Transcript Día de los Muertos

Día de los Muertos
Day of the Dead
Mexico
Día de los Muertos
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A ritual that indigenous people
had been practicing at least
3,000 years before the arrival
of the Spaniards.
The Spaniards tried
unsuccessfully to eliminate the
ritual.
It is a form of Mexican
ancestor worship.
Although the ritual was
eventually brought into the
Christian denomination of
Catholicism , it still preserves
the basic principles of the
Aztec ritual.
Aztecs and other Meso-American
civilizations
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They not only kept skulls as
trophies but displayed them during
the ritual.
The skulls symbolized death and
rebirth.
During the month long ritual, they
believed the skulls honored the
dead that would visit.
They view death as the
continuation of life.
“The ancient indigenous peoples of
Mexico believed that the souls of
the dead returned each year to visit
with their living relatives - to eat,
drink and be merry with their loved
ones” (www.azcentral, 2010).
Aztec holiday
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The ninth month of the
Aztec Solar Calendar
The beginning of August
The goddess Mictecacihuatl
(pronounced meek-tay-cahSEE-wah-tl) presided over
the festivities.
She was believed to have
died at birth.
She is known as the Lady of
the Dead
The Spaniards
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Regarded the ritual as
sacrilegious
Identified the indigenous
people to be pagan and
barbaric
Tried to convert them to
Catholicism and kill the
ritual
To make it more Christian,
they moved it to coincided
with All Saints' Day and All
Souls' Day (Nov. 1 and 2)
In the present
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Celebrated in Mexico and in certain
parts of the United States and Central
America
They clean the cemetery, wash the
tombstones, and decorate gravesites
with marigold (zempasúchil) flowers
and candles.
They make their loved ones’ favorite
food and bring toys for dead children
and bottles of tequila to adults .
They have a procession to the
cemetery on Nov. 1 at midnight.
They sit on picnic blankets and eat the
favorite food of their loved ones, next to
their graves.
The making of specialty foods and
candies
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Traditional foods such as pan de
muerto (bread of the dead) , which can
conceal a miniature skeleton/sugar
skull
The common shape of the bread is
round and decorated with a cross in
the shape of bones covered with sugar.
Typical foods – bread, fruits
vegetables, & sweets
Sugar skulls, made with the names of
the dead person on the forehead, are
eaten by a relative or friend
Candied fruit & pumpkins, tamales &
maize dough cakes, enchiladas &
chalupas
Building of intricate and ornate altars
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Families build altars in their
homes
Surround these altars with
flowers, food, and pictures of the
deceased
Lit candles are placed them next
to the altar
Play their favorite music
Bread is always placed on the
altar and can not be removed until
the visit by the dead.
People don wooden skull masks
called calacas & place them on
altars
November 1st and 2nd
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All Saints Day, November
1st – children remember
toys and colorful balloons
adorning their graves
All Souls Day, November
2nd – adults who have died
are honored with displays
of the departed's favorite
food, ornamental and
personal belongings
Both days are a national
religious holiday.
Reference
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Day of the Dead history by Carlos Miller. (2010).
October 4, 2010, from
http://mexicolesstraveled.com/dead.htm
Mexico’s day of the dead: A time for welcoming the
spirits by Discovering the secrets of Mexico.
(2010). Retrieved October 4, 2010, from
http://www.azcentral.com/ent/dead/articles/deadhistory.html#ixzz13lCktBpW