Day Of The Dead In Mexico - A Passion For Life

As I am struggling a bit to fulfil my promise of a post a day in the run up to Dia de los Muertos I thought instead I would share a great article written by the Mary J.Andrade, owner of a wonderful Day of the Dead website which I have been visiting on and off myself for a few years.



Mary J. Andrade has traveled to Mexico in October and November since 1987 to photograph and document Day of the Dead celebrations. Her work has been collected in a series of bilingual books entitled, Through the Eyes of the Soul, Day of the Dead in Mexico. She lives with her family in San Jose, California and is the co-founder and travel editor of La Oferta, a weekly bilingual newspaper. Mary Andrade has presented over 170 photography exhibits on Day of the Dead in the United States, Ecuador, Spain, France, Mexico, Egypt and Chile and has published seven other books on the subject. She is also the recipient of many international awards, such as the OHTLI, two Silver Quills and a Silver Lens presented by former presidents of Mexico, Vicente Fox and Ernesto Zedillo.

I hope you enjoy! Please do visit her website, it is a fabulous resource for information on Dia de los Muertos.

Mexico celebrates a yearly tradition called Day of the Dead during the last days of October and the first days of November. The legacy of past civilizations is graphically manifested on this occasion through people beliefs that death is a transition from one life to another in different levels, where communication exists between the living and the dead. This communication takes place once a year throughout the country.

Differing from the Roman Catholic imposed ritual to commemorate All Souls’ Day, which is observed in many countries, the custom established by pre-colonial Mexican civilizations become a ceremony where indigenous beliefs blended with Catholic beliefs. Therefore, the Day of the Dead in Mexico is not a mournful commemoration but a happy and colorful celebration where death takes a lively, friendly expression.

Indigenous people believed that souls did not die, that they continued living in Mictlan, a special place to rest. In this place, the spirits rest until the day they could return to their homes to visit their relatives. Before the Spaniards arrived they celebrated the return of the souls between the months of July and August. Once arrived, the Spaniards changed the festivities to November 2nd to coincide with All Souls’ Day of the Catholic Church.

Presently, two celebrations honoring the memory of loved ones who have died take place: On November 1st, the souls of the children are honored with special designs in the altars, using the color white on flowers and candles. On November 2nd the souls of the adults are remembered with a variety of rituals, according to the different states of the Mexican republic.

The celebrations of Day of the Dead or All Souls Day are referred differently in some of the states. For example in Yucatan it is known as Hanal Pixan which means "The path of the soul through the essence of food;” in the the highlands of Michoacan it is known as Jimbanqua or the party honoring the people who died that year; in San Luis Potosi, Hidalgo and in the southern part of Oaxaca it is known as Xantolo and Day of the Dead in the majority of Mexico. Whatever name is given, this is an ancestral tradition that blended with Catholicism to create a special time and space to remember and honor the loved ones by offering them an ofrenda, the fragrance of the flowers, the light of the candles, the aroma of special foods and the solemnity of prayers.

It is also a time to joke and make fun of death through "calaveras", poetry allusive to a particular person, generally politicians; sugar, chocolate and amaranth skulls which are given to one another with their friend’s name so "they can eat their own death" and special crafts allusive to different aspects of the living, with skeletons representing daily activities.

People start getting ready for the celebration on the third week of October with the harvesting of the cempasuchitl flower, also known as the flower of the twenty petals or the flower of the dead which is sold in the market place or Tianguis, where the family goes to buy everything that they will need to get to put on the altar. On the altar they will place the ofrendas of fruits, vegetables and the special dishes prepared for the soul to enjoy the essence of the aroma of the food.

On November 1st in many towns the ritual of the Vigil of the Little Angels takes place in the cemeteries, particularly in the islands of Janitzio and La Pacanda in Lake Patzcuaro, Michoacan. Little girls dressed in satin blouses and colored skirts, white stockings and shiny shoes are the center of this ceremony. This is the way the tradition is passed down from generation to generation.

On November 2nd, the souls of the adults are honored in their homes with beautifully decorated altars. Each state has different styles but all of them represent a place where the ofrenda becomes a spiritual communion between life and death.

The celebration concludes in many towns with the vigil in the cemetery. In some places the vigil is done during the whole night of November 1st to November 2nd. In other towns the vigil is done during the day. Mysticism is the rule in the cemeteries, but in many music is also part of the ritual that combines religious prayers with the sounds of the trumpet playing a tune with a Mariachi band. Ritualistic dances are also part of the celebrations in many places in honor of the deceased.

Whichever is celebrated, Day of the Dead is a time of reflection about the meaning of life and the mission that one needs to fulfill. Death in many situations imparts a feeling of pain and loss, particularly for those who do not know the purpose of their path on this earthly plane. For others, death is transcendence, transformation and resurrection. During the celebration of Day of the Dead all those feelings and beliefs come together in a season that brings to life the memory of the loved ones.

All photographs (c) Mary J. Andrade/ Article Source