Research Paper On El Dua De Los Muertos

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.

At the Día De Los Muertos event there were many people especially Hispanic families. Across the event, there was a museum that had arts of people dressed at Aztecs, Día De Los Muertos skeletons, a big altar, and painted skulls. The museum was not big, but showed some historical moments of the Día De Los Muertos. They also showed the culture being alive. Inside the event there were also quite a lot of volunteers that seemed to be from the high school that was hosting the event. Furthermore, we managed to see ABC7 news at the event which surprised us. We saw them interview some people from the event. The volunteers on the other hand, were either helping people sell food, paint people’s face, or ask people if they want to donate some change. They

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 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.

Cinco de Mayo is a popular holiday recognized by many. Cinco de Mayo, translates to the fifth of May, and is a holiday celebrated by people mainly in Mexico and the United States. The purpose of this holiday is to celebrate Mexico’s victory over France during the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Throughout this essay I will be researching and discussing the history of the famous holiday that many people like to celebrate.

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.

Halloween is praised on October 31 in a few nations. It has its roots in agnostic festivals for the end of the harvest season, different celebrations of the dead. Day of the Dead (or Dia de los Muertos) is a Mexican occasion, additionally celebrated in parts of Latin America and the U.S., to recall and appeal to God for family and companions who have kicked the bucket. It is on November 1.The Latin American festival Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is praised amid the same time period as Halloween. Both occasions are focused on conventions established in recognizing the perished. Albeit for the most part diverse, a couple of attributes of both occasions make them comparable - clarifying why disarray between the two exist. Halloween and Day of the Dead are both celebrated between people who are in the Christianity culture.

El Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, is a holiday is dominantly celebrated in Mexico on the first and second day of November. Before the celebration begins, on October 31st, All Hallows Eve is held. On this day, parades of people in extravagant costumes walk the streets determined to clear the area of all evil spirits to prepare for the following days. On November 1st, it is el Día de los Innnocentes, the day of the children, and also All Saints Day. During this day, young children (known as saints, angels, or innocents) that have passed away are celebrated and remembered for the short lives they lived.

Candy flows through Mexico during el Dia de los Muertos and most of the candy displayed and eaten takes the form of sugar skulls. There are many different ways to make these sugar skulls. Some are large and thin, Some are coated with sesame seeds and nuts and Some are chocolate and decorated with hard candies. But most of those that are used to decorate the tombs are small, hard sugar skulls, painted with frosting and bits of foil.

In the Hispanic culture the people are not big on Halloween a festivities that is celebrated instead is the day of the dead. The day of the death is a festivity that celebrates and honors those who have passed away. Typically this tradition is famous in Mexico. A tradition that is celebrated in the American culture that is not usually celebrated in the Hispanic culture is thanksgiving. But now many Hispanics living in the United States have adopted this tradition and celebrated also.

1) Claim: Halloween being one of the world’s oldest holidays is still celebrated in many other countries around the globe. In Mexico and other Latin American countries Dia de los Muertos is a huge part of their 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)

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.

For instance, they have the day of the dead. The day of the dead is a day dedicated to celebrating all the lost souls. They believe that if a family member passes their soul may still linger around on Earth and may not reach heaven on time. By celebrating the day of the dead, they believe that their ancestors may no longer linger the earth and be able to reach heaven in time. A lot of cities in Mexico make huge celebrations for this very well-known holiday.

Many people, including myself, think of Día De Los Muertos and they just associate it with another type of Halloween, but they couldn’t be any more opposite. By going to this event on campus I got to meet a lot of very interesting people and learned a lot about the Hispanic culture and how they see life and death very differently from my own culture. Día De Los Muertos (also known as day of the dead) has been around for centuries and the traditions and celebrations continue and are continuously passed down from generation to generation. With origins and traditions combining Aztec, Catholicism, and other indigenous beliefs, it is observed on November 1st and 2nd of each year. Although Day of the Dead has nothing to do with the American culture’s Halloween, it shares some similarity and ideas about other spiritual practices that American culture and my culture practices. Although all our cultures and backgrounds may be different, we all share the struggle with stereotypes and gender construction in some shape or form in our own cultures. Through this cultural event I could reflect on my own cultural practices, beliefs, and how they have affected the way that I have grown up in this world and can relate some of them to the Mexican culture, and the way they are seen in this society and the roles they socially constructed to play, either in their culture or even just in their own families and at home.