Pop culture embraces Mexico’s Day of Dead
by Sheryl Kornman on Oct. 31, 2007, under Family, Local, Nation/WorldLocal celebrations increasingly popular
Children show sugar skulls they made at the Sam Lena Library, 1607 S. Sixth Ave., in observance of <em>Dia de Los Muertos</em>.
When sugar skull decorating parties at the public library are promoted as “family fun for all ages,” you know Día de Los Muertos has become part of the popular culture.
Among the numerous Day of the Dead celebrations open to everyone this week in Tucson is a procession of costumed marchers, with food and music – underwritten by an agency of state government, the Arizona Commission on the Arts.
“For the Americans to like one of our customs, I think it’s very interesting,” said Carmen Leyva.
The Mexico City native, who spends most of her time in Mexico, paints humorous Day of the Dead-themed portraits sold at her sister’s custom furniture shop, Aquí Está (Here It Is), in Tucson’s Lost Barrio, 204. S. Park Ave., southeast of downtown.
The holiday observance is “a way of saying, ‘You passed away. We still love you. This is in your honor,’ ” she said. “I love it.”
Her family in Mexico cooks a specially spiced chicken and corn dish for Day of the Dead. It’s a traditional Mayan dish from the Yucatán, she said.
The holiday originated among the indigenous people of Mexico, said Celestino Fernandez, a University of Arizona sociology professor.
He’s a native of Santa Ines, Michoacán, in central Mexico, where Day of the Dead remains an important annual observance.
Indigenous people in central and southern Mexico celebrated the Day of the Dead for many years “before the Spaniards, priests and missionaries came along and converted them to Christianity,” the professor said.
The observance eventually became “mixed in” with the Catholic traditions of All Saints Day (Nov. 1) and All Souls Day on Nov. 2.
According to Catholic tradition, All Saints Day honors Catholic saints. All Souls Day follows and commemorates the dead.
Today in Mexico, the first day of Día de los Muertos is a celebration of infants and children who have died. The second day is to remember adults who have passed away, Fernandez said.
In Mexico and in Tucson, families go to the cemetery to visit the graves of their relatives, sometimes bringing the favorite food of the deceased, but they also build altars to the dead in their homes during the annual observance.
“You go to the cemetery because that is where you left the body, but the creation of the altar is a way to welcome back the souls,” Fernandez said.
The altar is “an entry point for the soul,” she said.
“One sets up objects that would be familiar, that they liked when they were alive – and candles, a few pieces of candy.”
The candles “light the way for the souls.”
Altars may also include photographs of the loved one – or even a bottle of tequila.
Día de los Muertos is a national celebration that’s popular throughout the Mexican republic, he said, but still more popular in southern Mexico “where most of the indigenous populations resided.”
The wide adoption of the celebration in Tucson by the larger American culture is no surprise.
“No doubt the Mexican culture has and is influencing American culture,” Fernandez said.
The music of mariachis – the annual mariachi festival here – and Cinco de Mayo are also popular with the dominant culture.
“The use of colors is (another) influence (from Mexico) we see here,” he said.
Day of the Dead, though it comes right after Halloween, and seems similarly themed, is not intended to frighten children.
“It is a celebration of life and death; it shows children that death is part of life,” Fernandez said.
“Historically, in this country, we hide (death), particularly from young people, but not in Mexico. Babies die and children die and people in their youth die and old people die.”
Day of the Dead “is a recognition that at some point you will die,” Fernandez said.
It helps people to see that “if you have life, you take advantage of that gift.”
The skull-shaped candies made and sold during Day of the Dead celebrations are “not something frightening, something to scare little children,” Fernandez said. “They eat them.”
“In Mexican culture, skeletons are just part of life, if you will.”
It’s one example of the difference between Mexican and American culture.
“Mexicans have no qualms about getting close and personal with death, but in this country we hide it,” Fernandez said. “Why shouldn’t we take children to the cemetery and think about those that have gone before?”
Alejandro Ramos Cardoso, the spokesman for the Mexican Consulate in Tucson, is a Mexico City native who celebrates Day of the Dead with friends in Tucson.
“It’s really great that they have (Day of the Dead) celebrations (here),” he said. “Why not? We’re a bicultural community.”
He and his friends drink Mexican hot chocolate, a Day of the Dead tradition in Mexico, eat pan de muerto (bread made especially for the celebration) and listen to music.
Last year, in a “not at all serious” Day of the Dead observance, he and his friends celebrated the life and death of Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors.
“It doesn’t have to be a relative,” he said.
During Day of the Dead in Mexico, Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City is blanketed with the traditional marigold, or cempasúchil (flower of the dead), another Day of the Dead tradition.
“It’s quite beautiful,” he said.
Ramos points out that Halloween, in turn, has found its way to Mexico.
“In every city in Mexico, we have Halloween,” he said. “Children go trick-or-treating.
“It’s all part of globalization.”
Daniel Romero, 7, gets into the spirit of painting sugar skulls at Sam Lena Library for the Day of the Dead celebration. He and others from the John Valenzuela Youth Center participated in the art project.
Special baked goods are also part of Día de los Muertos celebrations, such as this found on an altar display at La Estrella Bakery, 5266 S. 12th Ave.
'For the Americans to like one of our customs, I think it's very
interesting.'
CARMEN LEYVA (above),
with a Day of the Dead altar at her sister's custom furniture shop, Aquí Está (Here It Is), 204 S. Park Ave. At right is her portrait of depiction of La Catrina.
———
PROCESSIONS
• The Tucson Parks & Recreation Department is co-sponsor of a Día de los Muertos procession at 6 p.m. Friday at El Rio Neighborhood Center, 1390 W. Speedway Blvd. It is open to all.
• A Día de los Muertos procession Saturday starts at the Presidio San Agustín del Tucson, 133 W. Washington St., downtown, at 6 p.m. Both events include dancing, folkloric music and food.
• All Souls Procession through downtown starts at 6 p.m. Sunday at Epic Cafe, 745 N. Fourth Ave., and ends at Franklin Street Docks, 1 W. Sixth St. This is the largest event of the weekend. For more information, go to www.allsoulsprocession.org.
———
WHAT IS DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS?
(Day of the Dead)
A two-day celebration of the dead, on Nov. 1 and 2. It originated among indigenous people of Mexico and became a celebration of two traditions, in combination with Catholic observances of All Saints Day and All Souls Day.
