What Is It? How Is It Typically Celebrated?
Residents of the American Southwest have known about Dia de los Muertos, or the “Day of the Dead” for a long time. The annual celebration, though, is spreading its wings, coming to cities across the United States.
What Is Dia de los Muertos?
Translated from the Spanish for “day of the dead,” Dia de los Muertos is an annual holiday that originated in Mexico more than three thousand years ago. Associated with All Souls Day (another term for Dia de los Muertos), it’s a time for people to welcome back the souls of deceased loved ones, typically with a combination of food, drink and revelry. Tradition holds that the gates of heaven open at midnight on Hallowe’en, allowing the spirits of deceased children to reunite with their families for one day (24 hours). The spirits of adults are allowed through the following day.
How and When Did Dia de los Muertos Begin?
Scholars trace the origins of the holiday to pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, what is now Mexico. The Aztecs and others living in the area at that time viewed death as a part of life. They believed that, when a person died, he or she traveled initially to Chicunamictlan, the land of the dead. Once there, the person had to complete 9 levels to reach his or her final resting place, a journey that could take years. Throughout history, the Nahua, natives of the region, held rituals every August, which were believed to help family members through that arduous journey. As a part of those rituals, they left food, water and tools to be used by the dead on their journey. That tradition has been carried forward to the modern Dia de los Muertos, where people leave food or other items at the graves of their loved ones.
How Is Dia de los Muertos Celebrated Today?
Contrary to popular myth, Dia de los Muertos is not a Mexican form of Halloween. Though costumes are a part of the modern tradition, there are many customs that are unique to the Day of the Dead:
- Living family members hold a celebration, with deceased family members as honored guests
- As a part of the celebration, people leave offerings of the decedent’s favorite foods at the gravesite. They may also erect ofrendas in their homes, a form of altar that typically has candles, flowers and even cock’s combs next to piles of fruit and tortillas
- Celebrants display skeleton and skull symbols on clothing and other items, often wearing skull masks or eating candy shaped like a skull
- Popular food items on Dia de los Muertos include pan de muerto (a sweet baked good) and atole, a corn-based drink
