Day Of The Dead : A Celebration Of Family

    Dias de los Muertos is a Mexican Holiday that honors and celebrates friends and family who have passed away. The celebration originated nearly 3,000 years ago when the Spaniards arrived in Central Mexico and viewed a similar ritual being celebrated by the Aztecs.  Through the years Dias de los Muertos has evolved and flourished beyond Mexico, and now it is even celebrated in certain regions of the United States, Guatemala, Brazil, and Spain. Every November 1 (All Saints’ Day) and November 2 (All Souls’ Day), the celebration takes place. On the first, which is called Dia de los Inocentes (Day of Innocents), children who have died are honored and their graves are decorated with toys, sweets, white orchids and baby's breath. On the second, which is called Dia de los Muertos, the adults are honored and their graves are decorated with bright orange marigolds, the Mexican flower of death. During the celebration, family members go to the gravesites and clean and decorate their loved one’s grave with beautiful flowers, food, drink, and a photo

As a little girl, I learned a lot about my Mexican heritage. I even joined my parents in their dance group and still involved in it today. Over the years it’s been so fun, and it helped me learn a lot about different Mexican counties. Who would've thought that I would learn so much just by dancing. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the truth. Also being a little girl I learned about “Day Of The Dead” which in Spanish is called “dia de los muertos” which is a two day celebration. The day’s in which this takes place is September 1 and 2nd. September 1st we honor the children and September 2nd we honor the adults. When I was little I never fully understood why we celebrated people deaths. I always thought when someone dies we show our respects and grief about it, but throwing a whole

II. Relevance to the audience: Everyone has had a loved one or someone they know pass away and have gone to the cemetery to honor their death, which is why Dia de los Muertos is celebrated in all parts of the world.

In Mexico, fiestas occur frequently throughout the year as a custom. Mexicans gather on these holidays to eat dance,take part in parades, and remember historic or religious events. Mexican Independence Day celebrates the separation of the country from Spain on September 16, 1810. Another famous celebration is Day of the Dead which is celebrated on the first of November. Although it may sound scary, this celebration is a cheerful time of remembering friends and family members who have died.

The belief in the afterlife involved with this holiday is very similar to that of the mesoamericans. The aztecs in particular had a month long celebration, very similar to that of Day of the Dead, in which they honored and delivered offerings to the deceased. When the spaniards arrived they did a fair job of popularizing their faith among the mesoamericans. The mesoamericans moved their month long celebration of death to coincide with the catholic holidays of All Saints and All Souls(November 1st and 2nd). Today, Day of the Dead is about celebrating death by creating altars carpeted with offerings to the souls of loved ones. Today, an iconic symbol of Día de los Muertos is the skeleton, one of the most significant skeleton characters is La Catrina. Day of the Dead is now picking up bits and pieces of Halloween tradition. Children are now participating in pedir los muertos, or ask the dead, during which children dress in costumes and meander, receiving candy as well as things from people’s day of the dead altars, in some places.

In their decorations, the skull or skeleton is often used. They are often made to be grinning or to be doing things like drinking, eating, and even riding horses. The skeleton is turned into a mocking of death itself, and is a symbol of celebration of passing into the next life.

Spiritual connection with the dead is also one of the important elements of Latino culture, which is demonstrated by frequent gravesite visits and praying to spirits. Death is always associated with separation, which leads to sorrow, and grief; however cultural perceptions and beliefs help to look at death from a different perspective and perceive death as a natural state that can be approached with love, respect, dignity, and tremendous family support. Latino culture supports their dying people during the last journey, and believes in afterlife, which gives them hope and helps to overcome unbearable grief of permanent loss.

In Mexico, Dia de los Muertos is a celebration to honor the dead. This holiday was made for people struggle with losing loved ones, and celebrating it was found to be a good way to help them cope. Families can be seen in the cemetery bringing festive gifts to memorialize lost members.

¨ El dia de los muertos.” Have you ever heard of that? Mexicans celebrate the day Of The Dead as a tradition. Every year between

They celebrate the dead by letting the spirits know they have not forgotten about them. The skull is

Halloween and Dia de los Muertos are very interesting holidays in there own different ways. Halloween and Day of the Dead can be similar but on the bottom line they are very different by the way they decorate, what they eat, and how they celebrate the holidays. The two holidays may seem similar at first but after understanding the complexity of the ideas behind both holidays actions, your opinion can change. For example during Halloween some kids might go trick or treating but in Mexico during the Day of the Dead, people would go to grave sites and have picnics with people who have passed on and a famous sauce they would eat is mole sauce which is like a spicy chocolate sauce. There are a lot of differences to explore about the two

On Dia de los Muertos, the people who celebrate this holiday celebrate death. The Mexicans and Central Americans who celebrate Dia de los Muertos think that death is just another part of life, and that the people who die go to the afterlife. During Dia de los Muertos, the families of the loved ones who’ve died will create an altar for the dead person’s spirit. The families will make the altar, and cover it with food, decorations, and things that the person had once liked. Objects like a drink or food they liked, or a colored cloth representing the color, or even toys or games that the person liked before the death. The altar is covered in Las Flores. This flower is something that everyone has on their altars. Las Velas light and guide the souls to the altar.The people also celebrating Dia de los Muertos dress up like what the person looked like, or what job they had. On Halloween, people dress up as whatever they want to be to get candy, and go Trick-or-Treating. On Halloween in Europe in medieval times, the people would go out in costumes because they were scared that there were spirits roaming around. They didn’t do this “holiday” because it was fun, instead they did it out of fear. Halloween started with the Celtic pagan ritual known as Samhain. During “Halloween” in medieval times, the people believed that barrier between our world, and the spirit world was at its thinnest, and people could communicate with the dead.

Day of the Dead (or Dia de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday that`s celebrated in parts of Latin America and the U.S. and it is to remember and pray for family and friends who have died. This holiday is celebrated on November 1st. The Day of the Dead celebrates and remembers friends and relatives who have died. In most parts of Mexico, the Day of the Dead is meant to honor children and infants that unfortunately died. Adults that have passed are honored on November 2nd. The atmosphere of Day of the Dead is

Mexican culture celebrates their independence with a holiday and fireworks on Cinco de Mayo. The American ritual for independence is celebrated on July 4th also with a holiday and fireworks. Another ritual that is participated in annually by both Mexican and American cultures is the celebration of Christmas. Gift giving is a common ritual during the Christmas season. There are also some very unique rituals specific to each culture. For starters, one the most distinctive rituals in all of the World takes place in the Mexican culture, Dia de Los Muertos. Dia de Los Muertos is a celebration with masks like skulls and dancing honoring late ancestors. Another ritual specific to the Mexican culture is the holiday recognizing the Lady of the Guadalupe. The ritual feast remembers the sightings of her near present day Mexico City. American culture also contains some unique rituals. A very patriotic ritual takes place in the grade school class everyday; it is called the Pledge of Allegiance. This ritual instills patriotic values as well as teaching loyalty to thy nation. Thanksgiving is another example of a ritual not in Mexican culture that is in American culture.

In the Latino death rituals are influenced by their catholic beliefs. They have a continuing relationship with the dead through prayer and visits to the grave. Grief can be expressed by crying. Women are allowed to wail while men are not to a lot of emotion. Death for Mexicans in Mexico has more understanding of death because the country is religious, real, poor, and young. Death is shown by statues, art, literature, and history portray death. Mexican children start at an early age to accept death. Mexicans and Latinos celebrate “Dia de los Muertos (day of the dead) to remember and honor the dead Lobar, Youngblut, & Brooten, 2006, p. xx-a)