Aztec Origins: Day of The Dead

Day of the Dead
Celebrated in Mexico, Day of the Dead is observed to honor the souls of loved ones who have
died.
The Mexican holiday of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, takes place over the
first two days of November. Its origins are a mixture of Native American traditions and
a set of Catholic holidays.
While the holiday's observances include spending time in cemeteries, making shrines
to the dead, and displaying artistic representations of skulls and skeletons, the
occasion is festive, rather than morbid. Death isn't seen as the end of one's life, but as
a natural part of the life cycle; the dead continue to exist much as they did in their
lives, and come back to visit the living every year.
Aztec origins
The names of two consecutive twenty-day months on the Aztec
calendar, Miccailhuitomi and Miccailhuitl, can be translated as "Feast of the Little Dead
Ones" and "Feast of the Adult Dead." Put together, they appear to have formed one
long celebration of the dead, moving from those who died as children to those who
died when they were older.
The Spanish Imposition

In the early 1500s, Spanish conquistadors, led by Hernando Cortéz, conquered the
Aztec Empire, taking over the area we now know as Mexico. They immediately set
about trying to convert the native population to Catholicism, for both religious and
political reasons.
Among the practices introduced by Spanish missionaries were All Saints' Day and All
Souls' Day, taking place on November 1 and 2, respectively. The conquered Native
Americans took the opportunity to incorporate their own traditions for honoring the
dead into these two days. The resulting holiday is a unique hybrid of the two.
Welcoming the Dead

It is generally believed that the souls of one's family return home to join in the Day of
the Dead festivities. First those who died in infancy come home, then the older
children, and finally those who died once they'd reached adulthood. Families set up
altars (or ofrendas) in their homes, festively decorated in bright colors and laden with
the favorite foods of their dead. Typically, the altars contain photographs of the dead,
representations of things they liked, and items representing the four elements: candles
for fire, drinks for water, fruit for earth, and fluttering tissue-paper decorations for
wind. The dead take in the essence of the food, which will later be eaten by the living.
In some areas, families go to the graveyard to celebrate through the night. They clean
and decorate the graves, sometimes setting up ofrendas on the gravestones, as bells
are rung.
Skeleton Decorations
The major feature of Day of the Dead decorations is skeletons, or calacas. Skeletons
are everywhere, from tissue-paper scenes to tiny plastic toys, from cardboard puppets
to ceramic sculptures, from posters to papier mache. These skeletons are usually
cheerful, and they are designed to show the full range of activities and professions
people perform. Farmers, barbers, secretaries, fire fighters... if somebody does it while
alive, you can find an artistic rendering of a skeleton doing it while dead.
This theme extends to the day's food and treats. The Day of the Dead feast typically
includes a special egg-batter "bread of the dead," pan de muerto. While the form of
this bread is different from region to region, it is often decorated with strips of dough
resembling bones, or made to resemble a dead body.
Also common are skulls and skeletons made of sugar or candy. Some people get sugar
skulls made to resemble themselves, or with their names inscribed on them.
Tone of the Holiday

While Day of the Dead and Halloween are both offshoots of All Saints' and All Souls'
Days, their tones couldn't be more different. Halloween's images of skeletons and
spirits emphasize the spooky, gruesome, and macbre. People shudder (if delightfully)
at the thought of scary spirits threatening the living world. On Day of the Dead, the
focus isn't on impersonal threatening spooks, it's on celebrating with one's family—
alive and dead—and remembering those who are no longer alive. It's on seeing death
as another stage following life, not something to be faced with fear.

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Day of the Dead

The Spanish Imposition

Welcoming the Dead

Tone of the Holiday

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