D

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Día de los Muertos

• Day of the Dead
• Mexico

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Día de los Muertos

• A ritual that indigenous people had been
  practicing at least 3,000 years before the
  arrival of the Spaniards.
• The Spaniards tried unsuccessfully to eliminate
  the ritual.
• It is a form of Mexican ancestor worship.
• Although the ritual was eventually brought into
  the Christian denomination of Catholicism , it
  still preserves the basic principles of the Aztec
  ritual.

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Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations

• They not only kept skulls as trophies but
  displayed them during the ritual.
• The skulls symbolized death and rebirth.
• During the month long ritual, they believed the
  skulls honored the dead that would visit.
• They view death as the continuation of life.
• The ancient indigenous peoples of Mexico
  believed that the souls of the dead returned each
  year to visit with their living relatives - to
  eat, drink and be merry with their loved ones
  (www.azcentral, 2010).

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Aztec holiday

• The ninth month of the Aztec Solar Calendar
• The beginning of August
• The goddess Mictecacihuatl (pronounced
  meek-tay-cah-SEE-wah-tl) presided over the
  festivities.
• She was believed to have died at birth.
• She is known as the Lady of the Dead

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The Spaniards

• Regarded the ritual as sacrilegious
• Identified the indigenous people to be pagan and
  barbaric
• Tried to convert them to Catholicism and kill the
  ritual
• To make it more Christian, they moved it to
  coincided with All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day
  (Nov. 1 and 2)

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In the present

• Celebrated in Mexico and in certain parts of the
  United States and Central America
• They clean the cemetery, wash the tombstones, and
  decorate gravesites with marigold (zempasúchil)
  flowers and candles.
• They make their loved ones favorite food and
  bring toys for dead children and bottles of
  tequila to adults .
• They have a procession to the cemetery on Nov. 1
  at midnight.
• They sit on picnic blankets and eat the favorite
  food of their loved ones, next to their graves.

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The making of specialty foods and candies

• Traditional foods such as pan de muerto (bread of
  the dead) , which can conceal a miniature
  skeleton/sugar skull
• The common shape of the bread is round and
  decorated with a cross in the shape of bones
  covered with sugar.
• Typical foods bread, fruits vegetables,
  sweets
• Sugar skulls, made with the names of the dead
  person on the forehead, are eaten by a relative
  or friend
• Candied fruit pumpkins, tamales maize dough
  cakes, enchiladas chalupas

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Building of intricate and ornate altars

• Families build altars in their homes
• Surround these altars with flowers, food, and
  pictures of the deceased
• Lit candles are placed them next to the altar
• Play their favorite music
• Bread is always placed on the altar and can not
  be removed until the visit by the dead.
• People don wooden skull masks called calacas
  place them on altars

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November 1st and 2nd

• All Saints Day, November 1st children remember
  toys and colorful balloons adorning their graves
• All Souls Day, November 2nd adults who have
  died are honored with displays of the departed's
  favorite food, ornamental and personal belongings
• Both days are a national religious holiday.

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Reference

• Day of the Dead history by Carlos Miller.
  (2010). October 4, 2010, from
• http//mexicolesstraveled.com/dead.htm
• Mexicos day of the dead A time for welcoming
  the spirits by Discovering the secrets of Mexico.
  (2010). Retrieved October 4, 2010, from
• http//www.azcentral.com/ent/dead/articles/de
  ad-history.htmlixzz13lCktBpW