Decorative sugar skulls are a favored trimming for Día de los Muertos.
As autumn sweeps in with bracing breezes, stirring bare branches and rustling colorful leaves, it ushers in shorter days and darker nights. We look forward to harvest celebrations, spooky decorations, scary costumes, jack-o-lanterns, ghost stories and tricks or treats. It is likely that our fall traditions will look a little different this year, so why not cast our gaze to the wider world for inspiration?
While we here in the states are carving pumpkins and stringing spider webs, folks south of the border are looking forward to a season of parades, flowers, vibrant costumes, special foods and, yes, skulls and skeletons. Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), observed in Mexico and most South American countries, is a lively two-day celebration during which it is believed that the passageway between the real world and the spirit world is open, so our deceased loved ones can come back for a brief visit.
What do you do when your dear ones come calling? You make their favorite meal, offer a favorite drink, sing, dance and rejoice.
Contrary to what is often portrayed in popular culture, the Day of the Dead is not Mexico’s version of Halloween. Even though the festivities fall around the same time of year and have similarities, the two are different holidays with separate origins and unique traditions.
Halloween has its roots in the Celtic harvest festival of Samhain, which similarly marks a time when it was thought that the spirit world was more closely aligned to the physical world. It derives its name from All Hallows Day, another name for All Saints’ Day (Nov. 1), the Christian holy day that honors saintly people of the past. November 2 is All Souls’ Day, a day of remembrance for the souls of all who have died.
Papel picado.
More than a thousand years ago in Ireland and Britain, a common custom of Christians was to assemble on the eve of the Feast of All Hallows Day to ask for God’s blessing and protection from evil in the world. Often, celebrants would dress in costumes of saints or evil spirits, gather around bonfires, and act out the battle between good and evil. That is the source of the modern observance of Halloween, when spirits are seen as scary.
In contrast, Day of the Dead is rooted in the ancient religious traditions of Mesoamerica’s indigenous population, blended with Christian traditions brought to the New World by European explorers. Day of the Dead focuses on receiving the souls of dead relatives with joy and hospitality. It is not a somber occasion, quite the contrary, it’s a bright, festive celebration of life and departed loved ones.
It is believed that on November 1 (All Saints’ Day), the children who have passed come back to visit and celebrate as angels, and on the following day, November 2 (All Souls’ Day), it is the adults’ turn to show up for the festivities. Families prepare for several weeks in advance for the tradition by creating altars, decorating burial sites, and cooking special foods for the occasion. The arrangements leading up to the event are important and deeply rooted in Mexican culture — this is a profoundly spiritual and family-bonding experience. Every year, there is a symbolic opportunity to eat and drink with the ones who are no longer with us — a great way to commemorate the people we love and miss.
The holiday has a rich and ancient history dating back more than 2,000 years, long before the days of the Spanish conquest. Pre-Columbian civilizations had a variety of celebrations aimed at honoring the dead. Many of these observances came from the religious practices of the Aztecs, who believed different afterlives existed depending on how people died. One of these is Mictlán, the final destination for those who died of natural causes, a place ruled by the goddess Mictecacíhuatl, often represented by a feminine skull or skeleton. Mictecacíhuatl is known as the “Lady of the Dead” and is said to watch over the bones of the deceased and swallow the stars during the day.
An ofrenda, or altar.
The Aztecs believed that in order to reach Mictlán, souls had to complete an arduous journey. To help the deceased along their way, the Aztecs would make offerings of useful objects at their relatives’ burial sites. Several Aztec holidays involved rituals to honor the deceased, these traditions set the precedent for Day of the Dead altars, or Ofrendas, placed by Mexican families today.
When Spaniards came to Mexico and introduced Catholicism to the indigenous people, these traditions were blended into the Christian holidays of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, producing a unique combination of customs, rich with cultural significance. True to Mexican style, they don’t lack color and substance. Flowers, altars, food, and music are all integral parts of the holiday. It is customary for families to spend time cleaning and decorating the graves of their loved ones. They gather during the night at cemeteries to light candles and place flowers on burial sites. These gatherings are both reflections on death and lively celebrations of life.
SYMBOLS OF THE SEASON
Altars (Ofrendas) — The Aztecs used to offer water and food to the deceased to help them on their journey to the afterlife. Today, in the days preceding the holiday, families typically build shrines in homes and cemeteries to honor deceased relatives. These shrines, or ofrendas, are bright, colorful, and ornate, often adorned in orange and purple, the holiday’s traditional colors, decorated with flowers, including marigolds, and strung with decorated paper streamers. Placed atop these altars are photographs of the deceased, objects that were precious to them, and foods they enjoyed in life.
Ofrendas are also showcased for the public in schools, offices, and city squares, where they can become an attraction of their own, drawing crowds to view these gorgeous, large-scale shrines. They are often crafted by well-known artists, feature a yearly theme, and are meant to honor important figures in Mexican history and culture.
Parades — Many cities and towns host spirited processions involving masks, puppets and intricate costumes, as well as street parties with music and dancing. Decorations fill nearly every home and public space.
The Flor de Cempasuchil, also known as Mexican marigold.
Marigolds — The Flor de Cempasuchil, also known as Mexican marigold, is a bright orange flower that grows around Mexico during autumn. It has become an important symbol of the Day of the Dead. Around the time of the holiday, marigolds are seen everywhere, from altars to public buildings. Their significance goes beyond their availability as a seasonal flower. Marigolds are also valued for their strong scent, which is said to attract the spirits of the deceased to the homes of their living relatives. Because of its orange color, the marigold is also associated with the sun and rebirth.
Papel Picado — Papel picado means pierced paper and is an integral part of Mexican culture. The art comes from the Aztec tradition of chiseling spirit figures on wood. The intricate paper “tiles” and streamers are hung in homes, on alters and along streets during the season.
Skulls and Skeletons — There’s nothing grim about the skulls (calaveras) and skeletons (calacas) featured in contemporary Day of the Dead festivals. Throughout the holiday, small, decorated sugar skulls are placed on ofrendas, served during celebrations, and given to guests and revelers. Whether in the form of cookies, candies or chocolates, they are decorated with colorful edible paint, glitter and beads, and they sport huge smiles.
Day of the Dead art often displays skeletons drinking, dancing, and celebrating, frequently in humorous situations. The fancy skeletons so prominent during the fiestas came about at the beginning of the nineteenth century when cartoonist and social activist José Guadalupe Posada drew La Catrina, a feminine skeleton dressed in extravagant finery, to satirize the people’s desire to appear wealthy and stylish. She is also said to represent the Aztec goddess Mictecacíhuatl. Posada’s drawings of skeletons in elaborate dress clothes were also a way to remind people that regardless of the luxuries we surround ourselves with in life, we’re all the same in the end. La Catrina has become an enduring symbol of Day of the Dead, and a popular costume choice.
Another tradition is the “calaverita,” a short, humorous poem about a living person and how that person died. Calaveritas are shared between friends and family or published in magazines and newspapers to lampoon celebrities and politicians.
Pan de Muertos.
All About Food — No celebration in Mexico is complete without festive food. Customary foods are prepared during Día de los Muertos and shared with family, neighbors, strangers, and the visiting spirits. In addition to sugar skulls, pan de muertos is an essential part of the menu. Everyone looks forward to sampling this buttery sweet bread coated in sugar and decorated to resemble a pile of bones. Other favorites include tamales, sopa Azteca (tortilla soup), pozole (a meat and hominy soup), and mole (a savory/sweet sauce served over anything from tamales to enchiladas). Many of the recipes have been passed on from generation to generation.
Día de los Muertos in Mexico is no small event, perhaps second only to Christmas in terms of its importance among the people. It has been celebrated for centuries and has gained popularity outside of Mexico. The holiday is a festive way to celebrate life and the living, and to honor and remember the dearly departed.