Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead

October 31 marks the beginning of the fiesta of what we refer to in the United States as the Day of the Dead - El dia de los Muertos.

Commonly referred to as the Day of the Dead, it is more accurate to say Los Dias de los Muertos (the Days of the Dead), since the fiesta is several days long, from October 31 - November 2.

The dates may coincide with Halloween, yet Day of the Dead is not related to the All Hallows' Eve celebrated in the States. The Day of the Dead is a day for people to celebrate the lives and the memories of those who have crossed the river separating life from death. It is a time when the departed souls are allowed to come back to the world for a visit.

Daily Activities
On October 31 (our Halloween) families begin preparing the food, decorations and the altar (ofrenda) that will be used during the festivities. November 1 (All Saints' Day*) is the day that the angelitos (spirits of the dead children) arrive. November 2 (All Souls' Day*) is the day for the spirits of the adults arrival.
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* All Saints' Day is a feast celebrated in honor of all the saints, known and unknown. For the Roman Catholic Church, All Saints' Day honors those who have attained the beatific vision in heaven. It is celebrated on November 1.

* All Souls' Day is the day in Western Christianity, commemorating the faithful departed. This day is observed especially in the Roman Catholic Church but to some extent also among Protestants. It is celebrated on November 2.

Source: Wikipedia. Day of the Dead.
Image Source: Miguel Ugalde. Deth's Coming. Royalty Free Use.

Dia de los Muertos is often compared to Halloween in part because they both have skeletons and skulls as decorations. These two fall festival celebrations are very different, with very different origins.

Halloween is based on a European holiday, All Hallows Eve, the day before All Hallows Day or All Saints' Day (November 1). It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions.

The skeletons and skulls in Halloween (along with the other monsters, demons, goblins and witches) are objects of fear.

Mark Lacy with Houston's Institute for Culture offers these insights into the Day of the Dead and Halloween:

Much like El Día de los Muertos, Halloween was developed by prehistoric cultures -- Druids, Romans, and Celtics -- to live harmoniously in the cycle of the seasons, the harvest, and most importantly, the continuous circle of life.

Mexicans understand El Dia de los Muertos in much the same light-hearted context that many Americans understand Halloween.

With the pervasiveness of American mass culture on the airwaves, the renewed pride in local culture is seen particularly in El Día de los Muertos, as altars are displayed in public places, civic buildings, libraries, and even in the heart of the beast -- McDonald's and Wal-mart.

Sources:
Ladislao Loera. About Dia de los Muertos. Dia De Los Muertos | Day of the Dead Website.
Lacy M. 2004. Origina of el dia de los Muertos. The Prehispanic Festival of the Dead Defies Cultural Invasions of Mexico. Houston Institute for Culture.

Image Source: Indigo Goat. Meeter and Greeter at fiesta Mehicana. Some Rights Reserved. Creative Commons.

Mexicans Celebrating el Dia de Los Muertos Keep Vigil in Cemeteries, Mexico
By Sisse Brimberg - Buy this at Allposters.com

The word death is not pronounced in New York, in Paris, in London, because it burns the lips.

The Mexican, in contrast, is familiar with death, jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates it; it is one of his favorite toys and his most steadfast love.

Octavio Paz
Nobel laureate

Image of Day of the Dead Sugar Skull by Zeldaloo Studios.

Corazon Del Pueblo Folk Art Store, Day of the Dead, Oaxaca, Mexico
By Judith Haden - Buy this at Allposters.com

In Mexico, children are often given skeleton toys, as a representation of death, so their first encounter with death isn't a fearful one. Playing with the skeleton toys helps teach children that life is for the living, and is to be lived until the time we die.

Teaching children to be less fearful of skeletons as representations of death is something that I have been working on for a few years. I have developed special teaching sessions for both of my daughters' classes around our Halloween using skeleton puzzles as a way to desensitize them to skeletons. These activities, projects and suggestions have been collected in the Doin' the Bone Dance Lens.

These activities could be easily used or modified with the Day of the Dead and Dia de los Muertos.

There are several points when developing activities to help children be less fearful of skeletons:

1. Develop other (more realistic) views of skulls and skeletons rather than just as an object of death
2. Find ways of remembering and honoring loved ones.
3. Desensitize the children to skeletons as objects to fear during the Day of the Dead.
4. Use skulls and skeletons as a way of celebrating the life of a loved on who has died.
5. Learn a bit about anatomy.

I've used several different puzzles and handouts as part of the Halloween Skeleton/Bone Anatomy Activity. The resources have been collected in the Doin' the Bone Dance Lens.

The Day of the Dead is time of celebration, not one for mourning. It is a happy time when once a year the spirits of loved ones who have died, return to earth.

People prepare special meals and decorations, sit on the decorated graves, share stories and memories, sing songs, play music, spending the night with the spirits of their departed loved ones.

Many people not raised with the tradition of the Day of the Dead find solace in this lighter, cheerful, family-oriented approach to the subject of death. Dia de los Muertos is a unique way of keeping the memories alive of those who have died.

As with Halloween, Calacas (Skeletons) and Calaveras (Skulls) are prominently featured in all of the celebrations and activities for the Day of the Dead.

People wear calacas (skull) masks and dance to remember their deceased relatives. Celebrants may joke and make fun of death, represented by the Calaveras, the skeletons.

Skulls in different forms are dedicated to the dead relatives and placed on altars. Sugar, chocolate and amaranth skulls are created with the name of the dead person on the skull's forhead and then given to each other, so they can eat their own death.

Image of Day of the Dead Candy from Jait.

Day of the Dead, Lifesized Wooden Mariachis, Oaxaca, Mexico
By Judith Haden - Buy this at Allposters.com

In Mexican culture, death is often confronted with humorous sarcasm. Death is case as an equalizer that not even the wealthiest can escape. The emotional response to death is characterized by impatience, disdain or irony.

The popular engravings of Mexican artist Antonio Guadalupe Posada resemble the woodcuts of the medieval danse macabre, in which people from all walks of life danced fearfully with their own skeletons, although Posada's skeletons seem to have no anxious premonitions about death.

Source: DeSpelder LA. Strickland AL. 2005. The Last Dance: Encountering Death and Dying. 7th Edition. New York, N.Y.: McGraw Hill.

La Calavera de la Catrina is a 1913 zinc etching by the deceased printmaker José Guadalupe Posada.

While not popular in its time, the image of La Catrina has since become a staple of Mexican imagery, and is often incorporated into artistic representations of the Day of the Dead such as altars (ofrendas) and calavera costumes.

It was part of his series of calaveras, which were humorous images of contemporary figures depicted as skeletons, often accompanied by a poem.

Image Source:
"Calavera de la Catrina" by José Guadalupe Posada. Public Domain due to Age.

Day of the Dead Offering in Museum of Fine Mexican Art, Mexico
By Russell Gordon - Buy this at Allposters.com

La Catrina is a figure commonly found in Mexico and featured during the celebration of the Day of the Dead.

La Catrina is a figure created by the Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posadas in the early 1900's. The word catrin or catrina means well dressed or dressed very elegant.

Posadas, satirize the mexican women of high society by representing them as skulls and skeletons. These were the ladies who enjoyed walking in the parks of Mexico City, with their beautiful hats and elegant dresses.

Todays La Catrina has become a classic representation of the Death in Mexico, with her big hat and elegant presence. La Catrina has become an icon of the Day of the death.

Image of Catrina Sculpture from Wikipedia, Wikimedia by Dominik.

Calavaras de azucar (sugar skulls) are sweet way of combining elements of life and death:

Death - in the skull design
Life - in the sweetness of the sugar.

The skulls are created first using special molds and a sugar paste. Once the skull has dried and been removed from the mold it is decorated with icing, glitter and pieces of cut foil.

The Calavaras are often placed on the altar or ofrenda as a way of honoring those who have died.

Eating the sugar skulls also part of the celebration...as a way of mocking death.

Photo Source:
Stu Spivack. Candy Skull. Some rights reserved. Creative Commons.

Sugar Skulls for Day of the Dead Festivities, Oaxaca, Mexico
By Judith Haden - Buy this at Allposters.com

There appears to be some differences in opinions as to the edibility of the decorative sugar skulls.

While there is nothing in the ingredients that will make you sick in Sugar Skulls except for the tin foil and other decorations, after all the handling that is done to create them, they may not be very clean. So according to one artisan, sugar skull should be used for decorative purposes only.

If you are looking for an edible skull artisans recommend making them in white or dark chocolate and just using icing to decorate them.

Pan de Muertos is a sweet egg bread made in various shapes. This Bread of the Dead is often formed in the shape of a skull, or a round loaf with strips of dough attached to resemble bones.

The bread is sometimes decorated white frosting to look like twisted bones.

Each village has its own unique style of Pan de Muertos that is prepared and placed on the altars (Ofrendas) for the deceased.

Pan de Muertos is prepared for Dia de los Muertos and then shared with family members. The bread is usually eaten as they all tell stories and reminisce about loved ones who have died.

Pan de Muertos Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
5 to 5-1/2 cups flour
2 packages dry yeast

1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon whole anise seed
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs

In a saucepan over medium flame, heat the butter, milk and water until very warm but not boiling.

Meanwhile, measure out 1-1/2 cups flour and set the rest aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the 1-1/2 cups flour, yeast, salt, anise seed and sugar.

Beat in the warm liquid until well combined. Add the eggs and beat in another 1 cup of flour.

Continue adding more flour until dough is soft but not sticky.

Knead on lightly floured board for ten minutes until smooth and elastic.

Lightly grease a bowl and place dough in it, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1-1/2 hours.

Punch the dough down and shape into loaves resembling skulls, skeletons or round loaves with "bones" placed ornamentally around the top.

Let these loaves rise for 1 hour.

Bake in a preheated 350 F degree oven for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and paint on glaze (recipe below).

Glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons grated orange zest

Bring to a boil for 2 minutes, then apply to bread with a pastry brush. If desired, sprinkle on colored sugar while glaze is still damp.
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Source: Day of the Dead. Tohono Chul Park Activity Brochure.

Photo Source:
Rogerio Enríquez. Ofrenda Día. Some Rights Reserved. Creative Commons.
Rogerio Enríquez. Ofrenda Noche. Some Rights Reserved. Creative Commons.

Day of the Dead Bread, Abastos Market, Mexico Print
By Judith Haden Available at AllPosters.com

La ofrenda is Spanish for "offering." It is an altar, often created in the home, decorated for the Day of the Dead celebration.

The altar is a place to honor, please and some believe help light the pathway for the souls returning to spend this time once a year with family.

In creating the altar, family members honor their deceased with ofrendas or offerings which include items that the deceased enjoyed in life.

Photographs, bread, other foods, flowers, toys and other symbolic offerings, drinks (alcoholic and not), cigarrettes, mexican dishes (mole, rice, tamales, ect.), candy and other significant items can be found on the Ofrenda.

Image of Ofrenda by Libertinus.

Day of the Dead Night Vigil Details, Oaxaca, Mexico
By Judith Haden - Buy this at Allposters.com

The Day of All Saints (Dia de Todos los Santos) Graves Adorned with Flowers, Michoacan, Mexico
By Igal Judisman - Buy this at Allposters.com

Papel picado means punched or perforated paper. It is a traditional folk art in Mexico and other Latin American countries of cutting decorative banners.

Punched Paper is a 200-year-old tradition in Mexico.

Papel picado banners and decorations are especially prominent during the Day of the Dead activities when the paper design features with images of skulls and skeletons. Once created the Papel picado are used to decorate altars, tables, graves, businesses, markets and plazas during festivals.

Papel picado artists use a hammer and sharp fierritos (small chisels) to punch designs in stacks of forty to fifty layers of colored tissue at one time. The intricate lace-like designs include images of flowers, letters, animal and human figures.

The tradition of crafting creating papel picados is passed down from one generation to the next. Papel picado folk artists are well known for their paper cutting skills within the community.

More recently this popular decorative art is now produced in plastic, a more practical and durable for hanging above outdoor markets.

Source:
Papel Picado: The Art of Mexican Cut Paper. NTIEVA (North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts). Fall 1996 Vol. 7, No. 3.

Image Source: Tumacácori National Historical Park. Kids Korner: Papel Picado.

Altar Offering Decorated with Flowers, Fruit and a Candle for Day of the Dead, Oaxaca, Mexico
By Judith Haden - Buy this at Allposters.com

Mexican Decorations for Day of the Dead Celebrations, Print
By Gina Martin Available at AllPosters.com