Celebrating Life
on
Day of the Dead
article by Mexperience
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Day of the Dead —that is a celebration of the continuity of life— is one of Mexico's most important religious holidays, celebrated in November each year
Traditionally, November 1st honors deceased children and November 2nd honors deceased adults. Day of the Dead is celebrated passionately throughout Mexico, and especially so in smaller provincial towns and cities. November 2nd is an official Public Holiday in Mexico.
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Mexico’s Day of Dead: a celebration of life
Far from being a morbid event, Day of Dead emphasizes remembrance of past lives and expresses celebration of the continuity of life. This acknowledgement of life’s continuity has roots which go back to some of Mexico’s oldest civilizations including the Olmec, Zapotec, Maya, and Purépecha. The Aztecs also celebrated Day of the Dead, although earlier —August— on the current calendar.
Local festivities and traditions vary from place to place, although the ofrendas are the focal point of the celebrations during the festive period. Mexico City hosts a large and elaborate procession downtown, and provincial towns and cities hold religious processions to mark the occasion. It’s currently fashionable for participants to have their face painted to emulate Catrinas.
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Although Halloween on October 31st and Dia de los Muertos on November 1st and 2nd are strictly speaking two distinct events, in recent times the two festive dates have blended into each other illustrating how Mexico is adept at assimilating foreign things without losing its own identity—and often putting a particularly Mexican stamp on them.
Every altar will feature calaveras —decorated candied skulls made from sugar— as well as the bright orange marigolds, colloquially referred to as flor de muerto (“Flower of the Dead”), one of the iconic symbols woven into Day of the Dead celebrations across Mexico.
During the celebratory period, it’s traditional for families to visit local cemeteries where their loved ones are buried, where they clean and to decorate the graves with similar offerings to those included in the home’s altar
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Catrinas: artistic symbol of Day of the Dead celebrations
The character on which La Calavera Catrina —“The elegant skull”— is based was conceived by Mexican engraver José Guadalupe Posada. The original Catrina was titled La Calavera Garbancera: in the form of an artistic etching in zinc, composed for use as political satire around 1910, intended to poke fun at a certain social class of Mexicans who the artist portrayed as having European-aristocratic aspirations; thus the Catrina’s archetypal grandiose plumed hat of a style which passed through a period of high fashion in Europe during that age. This related article explains the history and culture of Catrinas in Mexico.