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Two Sides of the Same Reality: Mexico's El Dia de los Muertos
| Article
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18133 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1990 |
4,037 Words |
| Author
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Jo Farb Hernandez and Sam Hernandez
Jo Farb Hernandez is the director of the Monterey Peninsula
Museum of Art, in Monterey, California. As an accomplished
folklorist, she has published many articles and is a frequent
guest curator, lecturer or panelist at conferences. Her
husband, Sam Hernandez, who lectures extensively, is an award-
winning artist whose work has appeared in exhibitions around
the United States and the world. They performed field work on
the Day of the Dead together from 1976 to 1981. |
In Mexico, as in other parts of Latin America and the world, special days are set aside annually to honor the dead. This observance, which dates from pre-Columbian times, has become known as El Dia de los Muertos, The Day of the Dead. While it is an occasion to honor with ceremony and respect those who have passed away, the observance also focuses on the cycles of fertility and future life.
According to Carl Satorius (Mexico about 1850), the contemporary celebration is the result of a merger of ancient Indian (most likely Toltecan) beliefs, practices, and imagery with the Roman Catholic observances of All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2). Many believe that this is the time when those who have passed away are allowed to return to earth to visit with family and friends, and this belief is graphically represented in offerings of food items, toys, art, and artifacts. Even in sophisticated Mexico City, mannequins in store windows are turned into skeletons, still attired in the latest in fashionable apparel; bakeries and candy stores display breads and candies in the shape of skulls; elaborate altars are constructed in restaurants, homes, and workplaces; and little movable toy skeletons proliferate.
The death motif has been used extensively since the pre-Columbian era. Stone skeletons were carved on temples and statues, and skulls finely inlaid with turquoise and gold were used as ritual artifacts. Although at first this may appear to be somewhat macabre, an exploration into the Mexican worldview, in which life is seen as being inextricably bound with death, makes this frequent representation understandable. Death and life were believed to be no more than two sides of the same reality.
The concepts of death and resurrection are fused into a view of the eternal cycle of life. This is a result of four hundred years of interaction between the indigenous cultures of the New World and Old World customs, particularly from Spanish Catholicism.
The syncretic history of the custom
At the time of the Spanish conquest, the Aztecs, led by Montezuma, were in power in Mexico. In the course of their own military triumphs, the Aztecs either forced their gods upon those whom they conquered or adopted the deities of their new subjects. This did not appear to be difficult, for the gods were similar in their attributes. This flexibility was to later serve the Indians when confronted with proselytization by Catholic
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