HONOR YOUR ANCESTORS
Dia de los Muertos (or Day of The Dead) is a celebration of love, “life”, and connection.
Dia de los Muertos is a holiday for remembering and honoring those who have passed. It is a festive, joyous time of celebration – allowing 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.
These celebrations are a way of retaining connections with the unseen world – a world we will all return to one day.
In homes, people create altars to honor their deceased loved ones.
In graveyards, families clean & decorate graves with flowers, photos, candles, food and drink. People then gather in the cemetery for a celebration where they eat, drink, play music (sometimes hiring musicians to stroll through the cemetery) and tell stories of departed lived ones.
In public, there is often a festival atmosphere with vendors, parades, music, dancing…
The day of the dead in Mexico is a mixture of Spanish Catholic and Aztec beliefs.
Skulls and skeletons have been an important part of All Saints Day festivals.
Since the 1300s, artists, playwrights and poets mused on the theme of ‘memento mori’ (remember death) and the ‘dance of the dead’.
Many artworks and books from the time depict dancing skeletons, or portraits with a skull to ‘remember death’ (or loved ones who have died)
At the same time, in Mexico, the Aztec culture believed life on earth to be something of an illusion – death was a positive step forward into a higher level of conscience. For the Aztecs skulls were a positive symbol, not only of death but also of rebirth. (!)
People wear traditional skull masks. Painting faces to look like a skull has evolved as a variation of this.
The wearing of masks being a powerful symbol – throughout the world, of the ability of humans to connect with guides, totems, and various aspects of themselves including light & dark… life and death… and other worlds or realms.
Skulls – known as calaveras or calacas in Mexico, are an essential part of the symbolism of Dia de los Muertos in Mexico. They are used not only as the basis for painting faces, but also are the shape of candy such as sugar skulls, Catrinas, and for many other skeleton-inspired decorations.
Skulls may seem neither elegant nor feminine at first glance, but the ‘elegant skull’ has grown into an important day of the dead tradition in Mexico – often depicted as masculine or feminine figures participating in everyday activities.
‘Catrinas’ are figurines of ladies in fancy dresses, but with bare skulls showing under their flowery hats and skeletal hands peaking out of sleeves…
A skeleton dressed in the finery of a wealthy lady, is a reminder that even the rich and beautiful carry death within them.
While Dia de los Muertos is most widely celebrated throughout Mexico – and arguably its most important holiday, many other countries around the world also have similar (or hybrid) versions of celebrations honoring the dead – Central and South America, Europe and Asia.
It falls on November 1 and 2 of each year, coinciding with the Catholic holidays All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. Of course, with the inclusion preparation time and Halloween, Dia de los Muertos festivities can be stretched out for many more days.
~ Jill ♥
