With traditions combining Aztec, other indigenous beliefs, and Catholicism, the Mexican observation of All Saints and All Souls Day each November 1 & 2 gives the individual an annual reminder of his mortality. No matter how famous or infamous, Death is your last partner on the dance floor.
While the Dia de los Muertos occurs at the same time of the year as Halloween, and indeed appears to share some of its imagery, its origins differ. When the Conquistadors vanquished the Aztecs, the resulting spirit world was synchretic, combining the life/death duality of the native peoples, with the European/Catholic beliefs in the soul and the afterlife. To this day, the dead are seen as intermediaries between the living and God, and are honored guests in their annual visit.
About mid-October in Mexico, skeletal figures make their appearance in store displays and market stands. Candy skulls of marzipan, their names scrolled in sugar on their foreheads, are exchanged as gifts. Bakeries sell pan de muertos, special breads in animal shapes. Artisans feature skeletal imagery in handcrafted balsa wood toys and papier-mache masks. Soon the image of the calavera is everywhere. While literally meaning "skull," it has come to mean by extension, "dead one," and is shown in the context of mockery and satire. In the 19th century the artist and printmaker Jose Guadalupe Posada used the calavera image to comment on the political corruption and social inequities of his time. Statesmen, thieves, and fashionplates were equal, rendered in their skeletal state. Posada's satiric images replaced the earlier Aztec death iconography and continue today in popular arts and handicrafts.
The moralistic tale Don Juan Tenorio (Don Juan the Rake) is presented in tent shows and theaters. Written in 1844 by Jose Zorilla, it depicts the fate of the unrepentant womanizer, who slays the father of one of his conquests, only to be visited by his ghost and dragged down to hell.
In homes, items belonging to the recently departed are gathered and organized for ofrendas, or altars. Graves are cleaned and straightened. Children are honored on November 1st, and adults on November 2nd. Yet increasingly, modern pressures are altering El Dia de los Muertos. The growing commercialization of Halloween, with its roots in the European harvest, has spread south. Witches, pumpkins and ghosts sit alongside calaveras in the markets. In addition, children have begun to beg for candy from house to house. The visual attraction of the traditional processions long ago created a tourist market, particularly in certain southern Mexican districts, which has become overwhelmed with visitors. Ofrendas are now created with the public view in mind. The evolution from a rural to an urban society has involved formalization, law enforcement, and the potential for alteration and intrusion on ritual. Some say that the day's spiritual origins have been eroded by secularization.
Simultaneouly, within the US, Mexican immigrant communities have joined with those desiring a more mystical relationship to the life, death, and grieving process, to establish the holiday anew. Cities with sizeable Latino communities have formalized the occasion with invitations to design and construct ofrendas honoring individuals or groups. There are now night processions in some communities. As participation grows in the US and Dia de los Muertos gains in popularity, it is perhaps indicative of the growing need to reclaim control over the grieving process, over life's passages, and perhaps over death itself.
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