Day of the Dead Día De los Muertos 1-2 De Noviembre

1 de Nov. es para Los Niños 2 de Nov. es para Los Adultos Not Halloween but many Americans think that it is the same as Halloween Why??

Both Day of the Dead and Halloween Have many similarities, thus the confusion: Dates: Oct. 31 vs. Nov. 1 Both Major holidays Both have costumes Both have parades Both have specialty foods Both have decorations

Differences Halloween Ancient European fear of death Very negative Full of demons, monsters, witches Day of the Dead Ancient Aztec time to honor the dead Shows love, respect, for the dead Shows humor

La Comida Special foods not around the rest of the year Pan De Muerto-a special bread only around this time of the year Sugar Skulls-with icing, usually have the names of people “Calaveras” Food on the altars-favorite food of the dead-fruit, tortillas, breads, drinks

Altar In the homes- they set up altars On the altar there are candles and incense There are also marigolds, for the smell to attract the returning souls The marigold is called the “Flor de Muerto” They may have pictures of the deceased If the soul is a child they may have toys They may have a favorite brand of cigarrettes They have all the favorite foods

Cementerio o Panteón The government does not maintain the cemetery Each family goes to the cemetery to clean and decorate the graves They decorate the graves with tissue paper and flowers They bring candles and incense They may spend all night in the cemetery communing with the dead They bring food and music to the cemetery

Parades and Costumes Costumed villagers parade through town on their way to the cemetery They recite poems called “ calaveras en verso” or skull poems These poems are usually humorous or make fun of the powers that be, one of the few times dissent is tolerated. Stop at friends houses to get food-drink Recently turned into trick or treat

Who believes in this? Poor people in the country side Lower classes in the city Upper and middle class see it as a chance to have a party, but also carrying on a Mexican Tradition Majority do participate for what ever reason

It is an opportunity to make fun of death Death is not to be feared, it is a natural process and all to often very common It is an excuse to make fun of those in power as in ‘calaveras en verso”

Parties in the cemetery They come to clean the graves and commune with the dead They bring: food, flowers, candles, incense, music They stay all night waiting for the dead to return There is dancing and singing

How do they know? How do they know the dead have returned? They say that the essence of the food is gone because the dead have eaten that essence. But actually the reaction of oxygen in the air causes the flavor to go and the food to get stale.

Fechas-Dates Nov. 1 st Dia de los Santos Para Los niños Nov. 2 nd Dia de Los Difuntos Para Los Adultos

Jose Guadalupe Posada In the late 1800’s, this newspaper artist started the tradition of skeletons associated with Day of the Dead in his cartoon drawings His Señor was “Zapatista” His Señora was “ Catrina” The use of skeletons and such figures have become totally ingrained in DOD

Diego Rivera Diego Rivera, the famous Mexican muralists paid Posada the ultimate compliment with his use of the skeleton figure of Catrina in his mural “Sunday in Alameda Park” in which Catrina is the focal point

Sunday in Alameda Park

Additional Information Yellow is the color of death in Mexico Marigolds are the primary flower associated with Day of the Dead Called the “Flor de Muerto” Is the 2 nd biggest holiday in Mexico by the number that participate although not everyone actually believes in it.