Day of the Dead. "Is your family obsessed with death?" asked one visitor to our house, unfamiliar with the cultural celebration and seeing my collection of items from our travels in Mexico. We do pumpkins, mums and not much other Halloween decorating here in Santa Fe.
It is a new creep on Halloween, an old tradition to our south, inching north. It is a way to honor the souls departed, to remember that life and death are on the same continuum and it is next to All Saint's Day so it is a way of thinking about the good, the bad, the honorable and the ugly. All Souls. There is a good collection of Day of the Dead items at the International Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They also carry items in their gift shop.
This woodcut, left, was designed by Mexican artist Jose Guadalupe Posada (1852 - 1913). Below, right, is one of the pieces I hand carried back from Patzcuaro, Mexico.
Our culture sanitizes death or glorifies it with fictional Hollywood gore and horror, yet hides photos from our war dead. Latin America treats death as part of life, with acceptance and humor.
Sugar skulls, often with the names of recently departed, are given out and family altars honor and venerate the families' dead with photos.
As a culture, we don't talk about the dead much. (Though I guess I do -- cemeteries, or dead dog in a suitcase, or writing about mama being lost in a move). We don't honor our elders much, either.
Are these things creepy? Or more healthy? Boo, you spooks, tell me! Skeletal cheers.
I love this stuff. In fact, I love all images of death. What's with that? I think it's a healthy way of not being afraid of death maybe. Or perhaps I'm just kidding myself.
Posted by: Rhea | October 09, 2007 at 07:45 AM
I agree - we don't honor our dead and we don't talk about death. Thus the appalling number of people stuck on life support when they wouldn't want to be, and the number of families who lose family inheritances to the government because no one made a will, or children who get stuck with the wrong relatives or in orphanges because their parents failed to designate guardians. My children are 3 1/2 and 2, and I plan to introduce them to the Day of the Dead features in a couple of years along with the more traditional Halloween things. They both enjoyed cleaning out the pumpkin last year. (Daddy carved.) We have a number of very old pets, so I expect we'll have to explain death to them sooner than later and I hope I can do it in such a way that they aren't afraid of it but can accept it as something that happens to everyone eventually.
Posted by: Janet | October 09, 2007 at 08:19 AM
I find more acceptance of death combined with greater respect for the old here in Hawaii than I do on the Mainland. It's the because Hawaiian, Asian, and Latin cultural influences are strong here.
Posted by: Hattie | October 09, 2007 at 08:30 PM
I have lots of Day of the Dead stuff myself since my birthday is Nov 2 and I studied in Mexico. I like it well enough.
Posted by: Eva | October 10, 2007 at 07:21 PM
I LOVE Dias de los Muertos! I was introduced to it through my kids as they learned about it in elementary school. It makes so much sense and is such a colorful celebration. I love the art involved as it is edgy but still fun and lively.
Kudos for blogging about it!
Posted by: Kris | October 11, 2007 at 12:27 PM