Day of the Dead...

Death in the U.S. is full of euphemisms.  Passing On.  Bit the Dust.  Gone Home. Six Feet Under. Perpetual Rest. We tippy-toe around the subject.

Mexicans don't.  Nobel literature prize winner Octavio Paz observed that Mexicans are not daunted by death.  Rather, they play with it as a personal and cultural idea.  The Mexican, he says,  "...chases after it, mocks it, courts it, hugs it, sleeps with it; it is his favorite plaything and his most lasting love."

All Saints and All Souls Days (November 1 & 2) are marked with celebrations in Mexico -- the most popular holiday in the country. Patzcuaro is noted especially for the elaborate traditions of preparing feasts for the dead and celebrating in the cemetery.  The culture mocks death and its power while also celebrating and remembering those who have died with graveyard rituals, many with music and picnics on the grave, and altars to the dead at home and meals cooked to honor the dead with the favorite foods of the deceased.  I was in Patcuaro, and Guanajuato, but only in the summer so my exposure to this celebration was only peripheral.   

In Guanajuato,  families are entertained with mariachi bands while they clean up graves, sing calaveras (songs and poems about the festival) and take the favorite food of the deceased for a grave-top picnic.  Calaveritas de azucar (sugar skulls) are traded and deaths of friends and family members are publicly acknowledged.  The mummy museum is one of the nation's top tourist destinations, full of morbid, lifeless bodies that entertain Mexicans but probably disgust Americans (see for yourself from this Flickr site of Guanajuato's Museu de Momias).

The Spanish didn't destroy this custom upon conquest and it is seeping into the U.S.   The art is fun and extends the spooky-fun side of Halloween to a deeper level.  Halloween, Fall/Harvest Festival, Dia de los muertos, All Souls/Saints...  The calacas (whimsical skeletons that represent death) and folk art are fun, not scary.  Death shouldn't be unmentionable.

The Catrina folk art pieces depicting skeletons dressed as wealthy women (Calavera de la Catrina), were originated by illustrator Jose Guadalupe Posada to satirize the wealth of the upper classes.   Thanks to the internet, you can easily find whimsical skeletons, folk art and other items.

Life is affirmed through death, in the Mexican outlook, and the whimsical nature of life is playfully acknowledged.  This is a good thing, imo. The art is fun to collect.

Expiration shouldn't be the end of things but the stuff of life.

Content by MotherPie, copyright cc.

Photo: Catrina 

Comments

[kyahgirl]

Hi H! Nice to see you again :-)

I agree with this philosophy! Of course it hurts when you lose someone from your life but death shouldn't such a taboo subject. I love that idea of mocking death and honoring the dead.

[Claude]

In Bolivia, it's quite common for people to go to cemeteries on their dear departed's tombs for picnics and amusements. I think that's pretty smart! You get used to the feel of your last abode ;)