Every culture has its own rituals and traditions. In North America, they celebrate Halloween where they wear costumes to scare people, and in Central America, especially in Mexico, they celebrate The Day of the Dead. According to Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, “In Mexico, the festival Dia de los Muertos embodies the greatest expression of both popular Catholicism and the national cuisine” (1:505). The long-established practice of Mesoamerica’s Todos Santos is far more involved than Catholicism's traditional observance of the feast. Important practices were incorporated in outlying towns, mestizos, where various cultural backgrounds mingle. These changes to orthodox religious rituals came from many different socioeconomic influences that …show more content…
According to Stanley Brandes in the Cambridge journals titled Ritual Power: sugar, colonialism, and Death: On the origins of Mexico’s Day of the Dead, he wrote, “Some Mexicans claim that the souls of the departed watch over their living relatives during these few days” (270). He continues, “Negligent family members await punishment, whether on earth or in the afterlife” (Brandes 299). The festivity's excitement and extravagance confuses many foreigners who have never exalted the dead in such a way. To their unaccustomed eyes such a celebration often appears to be grotesque or even frightening. To Mexicans and other Latins who have have been raised in a culture that participates in Todos Santos, it is a glorification of life; for those who have already died and the others who will someday join them (Carrasco 320). Día de los Muertos, The Day of The Dead, is a creative and lavish celebration no matter where it is performed. Because of the certainty of death for everyone, the revelers of the dead allow themselves to be solemn and joyous. Rather than fear death, they embrace it as part of life (Carrasco 320). Its observance joins pre-Columbian culture with that of Europeans in a wholly unique and lively celebration of life that chides us all with the adage, El hombre encuentra la habilidad para todo menos para la muerte, meaning 'Humans can find a way to deal with anything except death.(Brandes
Mexican culture celebrates their independence with a holiday and fireworks on Cinco de Mayo. The American ritual for independence is celebrated on July 4th also with a holiday and fireworks. Another ritual that is participated in annually by both Mexican and American cultures is the celebration of Christmas. Gift giving is a common ritual during the Christmas season. There are also some very unique rituals specific to each culture. For starters, one the most distinctive rituals in all of the World takes place in the Mexican culture, Dia de Los Muertos. Dia de Los Muertos is a celebration with masks like skulls and dancing honoring late ancestors. Another ritual specific to the Mexican culture is the holiday recognizing the Lady of the Guadalupe. The ritual feast remembers the sightings of her near present day Mexico City. American culture also contains some unique rituals. A very patriotic ritual takes place in the grade school class everyday; it is called the Pledge of Allegiance. This ritual instills patriotic values as well as teaching loyalty to thy nation. Thanksgiving is another example of a ritual not in Mexican culture that is in American culture.
In Mexico, Dia de los Muertos is a celebration to honor the dead. This holiday was made for people struggle with losing loved ones, and celebrating it was found to be a good way to help them cope. Families can be seen in the cemetery bringing festive gifts to memorialize lost members.
Cinco de Mayo means the fifth of May. It is not an independence day for Mexico like most unknowledgeable people think. Mexican Independence Day is celebrated on the 15th of September. Mexico declared independence from Spain on the 24th of August 1821. Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday either. Mexico and the United States savor this holiday because it is the day where Mexican peasants/ commoners defeated the French and Mexican traitor army that double them in size in Puebla, Mexico one hundred miles away from Mexico city on the 5th of May, 1862.
Dias de los Muertos is a Mexican Holiday that honors and celebrates friends and family who have passed away. The celebration originated nearly 3,000 years ago when the Spaniards arrived in Central Mexico and viewed a similar ritual being celebrated by the Aztecs. Through the years Dias de los Muertos has evolved and flourished beyond Mexico, and now it is even celebrated in certain regions of the United States, Guatemala, Brazil, and Spain. Every November 1 (All Saints’ Day) and November 2 (All Souls’ Day), the celebration takes place. On the first, which is called Dia de los Inocentes (Day of Innocents), children who have died are honored and their graves are decorated with toys, sweets, white orchids and baby's breath. On the second, which is called Dia de los Muertos, the adults are honored and their graves are decorated with bright orange marigolds, the Mexican flower of death. During the celebration, family members go to the gravesites and clean and decorate their loved one’s grave with beautiful flowers, food, drink, and a photo
I. Attention getting device: When most people think of how to honor the dead, right away they think of mourning but the indigenous people of Mexico had a different idea. Instead of mourning, they think of honoring the dead as a celebration with dancing, food, and reminiscing. The name of this celebration is called Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead in English.
Halloween and Dia de los Muertos are very interesting holidays in there own different ways. Halloween and Day of the Dead can be similar but on the bottom line they are very different by the way they decorate, what they eat, and how they celebrate the holidays. The two holidays may seem similar at first but after understanding the complexity of the ideas behind both holidays actions, your opinion can change. For example during Halloween some kids might go trick or treating but in Mexico during the Day of the Dead, people would go to grave sites and have picnics with people who have passed on and a famous sauce they would eat is mole sauce which is like a spicy chocolate sauce. There are a lot of differences to explore about the two
Death, and the skeleton represented as Death, is seen in a much different way by the Mexicans than by most other cultures. It is seen in a mocking, cheerful light. A symbol that can be as playful as it is serious, it appears everywhere during dia de muertos as wood, paper mache, sugar, and plastic.
1. According to (Day of the Dead Article) Day of the Dead is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and other Hispanic/Latino countries on November 1st to November 2nd. It’s a holiday that celebrates the life of a loved one that has passed. The family of the loved one decorates their grave with flowers and other things.
3) Impact: Dia de los Muertos is an important part of culture the Mexican and latin
In the Latino death rituals are influenced by their catholic beliefs. They have a continuing relationship with the dead through prayer and visits to the grave. Grief can be expressed by crying. Women are allowed to wail while men are not to a lot of emotion. Death for Mexicans in Mexico has more understanding of death because the country is religious, real, poor, and young. Death is shown by statues, art, literature, and history portray death. Mexican children start at an early age to accept death. Mexicans and Latinos celebrate “Dia de los Muertos (day of the dead) to remember and honor the dead Lobar, Youngblut, & Brooten, 2006, p. xx-a)
One depiction of Mexican holidays shaping the city of Los Angeles into a Latino city can be seen in the Mexican holiday El Dia del Los Muertos. For instance, Mexicans believe in the concept of death not being the end of a person’s life as Paz
Many Mexican people have preserved and still do many of their ancestors’ traditions. Tradition plays a big role in my family for example: the food we eat, the music we listen to, what we dance to and what we celebrate to. I wanted a sweet sixteen but of course being Mexican my parents said no. Being in the Mexican culture tradition is that when you turn 15 you’re supposed to have a Quinceanera it symbolizes that you are no longer a kid but you are now a young women. Many people think a Quinceanera is just a party but the real tradition is to have a church mass. Since I am catholic that consists of me going to church and thanking God.
One of the most famous celebrations in Spanish culture is the Day of the Dead. The Day of the Dead is an annual event that happens from the 31st of October to the 2nd of November. It is a lively, colorful, and festive celebration. Unlike the Western perspective that death is bad, Spanish culture accepts that death is a natural part of life. Mexican essayist Octavio Paz explains this unique concept in The Labyrinth of Solitude: “[The Spanish culture] 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…death is not hidden away.” The Day of the Dead is how many Spanish-speakers remember and celebrate their dead loved ones’ lives and achievements. To commemorate the dead, people build and decorate altars for family member who have died, hold vigils in the cemeteries, and honor their loved ones’ legacies through parades, music, and dancing. Traditional beliefs and folklore also say that on the nights during the Day of the Dead, spirits have close contact with the living world. Because family is such a central part of Spanish culture, the Day of the Dead is also dedicated to unifying family. In fact, the presence of loved ones’ souls supposedly brings good luck to the family and helps unify them
As a little girl, I learned a lot about my Mexican heritage. I even joined my parents in their dance group and still involved in it today. Over the years it’s been so fun, and it helped me learn a lot about different Mexican counties. Who would've thought that I would learn so much just by dancing. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the truth. Also being a little girl I learned about “Day Of The Dead” which in Spanish is called “dia de los muertos” which is a two day celebration. The day’s in which this takes place is September 1 and 2nd. September 1st we honor the children and September 2nd we honor the adults. When I was little I never fully understood why we celebrated people deaths. I always thought when someone dies we show our respects and grief about it, but throwing a whole
In Mexico, fiestas occur frequently throughout the year as a custom. Mexicans gather on these holidays to eat dance,take part in parades, and remember historic or religious events. Mexican Independence Day celebrates the separation of the country from Spain on September 16, 1810. Another famous celebration is Day of the Dead which is celebrated on the first of November. Although it may sound scary, this celebration is a cheerful time of remembering friends and family members who have died.