10/03/2023
Dia de Mu***os, Day of the Dead, the beautiful honoring of our ancestors is nearing, and as I do every year, I am sharing my reflection on Mexican Dia de Mu***os.
Leading up to the days of remembrance and celebration, I will share some of my previous DDM posts to help followers of this page better understand and prepare for these holy days. You are invited to look at previous years’ DDM posts for information I might not share this year.
I share this reflection because observance of Dia de Mu***os, which is held throughout Mexico, is being increasingly adopted by people of other ethnicities and backgrounds who lacking a ritual of their own have found in our Dia de Mu***os a heart home where they can honor their ancestors and other loved ones who have crossed over.
While we are happy to share our beautiful ritual, Dia de Mu***os must be treated with respect, reverence, lightness of spirit, and an understanding that Dia de Mu***os is not Halloween but a remembering and sacred witnessing of the joys and sorrows of our ancestors, and a celebration of the strength of spirit of we, their descendants, to preserve the soul of this pre-European contact tradition.
As a result of the European/Spanish invasion, forced conversion to Christianity (Catholicism in particular), and ongoing colonization of what today is known as Mexico, Dia de Mu***os now takes place on November 1 and 2, having merged with the Catholic All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day.
Typically, November 1 is to honor children and infants, known as Día de los Angelitos (Day of the Little Angels). November 2nd honors adults and is known as Día de Mu***os.
Indigenous peoples in Mexico (and in other countries in what is now the Americas, where Indigenous people’s traditional territory extends beyond contemporary borders, such as our Maya relatives) have been holding these celebrations for 3,000 years. In 2003, UNESCO proclaimed Mexico’s Dia de Mu***os Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Before Mexico’s invasion by Spaniards, these holy days for the Mexika (Aztec) took place in the month that approximates today’s August/September. They were celebrated for an entire month: the first half of the month as Miccailhuitontli, the feast of deceased children, and the latter half as Huey Miccailhuitontli, or Feast to the Greatly Revered Deceased (adults). Some say the festivities were dedicated to Mictecacihuatl known as the "Lady of the Dead," and that she corresponds to the modern-day Catrina, today's iconic character created in 1910 by famous Mexican printmaker and illustrator José Guadalupe Posada. Although it is possible that Mictlancihuatl was his inspiration, no one really knows, and La Catrina has her own interesting story as a truth-teller and social justice warrior.
It's important to note that there are regional differences as to how it is celebrated and that how it is observed is influenced by a family's religion or tribe-specific history and customs. For example, Yaquis begin their culture-specific Animam Mikwame Taiwae, Dia de Mu***os, observances on October 1st.
In my circle of family, friends, and community, we prepare for weeks to properly host relatives who have walked on before us: our tatas, nanas, tias, and tios, and other relatives who will return to this realm to visit us during Dia de Mu***os. As you begin your preparations, please source your Day of the Dead items from Mexican artists, bakers, and artisans.
If you are responsible for putting together a Dia de Mu***os educational program or special event, please do your best to consult with and employ Mexican/ Indigenous people rather than someone who is not part of our culture and community -- and consider giving back to our community in tangible ways as a way of showing your appreciation for us sharing our culture, food, music, and spiritual traditions.
For many, Day of the Dead celebrations begin on October 31st, the night Mexicans remember deceased children, while the night from the 1st to the 2nd is dedicated to the adult dead. A pathway of brilliant marigold flowers will guide them to our home to enjoy some time with us, within whose hearts they yet live. They'll be knocking at midnight, looking at their photos on our altar, smelling the aroma of their favorite food, and cleansing themselves with the smoke of copal incense.
We build ofrendas (altars) to their memory at home and sometimes in public places. Some altares are simple and some are elaborate. Often, we hold vigils at the cemetery, taking our time to lovingly clean headstones, place candles and bouquets of cempaxochitl (Aztec marigolds) on graves, toys for children, delicious pan de mu**to, tamales, drinks, and incense burners filled with fragrant copal. It is not uncommon for us to take lawn chairs to the cemetery and sit for hours, sometimes all night, recounting favorite anecdotes and memories of special days gone by. We might hire a small Norteño or mariachi to play favorite songs that our beloveds enjoyed when alive. It's both a sad and joyful time as we pray, sing, laugh, and reminisce.
In the days leading up to Dia de Mu***os, I will be posting photographs, videos, and articles on Mexican Dia de los Mu***os and hope that what is shared helps you celebrate the life of your loved ones while at the same time respectfully preserving and honoring this important tradition that is the religious and cultural legacy of the ancestors of Mexihca, Maya, Tlaxcaltec, Chichimec, and other Native peoples of what is today known as Mexico, as well as Indigenous traditional territories that today may overlap adjoining countries.
With respect, I ask that you please keep in mind that Mexican Dia de Mu***os is rooted in culture-specific spiritual/religious observances.
I realize that there are other countries (e.g., China and Celtic, among others) that observe what may appear, on the surface, to be a similar custom. Still, those observances do not have the same origin and unique expression as ours. Used out of that context, as in dressing up as La Catrina for a summer or winter solstice celebration or other non-Dia De Mu**to event, could be considered disrespectful, especially when done by someone not a member of the Mexican / Indigenous community. By this, I mean taking one or more elements of this cultural-spiritual ritual and using them in a different context than for which it was intended.
When changes are made arbitrarily to a tradition, or worse, it is misappropriated, those changes begin to erode its power and its beauty. The same power and beauty that first drew you to it. Help protect this sacred observance.
As neither forthcoming posts nor this one are meant to be scholarly articles, please understand that not every detail or aspect of Dia de Mu***os is addressed. I encourage you to empower yourself by researching your family stories and delving more deeply into the origins and history of Dia de Mu***os.
Con respeto y aprecio,
Maestra Grace Sesma
Curanderismo, the Healing Art of Mexico
Artist: Rick Ortega, https://rickortegaart.com
***os ***os
