What is Día de los Muertos?The celebration known as El Día de los Muertos has various names used in diverse areas of Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America, including: El Día de los Difuntos (Day of the Deceased); El Día de los Santos (Day of the Saints); Todos Santos (All Saints); El Día de las Ánimas (Day of the Souls); and El Día de las Ánimas Benditas (Day of the Blessed Souls). A fusion of pre-Columbian and Catholic rituals for remembering the deceased, the celebration is observed on November 1 and 2 (the Roman Catholic dates of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day) in varied ways depending on the country or region within a country. Most people in the United States (and in Mexico) assume that the celebration is "uniquely" Mexican; however, Day of the Dead is an important holiday throughout Latin America.
U.S. celebrations are modeled on Mexican traditions and, as the Latin American country with the largest tourism industry, Mexico's Day of the Dead is best known globally. But, if you travel to Guatemala, El Salvador, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, or the Andean regions of Columbia and Argentina, for example, you will see thousands of people visiting and picnicking in cemeteries, decorating graves, holding candlelight vigils by family tombs, serenading the dead via itinerant musicians, creating altars in memory of departed loved ones, and walking in processions. Thus, the celebration is not uniquely Mexican, although Mexico certainly has unique aspects of the celebration such as its famous sugar skulls and calavera (skeleton) imagery. Continue . . .
![Skulls to the living, bread to the dead : [the day of the dead in Mexico and beyond]](http://syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=9781405152488/LC.GIF&client=springshare)
Far from being a morbid event, Day of Dead emphasizes remembrance of past lives and expresses celebration of the continuity of life. This acknowledgement of life’s continuity has roots which go back to some of Mexico’s oldest civilizations including the Olmec, Zapotec, Maya, and Purépecha. The Aztecs also celebrated Day of the Dead, although earlier —August— on the current calendar.
Local festivities and traditions vary from place to place, although the ofrendas are the focal point of the celebrations during the festive period. Mexico City hosts a large and elaborate procession downtown, and provincial towns and cities hold religious processions to mark the occasion. It’s currently fashionable for participants to have their face painted to emulate Catrinas.
From Films On Demand database:
Salvadorans honor the dead in various traditional celebrations such as El Día de los Difuntos or El Día de los Fieles Difuntos (Day of the Deceased) and La Calabiuza. Learn more about these celebrations and share...
NOTE: Some of the links are in Spanish. To read in English, right click on the page in Spanish and select Translate to English.
To the indigenous peoples of Guatemala, death is considered the passage to a new life, therefore, the deceased are buried with personal objects that would be used in the afterlife. In other words, this festival does not only celebrate death but also the cycle of life. From skulls to toys, indigenous people use them to decorate tombs and make the remembrance of the death of their loved ones easier to bear.
In Guatemala, another popular tradition that takes place during the Day of the Dead is the Kite Festival, many of which are held across the country in big, open spaces where people gather to show off their kites, lift them up, and make them compete to honor the dead. What makes Kite Festivals in Guatemala unique is the size of the kites. People spend all year long building them and coming up with the design, many of which are 40 feet or larger, and the spectacular displays fill the air over cemeteries across the country (LUC).
Bolivians buff up the skulls of their dearly departed to mark annual ritual. They celebrated on Sunday an ancient tradition rooted in indigenous practices where people adorn and honour skulls, called "natitas", which they believe bring them good fortune and protection.
The natitas spend most of the year indoors, but are traditionally decorated and paraded to the cemetery a week after All Saints Day.
"This tradition occurs on Nov. 8 because it is the Day of the Souls, the Day of the Skulls. We celebrate [the dead] because they give us many miracles. They take care of us, they protect us, the people who are devoted to them," said Leticia Plaza, who joined the celebration of the skulls. Friends and family adorn the skulls with hats and flowers. They give them food and even cigarettes during the festivities. Even the skulls of unidentified deceased take part in the party, said participant Patricia Llave."They are the forgotten souls, they are the souls that don't have flowers. Every Nov. 8, we remove them from their tomb so that we can be with them and share this celebration with them," she said (CBC).
Day of the Dead is celebrated in many Latin American cultures and cultures around the world to honor the departed. Below is more information about these celebrations...
NOTE: Some of the links are in Spanish. To read in English, right click on the page in Spanish and select Translate to English.
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