Mexico Semana Santa Research Paper

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.

On February 23, 1836, a Mexican force led by General Santa Anna began a siege of the fort. The Alamo’s 200 defenders fought for 13 days before the Mexicans won. Santa Anna ordered his men to take no prisoners and only a small handful of the Texans were spared. It’s said that Bowie fought from his deathbed, he was also eventually killed.

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.

Cinco De Mayo is celebrated on the 5th of May. Cinco De Mayo is celebrated to remember the victory for Mexico over France in 1962 and was at the battle of Puebla (Staff, 2009). However, in Mexico, Cinco De Mayo isn't considered a major holiday (Staff, 2009). Cinco De Mayo is a celebration of Mexican heritage and culture (Staff, 2009). We will talk about the history of Cinco De Mayo, and explain the difference between the two holidays.

Mexico Independence Day is always celebrated on September 16th. Mexico gained their independence on September 16th, 1810. Many mexicans celebrate their independence day with fireworks. Many families also have fiestas on this special day in September. On this day people eat a lot of food and drink a lot of drinks. People also will gather around and dance and sing and play music on this day as well. Mexico’s Flags are also flown in the air on this day as well. People have lots of decorations of Mexico’s colors which is Red, White, and Green. Many people plant flowers this day as well. Usually the colors of the flowers are Red, White, & Green. Whistles are blown on this day as well and lots of screaming is done too. People

Every May fifth Americans across the United States take the opportunity to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with parades, mariachi music, folk dancing, Mexican food and of course margaritas. But for most Mexicans Cinco de Mayo it’s not a big deal. It is nothing more than a national holiday. Cinco de Mayo is one of the most misunderstood Mexican holidays.

Cinco de Mayo means the fifth of May. It is not an independence day for Mexico like most unknowledgeable people think. Mexican Independence Day is celebrated on the 15th of September. Mexico declared independence from Spain on the 24th of August 1821. Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday either. Mexico and the United States savor this holiday because it is the day where Mexican peasants/ commoners defeated the French and Mexican traitor army that double them in size in Puebla, Mexico one hundred miles away from Mexico city on the 5th of May, 1862.

Halloween and Dia de los Muertos have different ways to celebrate their holidays. First of all Halloween is only one day while the Day of the Dead is actually three days. Halloween takes place on October 31st which at night is when people trick or treat. The reason by trick or treating is from an old story that was told that you should go to house to house asking for goods to scare away the bad souls which started reflecting on all the scary decorations during the holiday. While the Day of the Dead is October 31st-November 2nd which all the days reflect on the people who passed on and to celebrate life. People respect and have a meal at their incense grave sites with the souls that are good and that are now passed on to a better place.

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.

These traditions include Day of the Dead and Cinco de Mayo. There is a smaller portion of Americans more towards the Mexican border that celebrate Day of the Dead, but I feel as if within the next several decades, many more people will share and adapt this holiday into their own. We both have the traditions to celebrate our independence day with fireworks and parades, birthday parties with piñatas (which originated from Mexico), and our Mardi Gras is their Carnaval. When it comes to Christmas, we only celebrate for two days while Mexico starts their celebrations December 12th with Posados and ends on January 6th. The children there open their presents they receive on the 6th and christmas trees are starting to become more popular in

In Chile, there are lots of Holidays such as... (January 1), Easter, Labor Day (May 1), Naval Battle of Iquique (May 21), Independence Day (september 18) and some others are, Dia De La Raza, Saints Day, and Christmas. If you were wondering what saints day was, family members go across cities and pay their deceased relatives homage and leave flowers on their graves. Sometimes this holiday may take over a two day period. Also Dia De La Raza is Columbus, day which in America we call it Dia De La Raza.

These holidays are recognized by having special celebrations with lots of food, guests, and music. Another observance, Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is celebrated throughout Hispanic cultures as a way of remembering loved ones who have passed away. During everyday life, Hispanic-Americans tend to dress the same as everyone else-jeans, shirts, work or casual clothes, etc. However, for special days, specially decorated sombreros and boots are worn with dressy clothing as homage to their homelands (EHC,

Holidays are an important part of Latino culture, some holidays relate to the religious, while others relate to anniversaries of major battles in Mexican history. All the major catholic holidays are celebrated by Latinos such as Christmas, Lent and Easter as well as the Catholic rites of passage Baptism, Holy Communion, and Confirmation.

Mexico and the United States share a border, but an entirely different culture is on each side. Mexico and the United States have similarities in the way they dressed and Mexico and the United States have a few similarities within their culture. One of the similarities is holidays. Christmas, Independence Day, and Halloween are some of the similar holidays between this two countries. The way of celebration is slightly different in each country, but they both have the same concept.

There are so much activities to do that it is rare for someone to be stuck in their house all day. Baseball, surprisingly is one of the most popular activities most people enjoy doing in Mexico. It gets cold in Mexico around this time too, so it also means that the food is