The Mexican tradition of the Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead)
“The cult of life, if it is truly profound and total, is also a cult of death. Both are inseparable. A civilisation that denies death ends up denying life”. (Octavio Paz)
Death is a natural part of life yet it is one of the most feared things in the entire world. What really happens when you die is one of the eternal questions that we cannot answer accurately. The experience of death is marked in so many ways around the world that every culture and religious organisation has its way to interpret death.
Mexican culture, for instance, celebrates the “Dia de Muertos” (Day of the Dead) on the first days of November. This festivity is one of the most popular and significant Mexican traditions and marks the completion of the annual cycle of cultivation of maize, the country’s predominant food crop. The tradition comes from the syncretism between the medieval European Catholicism and the native Mesoamerican cosmovision. The complex meaning and the beauty of this tradition have attracted the attention of the world; in 2008, the UNESCO recognised this festivity as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
We have different ways to celebrate the Day of the Dead, according to the region and their indigenous cultural heritage. However, the common element is the premise that the souls of our loved ones come to visit with the living during the night of the first and second of November. This tradition allows us to remember our beloved friends or member of our family who had died and honoured their lives and memory. Rather than a day of mourning death, this is a period to celebrate the life of the people who are not around anymore and remember the life that we shared with them.
The Day of the Dead is a rather rich and heterogeneous tradition that it is still alive, which means that we keep adding elements to honour and celebrate the death; all of them are closely linked to familial, communal, and national identities. One of the most important rituals is the “ofrenda” (offering in Spanish). The ofrenda has its origins in prehispanic’ altar and was used to honour the Dead’ God Mictlantecuhtli.
The most popular ofrenda it is placed on a table or shelf with two levels whose represent the heaven and the earth. There are also altars with seven levels which represents the necessary steps to reach heaven and thus, can rest in peace. During the first and second of November, the ofrenda welcoming the souls of the deceased, with the favourite food and beverage that they used to enjoy in life.
Every element in the ofrenda has a profound meaning; an image of the deceased must be placed on the highest part of the altar. Next to the picture, it is necessary to put a cross made of salt or ash, to avoid the corruption of the body during the trip. Also, the ofrenda should have Copal or incense to purify and cleanse the environment; candles to guides the souls with their light; cempasúchil flower (Aztec marigold) to serve as a guide to the spirits in this world; water to reflect the purity of the soul and help the spirits to mitigate their thirst. Bread represents the Eucharist, and the calaveritas (sugar skulls) serves to remember that death is always among us.
Besides the ofrenda, we visit the cemeteries and clean the graves of our beloved ones; it is also common to spend the night in the cemetery and even hire a Mariachi to sing some traditional Mexicans songs with our entire family (yes, that means dead ones and living ones). It is important to mention that this tradition does no trivialise death, instead is an opportunity to relate to in symbolic and meaningful ways.
As Mexicans, we think of death as a significant part of the conception of life itself; we believe that death is not the end, and if we remember our loved ones they will always be with us, and that it is a beautiful way to enjoy life.
