Día De Los Muertos: Not ‘Mexican Halloween,’ but So Much More

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VICTOR CHAVEZ/WIREIMAGE

BY ALEX HEIGL
POSTED ON NOVEMBER 1, 2016 AT 12:40PM EDT

Día De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead in English, though it’s referred to simply as Día de Metros in Mexico) is one of the world’s most misunderstood holidays. Because it’s celebrated within range of Halloween, and features an assortment of macabre imagery and costumes, some people assume it’s just “Mexican Halloween,” while attempts to co-opt the holiday have been repeated through history. (Disney attempted to trademark the term to market a film in 2013.)

Originally a harvest celebration for the Aztecs, what would become the Day of the Dead in Mexico was originally celebrated around the end of summer (some believe August), structured as it was around the farming season. This is much like Halloween, which is derived from pagan holidays that also celebrated the change of the seasons. Spanish conquistadors bringing Catholic influence to Latin America combined the holiday with the Catholic traditions of All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day.

“All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day are related, but they are two separate celebrations,” Reverend Richard Donohoe, the vicar of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Birmingham, explained to Catholic Online. “On All Saints’ Day there’s a call to live as saints, to remind us how we’re supposed to live. On All Souls’ Day, we’re talking about all souls and asking God’s mercy for them.”

Day of the Dead follows a similar two-day structure (and occupies the same two days of the calendar year, Nov. 1 and 2nd), but the focus is different. On the first day, families remember children who have died, and on the second, the adults. The central belief is that the spirits of loved ones are allowed to join the living on those days and commune with them, and the celebration is geared towards that idea: People leave toys and calaveras (the iconic skull — made from sugar — that inspires the makeup and look of the holiday) for children, and for adults they leave food, favorite possessions and alcohol at elaborate homemade altars (called ofrendas).

http://people.com/human-interest/dia-de-los-muertos-not-mexican-halloween-but-so-much-more/

[DonCoquixote]

1. of course, the unspoken paralell is

That the Celts that made Samhain also had a very different outlook on death and life, which the Christians changed into Halloween. The Mexica also had an outlook that was run over by the Christians, the difference being is that Mexico was able to achieve independence from the Catholic and Protestant oppressors a few centuries earlier, so that there is more of the old religion and culture to show through the veil.