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Dia de los Muertos: A Celebration

© Lynette

More than 500 years ago – when Conquistadors from Spain landed in what is now the Country of Mexico, they encountered natives practicing a ritual that seemed to mock death – as it was not a characterization practiced in Christendom.

In prehispanic Mexico the tradition when families remember the dead and the continuity of life, in fact, began. This is an ancient festivity that has been transformed through the years. Interaction with the living and dead is a social ritual that is important in recognizing the revolution of life and death that is unquestionably human.

The concept of death and the hereafter began with the Olmecs about 3000 years ago. The concept was then passed to other cultures in Central America, such as the Toltects and the Maya. Festivities were held during the Aztec month of Miccailhuitontli and were presided over by the Lady of the Dead or goddess Mictecacihuatl, and were dedicated to children and the departed. Rituals during this month feature an event dedicated to the Aztec deity, Sinister Hummingbird or Huitzilopochtli. This ritual fell at the end of the Gregorian month of July and the beginning of August, but priests moved it so that it coincided with All Hallows Eve or Dia de Todos Santos, a Christian holiday, in an attempt to convert this tradition from a sacrilegious one to being acceptably Christian.

Though associated with the dead, the day is surely not morbid; it is a time of feasting, joy and remembrance. Unlike the Spanish who viewed death as an end, indigenous peoples of the area viewed it as a continuation. Life was a dream and only in death did they become awake.

Though celebrated in Catholic countries as All Saints and All Souls Days, no other culture has embraced reverence for the dead to the extent that the Mexicans have. The celebration begins on the evening of October 31, so the term Los Dias de los Muertos is also used.

Wooden skull masks called calacas and dances in honor of deceased relatives are paraded. The wooden skulls are also placed on altars dedicated to angelitos or the souls of children who’ve died. Meso-American civilizations kept skulls and displayed them during rituals. The skulls were used to symbolize death and rebirth – in honor of the deceased whom the civilizations believed came back to visit during the month long ritual.

Today, Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico, sections of Central America and the United States. Depending on where you go the celebration is practiced differently. In rural Mexico, people visit the cemetery where loved ones are buried. They decorate gravesites with marigold flowers and candles and they sing songs and poems called calveras. They bring toys for children and bottles of tequila for adults.