The Day of the Dead is a unique Mexican holiday celebrated with many different customs and traditions throughout Mexico. This holiday focuses on the gathering of family and friends to pray for people close to them who have died and help them along on their spiritual journey. Every year, starting on October 31st, Mexican people begin their annual three-day celebration of The Day of the Dead or El Día de los Muertos. The holiday takes place over a course of three days, October 31st, November 1st, and November 2nd. Although it is celebrated over a three-day period, November 2nd is typically referred to as the official Day of the Dead because it is the day that is set aside to remember and honor those who have passed. October 31st is similar to the Western culture’s Halloween. November 1st is “Dia de los innocents” and on this day, children and infants who have passed are celebrated. These dates coincide with the Western Christian holy days: All Saints’ Eve, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day. In history, the Day of the Dead dates back around 3,000 years. The Aztec people celebrated a holiday of similar importance and regard. Once a year, the Aztecs held a celebration honoring the Aztec goddess, Mictecacihuatl. Mictecacihuatl was the Aztec goddess of death and the “Queen of the Underworld” and the “Lady of the Dead”. The Spanish conquistadors observed the Aztec peoples’ celebration of this holiday and meddled with it. They brought the aspects of Catholicism into the holiday
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 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.
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.
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.
Dia de Los Muertos, also known as the Day of the Dead, is an internationally recognized Mexican holiday which consists of the gatherings of friends and family to honor those who have passed. Similar rituals commemorating those who have deceased are believed to have began around 3,000 years ago. Dia de Los Muertos takes place three days from October 31st to November 2nd. October 31st is known as All Hallows Eve and is a time when the children invite the spirits of deceased children to come back. November 1st is All Saints Day and is when the adult spirits are said to return. November 2nd is All Souls Day and is when families go and decorate the graves of their lost loved ones. The building of private altars in cemeteries containing the
The catholic, mexican holiday, Day of the Dead and the very westernized holiday Halloween may seem very alike with their traditions and themes, but in retrospect, they are very different and have very different origins. Halloween and Day of the Dead happen at the same time, end of October and beginning of November. The background of these two holidays are very spiritual and they have an interesting story of how the Halloween and day of the dead was created. In this essay, I will be talking about the how Halloween and Day of the Dead are celebrated , the origins of Day of the Dead and Halloween, and decorations and celebrations of Day of the Dead and Halloween. Both Day of the Dead and Halloween deal with spooky traditions but they are very different than the stereotypical thought that they are just weird, scary holidays but after reading some background to these two holidays, many people realize there is a lot more to Halloween and Day of the Dead.
The country I would like to visit is Venezuela. And a holiday that is celebrated in Venezuela in October is Dia De Los Muertos or The Day of the Dead. The Day of the Dead is celebrated on October 31 to November 2. Although many people think the Day of the Dead is Halloween, it is different than Halloween. The Day of the Dead celebrates the dead but not their death and the sadness of them but the full period of life’s they had and how the holiday actual worships death. People celebrate by going to the cemetery’s and decorating the persons grave and they also celebrate at home by making an altar and giving offerings on the altar such as food, clothes and other things. People also celebrate with special foods and symbolic goods like candy skulls,
An analysis of the book “Day of the dead in the USA” by Regina M. Marchi revealed that to Latin Americans, death does not provoke fear but instead brings together family and friends to value life and each other while it lasts. The first chapter of the book gives a definition of what the Day of the Dead details, a historical background and different customs of celebrating this day in Central America and South America. The second chapter of the book moves onto specifically why Mexico is associated with the Day of the Dead and how they celerate this day. Then the third chapter of the book switches over to how the Day of the Dead is celebrated here in the United States. Finally, the fourth chapter goes into
This celebration started off 2500-3000 years ago that was created by ancestors of Indigenous nations to commemorate the death of their family members. This celebration has dated back from an Aztec festival for the goddess Micteccachihualti and has become a national symbol for the nation. The Mciteccachihualti was a queen of the dead in which the people of this time used skull as the Mayan and Aztec traditions. The origins of the day of the dead begins in ancient Mesoamerica cultures and arrives in Mexico in the early 1500s. The skeleton images are associated with this holiday, such as Calaveras made with sugar and decorated with bright colors that establish a unique Mexican style of art. The skeleton was used to represent the dead playfully ridiculing the living in ancient rituals. The day of the dead is celebrated on November 1st. on this day we commemorate the deaths of the infants or children who passed away and on November 2nd. It is referred to commemorate all adults who passed away.
Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a widely celebrated Mexican holiday honoring the dead. The celebration lasted a month, led by the goddess Mictecacihuatl (Lady of the Dead). When the Spanish arrived and began converting the people to Roman Catholicism the natives’ belief became apart of All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day. The combination of Aztec and Spanish belief is modern day Dia de los Muertos.
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.
Over the course of history there have been many contrasting and similar views in terms of religion and the practices done in this aspect. An example is the Mexica (name given by the West to refer to the Aztecs) practices of El Día de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) and the Catholic (people in the Christian religion loyal to the Roman Catholic Church and the leader of that church, the Pope) practices of the holiday. The Day of the Dead fell on about the beginning of August which was the ninth month on the Aztec Solar Calendar and was celebrated for the entire month. The Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations commemorated this day by using skulls to honor and
While I was unable to attend, this community gathering, I did find Dr. Gonzales description of the Day of the Dead meaningful. In her email, she stated the following.
The day of the dead is celebrated in Mexico and some latin countries. Day of the dead does not celebrate death. It remember the people who have died. If you are sad or mourn about the person that died it is considered offensive the people who have died. Also kids don’t ask for candy they ask for money. Also there is the bread called pan de muerto. It is only made during the time of the day of the dead. People also decorate the tombs of their
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)