Dia De Los Muertos
Origins of Day of the Dead
The roots of the Day of the Dead, celebrated in contemporary Mexico and among those of Mexican heritage in the United States and around the world, go back some 3,000 years, to the rituals honoring the dead in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The Aztecs and other Nahua people living in what is now central Mexico held a cyclical view of the universe, and saw death as an integral, ever-present part of life.
Upon dying, a person was believed to travel to Chicunamictlán, the Land of the Dead. Only after getting through nine challenging levels, a journey of several years, could the person’s soul finally reach Mictlán, the final resting place. In Nahua rituals honoring the dead, traditionally held in August, family members provided food, water and tools to aid the deceased in this difficult journey. This inspired the contemporary Day of the Dead practice in which people leave food or other offerings on their loved ones’ graves, or set them out on makeshift altars called ofrendas in their homes.
Pre-columbian civilizations had a variety of celebrations aimed at honoring the dead. However, many of the traditions we know today come 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, and ruled by the goddess Mictecacíhuatl, often represented by a skull. The Aztecs believed that in order to reach Mictlán, souls had to complete an arduous journey. To help the deceased along this journey, the Aztecs would make offerings of useful objects at their relatives’ burial sites. Several Aztec holidays involved rituals to honor the deceased, including decorating tree stumps and placing offerings for dead relatives. These traditions set the precedent for the Ofrendas, or Day of the Dead altars placed by Mexican families today.
After colonization, these traditions were Christianized and became incorporated into the Catholic holidays of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, producing a unique syncretism of traditions. The traditions were moved from summer to November 1st and 2nd to coincide with these two days.
El Dia de los Muertos in the USA: Cultural Ritual as Political Communication -
Regina Marchi
Associated with a preindustrial past that is seemingly unrelated to the modern world, ethnic folk rituals practiced in the United States are often dismissed as apolitical activities that serve only to entertain. As a result, ritual as a medium for critiquing dominant systems of power has generally been neglected within the field of Cultural Studies in favor of analyses of mass media cultural production (Limón 1994: 11). However, cultural scholars such as Americo Paredes (1993), Olivia Cadavál (1985), José Limón (1994), and George Lipsitz (1990) suggest that folk rituals are not. merely substitutes for politics, but communicate important messages about identity and social struggle that help to shape individual and collective practice. Much current thinking about the political importance of folk rituals is influenced by the work of Antonio Gramsci and E.P. Thompson. Gramsci discouraged the conceptual separation between modern culture and popular folk culture, believing that folk practices had the potential to challenge hegemonic beliefs and “bring about the birth of a new culture.” Thompson felt that folk practices were contexts in which working class people could define and express their own values, which could be “antagonistic to the overarching system of domination and control” (Limón 1983: 42).
El Dia de Los Muertos and the Struggle to Retain National Cultural Identity
Steve R. Pereira
In the United States, death is seen as the end of one’s existence on earth. Many Americans pay their last respects and say goodbye to their loved ones forever. Contrastingly, Mexico has a totally different view on death. Death is believed to be related to the morbid Mexican, unafraid and obsessed with dying because it is the bridge to reincarnation (Sayer, 1990). However, the view on death in Mexico and how it is changing has become a concern to Mexicans because their Mexican national identity is Americanizing and struggling to move away from United States ideologies. This paper will examine the Mexican view of death, and the struggle to maintain traditional ceremonies and practices of the Mexican Day of the Dead (El Dia de Los Muertos) through the lens of cultural and religious view points. The focus will be on how the United States celebration of Halloween has weakened Mexican national cultural identity through commercialization. This unique practice allows Mexicans to develop pride and vision to live in a culturally fused community that is intermeshed with the dead. An early study by Stanley Brandes (2003) indicated that Mexican national identity also promotes the national unification through cultural ethnicity, class, age, religious affiliation, and place of residence. A sense of carnalismo (brotherhood and sisterhood mentality) fuses Mexicans’ indigenous roots because it reminds them of the relevance of the life story that is framed within contextual identities, which provide a deeper meaning toward understanding one’s cultural reality and significance (Arredondo, 2002; Ramirez, 1998).
The integration of indigenous philosophies on death can also be seen as an effort to colonize the spiritual and religious practices of the indigenous folks of Central America. The European colonizers that invaded indigenous communities have ridiculed and sought to extinguish all forms of heathendom practices. In the 18th and 19th century the Mexican population heavily westernized their country to mirror the urban development of other European and American countries. They continued to pick and choose what aspects of native cultures they want to appropriate thus creating a staple of the “Mexican”, Raza, latinidad, xicanidad culture.
Culture significance vs Religious practice
The culture in Mexico is principally derived from two cultural roots – religious and ethnic. For instance, the historical and religious background of Dia de los Muertos has merged with Catholic theology and the basic principles of Aztec rituals, such as the use of skulls. This cultural merging introduced a new way to keep the dead spiritually alive through building altars that honor their loved ones. From these two roots, the view on death has converted into a spiritual element in Mexican culture, life after death. It has long been recognized that people construct collective identities through differentiating their own group from others. According to Brandes (2003) not all aspects of culture enter into this differentiation. For historical reasons, particular elements become especially salient identity markers. For example, many customs in Europe, influenced through Arabs, were transmitted to the Spanish conquistadors. These customs had a wide acceptance throughout the diverse practices that were considered to be pre- Hispanic Spain because the Spaniards believed that death was the end of life. In their attempts to get rid of indigenous ideology in Mexico, the Spaniards tried to use Catholicism to convince the natives to turn against their spiritual beliefs. Although this method was not successful, I believe that the Mexican natives, instead, learned to embrace Catholicism and incorporate it into their indigenous spiritual beliefs, which eventually enabled them to feel connected with a spiritual presence portrayed with affection and humor.
The national identity in Mexico does not solely remain in the Day of the Dead. Since the introduction of Halloween, Mexican cultural beliefs have been diminished because of this United State’s commercialized holiday. According to Mayo’s (2002) recollection of a conversation with Don Fernando Cota: “in downtown Cabo San Lucas, I find a swarm of black paper bats taped to the street walls of Planet Hollywood and cardboard tombstones and pumpkin head scarecrows are propped below on the sidewalk. Soon it will be Halloween and there will be a Halloween costume contest” (Mayo, 2002. p. 41). It is apparent that the United State’s Halloween celebration has dispersed into a culturally fused area in Mexico and has started to change national identity through modernized franchise and customs.
Dia de los Muertos has its origins in Aztec tradition, whereas Halloween is rooted through Roman pre-Christian Paganism. Since both holidays occur at the same time of the year, Catholics merged cultures with Aztec indigenous practices to create Dia de los Muertos. A few decades ago, and more so with every decade after, Mexico has incorporated Halloween into their society through a similar commercialized event to Halloweeen, although much more comical. Some of Mexico’s border cities, where there is more powerful influence from the United States, showed widespread Americanized versions of Dia de los Muertos. Halloween in the United States is an annual event in which United States Americans dress up as monstrous characters. Many wear costumes to depict witches, vampires, goblins, zombies, and devils. Although both holidays may seem similar, they are different in meaning because indigenous spirituality overtakes Mexican cultural beliefs. However, as Halloween slowly begins to infect the northern regions of Mexico, retention of Mexican culture weakens. The fact that Mexicans are often exposed to United States ideologies, many Mexicans find it hard to retain their traditions and practices. Loya’s (2002) commentary on the need to own one’s indigenous history, is understood as providing the relevant backdrop to an increasing self-awareness of social justice issues that may be impacting one’s communal responsibilities. Additionally, ownership of one’s indigenous history provides an opportunity to “wake up,” which alerts an individual toward increased self-empowerment and a determination to change one’s life circumstances—that is, learning to effectively manage the various social and economic life forced that are immediately changing. Therefore, it is important to recognize and own one’s Mexican culture before it gets lost in Americanized customs.
