Mexican Death Research Paper

At some point in our lives, we all come to realize that death is a part of life. Cultural diversity provides a wide variety of lifestyles and traditions for each of the unique groups of people in our world. Within these different cultures, the rituals associated with death and burial can also be uniquely diverse. Many consider ritualistic traditions that differ from their own to be somewhat strange and often perceive them as unnatural. A prime example would be the burial rituals of the Native American people.

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

I. Attention getting device: When most people think of how to honor the dead, right away they think of mourning but the indigenous people of Mexico had a different idea. Instead of mourning, they think of honoring the dead as a celebration with dancing, food, and reminiscing. The name of this celebration is called Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead in English.

Death, and the skeleton represented as Death, is seen in a much different way by the Mexicans than by most other cultures. It is seen in a mocking, cheerful light. A symbol that can be as playful as it is serious, it appears everywhere during dia de muertos as wood, paper mache, sugar, and plastic.

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.

The hispanic culture has many diverse, interesting, and unique views when it comes to the topic of death, dying, ghosts, and funeral arrangements. Because hispanic culture has many influences from not only modern day religious beliefs like the dominant religion of Roman Catholicism but also from ancient religions and culture such as the Maya and Aztec there is often times a mixed view on death. Similarly, because of the diversity in the history of hispanic culture there are many different cultural influences such as holidays like El dia de los muertos and long held folklore that makes the topic of death and dying in the hispanic culture very interesting.

Mexican, Filipino, and Thai these are just a few of the diverse cultures in this group. To begin with, some interesting aspects of the Mexican culture is that the primary language of the culture is Spanish, the primary religion is Catholicism, and in Mexico one of the popular celebrations are The Day of the Dead. To begin with the primary language of the Mexican culture is Spanish. Approximately 92.7 percent of the Mexican population Speaks spanish. The lesser used dialects in Mexico include such as Mayan, and Nahuatl. Another interesting aspect of the Mexican culture is the primary religion is Catholicism. 82% of the Mexican population identifies as Catholic. There are also very few Muslims, Jews, and Buddhists. Last but not least, Day of the dead is celebrated in Mexico. It is celebrated on November 2. This day is set aside to remember and honor those who died.

When death occurs, Mexican Americans are not uncomfortable with the presence of the body of a loved one. Frequently, family members desire to assist with cleaning and arranging the body before the funeral. However, the most important part of this process is to ensure that the body is shown respect by everyone involved. Although autopsy and organ donation are allowed in Mexican American culture, many families prefer that neither occur. Also, stoicism is no longer expected at the funeral;

Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a holiday that commemorates the family and its importance to human beings, both personally and culturally. Through various rituals, people honor their ancestors and those that have already passed on before them. The rituals that go on during this time are culturally rich practices that have been passed on for hundreds of years. Family members will go to graveyards to decorate relative’s graves with altars and tell fond stories of the deceased. Others will perform traditional dances or make quilts as tribute to their ancestors. Overall, Day of the Dead emphasizes the remembrance of loved ones and their significance to us through deeply embedded customs.

In order to better understand traditional Mexican-American viewpoints on end of life care and death practices, I conducted an interview with Jaime, a forty year old, Mexican-American male living in the United States. He has lived in the United States for almost twenty years. From my discussion with him, he said that the overwhelming emotion that surrounds how death is perceived in his cultural and religion was sadness; he acknowledged that death is a part of life, but that there should be a sad, outward emotional response (Jaime Zuniga, personal communication, April 17, 2016). He is Catholic and believes that after a person dies, he or she goes to Heaven. The order of events after someone dies is

How do historical Native Hawaiians, and Japanese view death and dying? In modern day Hawaii the rituals and practices of death, dying, and bereavement are greatly influenced by multiple cultures due to Hawaii being a melting pot of different ethnicities. Some cultures/ethnicities include the following: Hawaiians, Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese, and Puerto Ricans just to name a few. Today majority of the family’s in Hawaii are of mixed religion, ethnicities and cultures their beliefs regarding death and dying are influenced by multiple cultures and not just one; thus they might incorporate Hawaiian and Filipino and Japanese rituals when someone passes away.

They believe that an open casket funeral will not be possible because they believe the body will be disfigured. Religiously they believe that the person will not be allowed into heaven because the body is not whole. (Reuters, 2011). In the Hispanic culture family relationships and support are very important.

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)

Relationships are very important in the Hispanic culture. The majority of the Hispanic culture are Roman Catholics which means they believe that the soul is eternal and continues on after the physical body has died. Roman Catholics consider human life sacred. The Hispanic culture takes family very seriously. Most people resist of the idea of putting a loved one in the nursing home because they want a family member to be there for their last breath. Many times, religious values keep an ill person from feeling comfortable because their religion does not allow pain medication. When a person is on their death bed, last rites are given by a priest, ill person gives their last confession, and the priest offers absolution. When a loved one has passed away the family will hold a wake. A wake in the Hispanic culture is a time for family members to share memories of the deceased. A funeral is held in a church and the casket is carried to the final location. A burial is followed by the church service. According to the

In Mexico religion and culture interact in a daily basis to create the complexity of the Mexican lifestyle. Traditions like “Dia de muertos” interact with Catholicism in a way where the tradition is respected without offending the catholic beliefs. Since Catholicism take really negative any interaction with magic, superstition or other religions, the tradition grew and adapted to be about honoring and remembering our death relatives who die and went to heaven. (Pages 1-2)