Español 2 Pre-AP

El Día de los Muertos is a traditional Mexican holiday honoring the dead. Día de los Muertos is not a sad time, but instead a time of remembering and rejoicing. The souls of those who died make a long journey home. To honor and welcome them offerings are prepared. Gravesites are cleaned and decorated. It is a time of great festivity and reunion.

It is celebrated every year at the same time as Halloween and the Christian Holy Days of All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day (November 1 st and 2 nd ).

It is celebrated in Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala, and other areas in Central and South America with the Latino ethnic background. The Day of the Dead is also celebrated in areas of the United States such as Texas, California, and many others in which the Mexican/American heritage exists.

What are some of the most popular Día de los Muertos traditions?

In the homes families arrange ofrenda’s or “altares” with flowers, bread, fruit, and candy. Pictures of the deceased family members are added. In the late afternoon special all night burning candles (velas) are lit- it is time to remember the departed- the old ones, their parents and grandparents. ALTARS should include:  A pictures of the one(s) being remembered.  Items they were fond of  Something to snack on  Water (to quench their thirst)  Candles (Velas)  Flowers (cempazuchitl)  Gifts

It is a traditional art used to decorate homes, businesses, markets and altars in preparation for Día de los Muertos. The thin tissue paper images are usually cut in large quantities and hung in repetitious pattern.

Pan de Muerto is a sweet bread that has decorations representing bones of the deceased. It is a very popular food during this time along with sugar skulls. They are laid out on the altar for the lost loved one(s). Having a loaf of bread relates to the early custom in Spain of begging for souls.

During Día de los Muertos the yellow marigold symbolizes the short duration of life. Other flowers commonly seen during the celebration include white amaryllis, wild orchids, baby’s breath, and ruby coxcombs. These flowers are offered as adornment and enticement for the returning spirits. Wreaths made of flowers, both real and plastic, are often placed on the grave sites.

Skeletons and skulls are found everywhere. Chocolate skulls, marzipan coffins, and white chocolate skeletons. Handmade skeleton figures, called calacas, are especially popular. Calacas usually show an active and joyful afterlife. Figures of musicians, generals on horseback, even skeletal brides, in their white bridal gowns marching down the aisle with their boney grooms are displayed throughout altares.

Candles are used to light the way for the loved one to find their way back home.

Iillustrated by Jose Guadalupe Posada in Posada's calaveras — La Catrina above all, caricaturizing a high-society lady as a skeleton wearing only a fancy French-style hat — became a sort of satirical obituary for the privileged class. But his Catrina cast a wider net: His original name for her, "La Calavera Garbancera," used a term that in his day referred to native Mexicans who scorned their culture and tried to pass as European.