The Undiscover'd Country

A look at El Día de Los Muertos/The Day of the Dead

by

Nicolas Shump

In perhaps the best-known soliloquy in the English language, Hamlet struggles with the decision of whether or not to commit suicide. What prevents him from carrying out this deed is his fear of what he characterizes as “the dread of something after death/The undiscover’d country from whose bourn/No traveler returns.” (Hamlet III, i) For many Mexicans and Mexican Americans, there is no such fear. Instead, death is accepted as merely another part of the continuity of life. This is expressed in the many religious and cultural rituals that comprise El Día de Los Muertos/The Day of the Dead, which falls on November 2nd.
Thus while many of us gear up to celebrate Halloween, many Mexicans are making preparations for El Día de Los Muertos. The two are, in fact, closely related. Halloween precedes the Catholic Feast Days of All Saints (El Día de Todos Santos, on November 1st) and All Souls. While All Saints’ Day occupies an important role in the Catholic liturgical year, All Souls Day is equally, if not more, important in Mexican culture.
Many scholars trace the origins of El Día de Los Muertos to pre-Columbian Aztec religious ceremonies. According to Victor Mendoza Grado, this festival originally was “held during the Aztec month of Miccaihuitontli, which was presided over by the goddess Mitecacihuatl/The Lady of the Dead.” Originally, this festival was held near the end of July or the beginning of August. After the colonial encounter, the Spanish Catholic priests moved the celebration to coincide with the Christian celebration of All Saints and All Souls.
The result is a syncretic celebration that has allowed for a blending of pre-Columbian and European Catholic approaches to the remembrance of the dead. The festivities often begin with a procession known as La Noche de Duelo/The Night of Mourning. This candlelight procession to the local cemetery ends with friends and relatives of the deceased eating a meal at the cemetery.
It is common for the celebration to begin with an homage to the children who have died, also known as los angelitos/little angels. The adults are remembered on the following evening of November 2nd. In addition to the food for the families of the deceased, food is prepared for the dead as well.
The path to the food is marked with marigold petals, which serve a dual purpose. It is believed that such bright flowers help the Dead to see the path to the food. Additionally, marigolds, also known by their indigenous names, cempazuchitl or zempasuciti, traditionally symbolize death.
In addition to the pilgrimages to the cemetery, the Dead are remembered at home too with altars known as ofrendas/offerings. The term is used for the food, drinks, and other items collected for these altars. The food can take various forms, but sweet bread is a staple.
El Pan de Los Muertos/The Bread of the Dead is perhaps the best known of the many foods served during El Día de Los Muertos. The bread is a round loaf with coils of dough baked on top, which are supposed to symbolize bones or skulls.
The Day of the Dead served as a primary inspiration for one particular Mexican artist, whose legacy is still evident today. José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913) was a popular and influential Mexican artist, whose images known as calaveras/skulls have become synonymous with visual representations of El Día de Los Muertos. Posada took the figure of the Grim Reaper, known in Mexico as a calaca, and transformed it into an icon of Mexican folk art and culture.
Posada deftly transferred this symbol of folklore into an image that served political purposes, as in his work known as Cuando la revolucíon Maderista (a reference to the Mexican revolutionary leader Francisco Madero, who briefly served as President of Mexico in the aftermath of the overthrow of Porfirio Diaz). Other images like El Jarabe en Ultratumba show calaveras shown singing and dancing.
With its irreverent attitude toward death, the Mexican belief of death as another cycle of life, it provides a contrast with the intellectual angst of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Whether it is clothed in the religious trappings of Catholicism or in the beliefs of pre-Columbian mythology, it is a hopeful and celebratory spirit that reminds us that the Dead need not live only in our heads, but can be found also in our hearts.
As Thornton Wilder once wrote, “There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.”

The Kaw Valley Independent, November 3-November 17, 1998 (Volume 2, Issue 4)