Days of the Dead

From my perspective as a Canadian, the images customarily associated with this time of year  -- skeletons, skulls, ghostly spirits, fire, graveyards, tombstones and jack-o-lanterns always signal only one thing -- the second largest celebration in North America next to Christmas, Halloween. Halloween, also known as Witches Night, Samhain, Summer’s End or All Hallow’s Eve, is a holiday that's celebrated annually in North America on the night of October 31, the eve originally calendared by the Irish, as the night before the onset of winter.

But if you’re in Mexico, this autumnal celebration conjures up a ghost of a slightly different colour. While many of the images are similar, the festival celebrated in Mexico, from October 28 – November 2^nd, called Day of the Dead, pre-dates Halloween by a couple of centuries. The essence of Day of the Dead can perhaps best be described by what it is not. It is not a morbid fascination with death. It is not mournful. It is less of a macabre mockery of death with the spooky costumes and pranks of Halloween revelers, and more a celebration of life. Or the natural cycle of life, to be more exact. Indigenous peoples here believe that souls do not die – they simply go to a place of rest (Mictlan) where they continue to live on. The Day of the Dead is the annual celebration where those souls of our loved ones are welcomed back for a merry old visit.

Is Day of the Dead simply a Mexican version of Halloween? The short answer is Yes,  but with an important twist.

BACKGROUND: The modern celebration of Halloween is a descendent of the ancient Celtic festival called "Samhain;" meaning Summer's End. Samhain was the first day of winter, and the end of one pastoral year. It was the time when the night became longer than the day, the last apples were picked, and the year began again with its dark winter half. It was marked like the other key annual Celtic festivals – with fire. The Celts believed that during this time the normal order of the universe was suspended and the barriers between the natural and supernatural worlds temporarily thinned to allow spirit interlopers.

When the Romans conquered the Celts, their festival Feralia, a commemoration of the passing of the Dead, melded naturally with the fire celebrations.

By the 7^th century the Roman Catholics had designated November 1 as All SAINTS Day, and November 2^nd as All SOULS Day (so as not to leave anyone out) both being an attempt to replace the paganistic Celtic festival of the dead with a church-sanctioned holiday. The whole shebang took its’ name from Middle English  ‘All Hallows’ meaning ‘All Saints’ (or souls) and added their word for ‘eve’ - ‘een’. Hallow’een  embraced the paganistic aspects, incorporating big bonfires, parades and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, & devils.

By the 15^th century, when the Spanish Conquistadores landed in what is now Mexico, they discovered the Aztecs had a ritual that seemed to pay tribute to death. In existence for over 3000 years, what was later coined Dias de los Muertos, was a celebration to honor the dearly departed, those beloved folk who had passed on to the ‘other side’ of existence. The celebration implied that death was not an ending, but a continuation of life. Skulls were used to symbolize not only death but re-birth. They were used as emblems of respect, and wisdom. Instead of fearing death, the natives embraced it, for it was only in death did they become truly aware and all-knowing. In spite of the Spaniards efforts to quell this pagan ritual, the Day of the Dead refused to die. So, the best they could do was wrangle it in by shortening the previous month long event into a few days, changing the date so it coincided with the Roman Catholic All Saint and All Soul’s Days. 

Yucatan Sand Painting

Today, the Day of the Dead remains one of the most celebrated traditions in Mexico, in parts of the US, and Central America. While it may seem strange for us to accept the fact that "death" and "festivities" can go hand-in-hand, for most Mexicans, the two are inextricably entwined.

The familiar Halloween-esque images are everywhere, in the markets and on the streets as the Mexican people collect items they need to pay homage to their relatives both at gravesites, in schools and at home.

Ladislao Loera

FROM FOLK LORE TO ART: Some of the popular symbols have become so iconic, the legendary Catrina (elegant lady skeleton in her oversize, festive hat), for example, that an entire craft industry has emerged around it. Find yourself at any mercado and you can buy, year round,  those plastic woven shopping satchels adorned with her visage. Artist Ladislao Loera has made it his life’s work to explore and create paintings and art objects founded in this milieu. He explains his passion: “Dia de los Muertos art is meant to show the duality of life, which is that it can only exist surrounded by death. This is reality, not superstition. The artwork is meant to show this and make death a part of life, to be accepted and acknowledged instead of feared.” 

This is not just a festival for the grown ups. The duality of life is importantly instilled in children at a young age. Fear of death is expelled through the use of toys like the calavera (skulls). Loera points out: “The first toys I can remember were a plastic skeleton and winged devil, gifts from my grandmother. Other kids had GI Joes or Batman action figures but I was never envious of them. My toys allowed my imagination to stretch its boundaries and make friends with the very things that gave other children nightmares”

At the Cooking School

ALTARS FOR THE DEAD: Nowadays, during Oct. 28 – November 2^nd, in most homes, the focal point of the tributes is an altar -- erected on a cloth covered table. It is festooned with photographs of the dearly departed, and all manner of items that will comfort, feed and nourish the traveling souls, including a wash basin and soap for freshening up. There will be zempasúchil (marigold flowers), copal incense, candles and perhaps trinkets they may have loved during their time on this plane.  Sometimes they’ll make a trail of marigold petals leading into the house to the altar. The room might also be decorated with implements or tools the deceased may have used. Drinks for children, such as Horchata – the almond rice milk, or chokó sakam, a protein rich, thick beverage made from maize will be served alongside bottles of Tequila and Mescal for the adults. Tamales and Pan de Muerto (a fragrant egg bread) are traditional food offerings as well as candied delicacies like sugared skulls.  Of course, the favourite snacks of the deceased, themselves are ever present.

EVERY DAY A DANCE WITH DEATH:  If you live in Mexico, it comes as no surprise to learn that each region of this complex and glorious country has its own unique approach to celebrating Day of the Dead: in the highlands of Michoacan it is known as Jimbanqua -- the party honoring the people who died that year with flowers; in San Luis Potosi, Hidalgo and the southern part of Oaxaca they call it Xantolo, which stands for “a communion between man and nature or man and god”; in the Yucatan it is known as Hanal Pixan which means “the path of the soul through the essence of food”.

By whatever name it is called, Dias de los Muertas is at the core of the culture of the Mexican peoples. For many of us in other cultures, death imparts a feeling of pain and loss especially for those who have not known their purpose or their path in life. 

But, in Mexican culture, as the old saying goes: “Every day is a dance with death.” And death is transcendence, transformation and even resurrection.

Hispanic-American Rebecca M. Cuevas De Caissie sums it up this way: “I will once again come face to face with the gift my culture has given me and my family. The ability to love without the fear of losing. The ability to live without the fear of dying. The ability to remember predecessors without the fear of being forgotten. We will remember by celebrating El Dia de los Muertos.”