Dia De Los Muertos
You’ve heard of El Día De Los Muertos, it is customary for most of us to start to think of golden marigolds and decorated skulls along with fancy suit brainstorming and candy bags at the grocery store as soon as Starbucks rolls out Pumpkin Spice season. It isn’t new to get close to the month of October and kickstart the endless traditions and rituals we are exposed to in this wonderful cultural melting pot of a society which has adapted to more than a few borrowed traditions which we hardly ever know the true reasons behind them or even how to execute the theme at our pre Halloween party if we so chose to. Keep on! for a moment into Día De Los Muertos. Who knows, you might even start a new tradition.
Día De Los Muertos (Day of The Dead), is a holiday passed down through dozens of generations primarily in Mexico long before Spain colonized it. This Indigenous tradition is celebrated from October 31st to November the 2nd. To be exact, November 1st is traditionally specific to remember and celebrate the life of the innocent young lives of babies and children who have died. November 2nd is reserved for the adults! The Aztecs believed that when your spirit is gone it isn’t actually gone but out and about. For this reason, on November 1st and 2nd we remember and support these loved ones because we believe that if they happen to stroll through their grave then they would probably like to have some of their favorite treats. Families set up a space on a surface full of colorful decorations and photos of the deceased. They are sure to only include food and drinks that the celebrated enjoyed most. Now a days in urban areas it is customary to use sugar skulls as well as or instead of food. Other items that complete a proper Día De Los Muertos altar are Monarch butterfly drawings (represent hope), Candles (Fire,) Flowers (earth), some form of water and also wind. Monarch butterflies are known to arrive in Mexico on November 1st which is why it is believed that these butterflies carry the spirits of the dead. Families join together, they eat and they drink and they are happy. Day of the dead isn’t for sadness, it’s for celebration and the awareness that life is beautiful and death is natural which seems kind of refreshing to celebrate the normally negatively presented topic of “dying” while serving and selflessly celebrating someone else’s life!
So now that you know that Día De Los Muertos is not the same as Halloween nor a season to lament, maybe by just keeping this in mind we open up an opportunity to invite a romantic sense of our own ancestry to reintroduce itself into our own lives from beginning to end. We welcome these distant family members with the simple idea that they were here and now we are and that’s extraordinary and easily forgotten. Day Of The Dead is a beautiful and whimsical celebration.