.

• In the public sphere, Day of the Dead celebrations can also take the form of street parties, parades, and festivals on university campuses.

Why do People Celebrate the Holiday?

• People celebrate Día de los Muertos to honor their deceased loves ones. It is a loving ritual, full of joy and remembrance.

• Dia de los Muertos allows the dead to live again. During this time it is believed that the deceased return to their earthly homes to visit and rejoice with their loved ones.

• The Day(s) of the Dead are celebrated as a way of retaining connections with the unseen world – a world we will all return to one day.

• People celebrate Day of the Dead out of love and commitment to their loved ones. They can connect with the spirits of the dead, to let them know that they are not forgotten and that their loved ones on earth still care about them. It is a way of keeping the connection between loved ones alive, though they may be physically separated by death.

How do People Celebrate?

• The most common ways of celebrating Day of the Dead in Mexico include:

• All-night celebration in graveyard and setting up an altar with offerings• Cleaning and decorating graves• Holding all-night graveside vigils• Telling stories about the deceased• Making or purchasing and exchanging sugar skulls and other sweets.

• Day of the Dead customs in Mexico vary from town to town, and when celebrated abroad it also takes on its own unique flair in each community.

• Day of the Dead celebrations now also include:• community festivals• parades• street parties

The Cemetery

• Many families will congregate in graveyards to clean the graves of their loved ones.

• Decorate the graves with Mexican marigolds, often lovingly arranged into huge arches.

• Graves have photos, favorite foods and drinks of the deceased, gifts to attract the dead.

• Burning candles and incense also help guide the departed back to earth.

• Graveyard picnics are common as people interact with the spirits of the deceased as if they were still alive.

• Visits often turn into all-night vigils with candlelit ceremonies and hired bands to play the favorite music of the dead.

Day of the Dead Symbols

• Altars• Papel Picado• Sugar Skulls• Chocolate candies• Pan de Muertos (Bread of the Dead)• Marigolds• Skeletons• Face-paintings, as part of costumes• T-shirts and jewelry• Masks 

The Altar & Offerings

• One of the most important Day of the Dead traditions.

• typically created inside people's homes to honor the spirits of their deceased loved ones.

• Set up on the 2 days leading up to Día de los Muertos.

• Altars contain "offerings" for the dead. These include items such as:

• candles• fresh flowers or flowers petals (usually marigolds)• photographs of the deceased, along with other memorabilia• the favorite foods and drinks of the deceased (lovingly-prepared)• incense• Water• Sugar skulls• pan de muertos (bread of the dead)• statues of saints

Papel Picado

• Papel picado is a popular Mexican art form that is widely displayed during the Day of the Dead to decorate altars that honor the deceased….it is detailed designs that are traditionally hand-cut onto brightly-colored tissue paper.

• The imagery on the cut tissue paper depends on the celebration. For Día de los Muertos, papel picado patterns feature humorous images of skulls and skeletons, and is most often cut from purple, orange or pink paper.

• Common designs include smiling sugar skulls, dancing skeletons, drinking and/or feasting skeletons, skeletons getting married, on horseback, in a car, riding a bicycle, or on a train, singing and playing instruments.

• The images are always humorous and fun – never scary or sad.

Sugar Skulls

• Called "calaveras de azúcar" in Spanish, these sugary sweets are sold everywhere on the days and weeks leading up to Day of the Dead.

• Market stalls are lined with rows and rows of colorful skulls, created from sugar and decorated with multi-colored icing, shiny foil, sequins and glitter.

• These festive treats are also made at home. Sugar skulls are given as gifts to both the living and the dead, often with the name of the recipient written on the skull's forehead in icing.

• Sugar skulls are not creepy or morbid. Instead, they are happy, vibrant candies that are often smiling or laughing. The bright colors and sparkly decorations on the sugar skulls are cheerful enough to clear away any fear or concern about what they stand for.

• Female skulls can be adorned with paper or plastic hats and male skulls can wear sailor hats or cowboy hats. When plastic googly eyes are added, the skulls really seem alive.

• These days, the popularity of Day of the Dead sugar skulls has really exploded! You can find them in artwork, t-shirts, tattoos and even wedding invitations!

Pan de Muertos

• Pan de muertos is one of the staple foods offered and eaten during Day of the Dead.

• Pan de muertos (which means "bread of the dead") is a sweet bread made from egg that can be purchased in numerous shapes.

• Most popular shapes for pan de muertos are skulls and skeletons!

Marigolds

• Marigolds are another important Day of the Dead symbol. These yellow flowers are a symbol of death, referred to as the "flower of the dead".

• You'll see marigolds sprinkled on Day of the Dead altars and also on graves.

• Marigolds are also made into elaborate arches for display on altars and graves.

• In some villages, people leave a trail of marigolds from their front door to their loved one's grave, so that the deceased may easily find their way back home again.

• The attractive scent of the marigold is said to draw them back to earth for the yearly Día de los Muertos reunion.

Skeletons

• Skeletons, calacas in Spanish, are another prominent Day of the Dead icon.

• Day of the Dead skeletons can take many forms, but all of them are whimsical and joyful – never scary or sad.

• Skeletons are typically long, skinny and well-dressed, like the famous skeletons drawn by Mexican artist Jose Guadalupe Posada.

• Posada's skeletons are amongst the most famous Day of the Dead icons because they poke sarcastic fun at how death is the great equalizer - even the rich can't escape from death!

• Posada's "Catrina" is perhaps his most well-known Day of the Dead skeleton

• She is a richly-dressed woman dressed in fancy clothes, appearing to enjoy the good life – except she is a skeleton, having succumbed to the hand of fate long ago. Even so, she continues to enjoy herself long after she has died.

• You can buy skeleton statues made of wood or paper mache that show skeletons engaged in all areas of occupation, such as bakers, musicians, doctors, bullfighters, dancers, and many more. If your late uncle was a baker (for instance), you can buy one of the skeleton statues that looks like a baker and place it on his altar or next to his grave, along with other offerings.