Why Day of the Dead is not 'Mexican Halloween'

CTV National News: Tribute to the dead John Vennavally-Rao has the story of how a Mexican tradition dating back centuries of honouring its dead has become a global phenomenon.

TORONTO -- El Día de los Muertos -- or Day of the Dead -- is not Mexican Halloween. There is some dressing up, there are skeletons and it does happen to take place around the time of Halloween, but no.

The holiday, with origins from pre-Columbian Mesoamerica rituals in southern Mexico, brings observers together to celebrate and honour the lives of dead family members and friends.

Between Oct. 31 and Nov. 2, streets, homes and public spaces of Mexican towns and cities are lined with colourful, intricate garlands (or banners) made of paper and flowers. During parades and festivals, observers dress up in macabre, yet colourful, skeleton-like face paint and costumes.

El Día de los Muertos – on Nov. 2 -- is the culmination of a series of celebrations, with some of the days specifically honouring people who died by suicide, as children, or in accidents.

“(The last day) ends up being a bit of a party with families spending time at the cemetery at the tombstones of their loved ones,” Berenice Villagomez, co-ordinator of Latin American Studies at the University of Toronto, told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview.

In the lead-up to the day, observers build ofrendas –or altars -- as collective memorials filled with portraits of those who’ve passed on, sweet bread rolls, candles and dishes they enjoyed in life. Villagomez explained that different regions highlight their own meals.

Observers believe during this part of the year, loved ones can return from the Chicunamictlán -- the land of the dead -- because the border between the real and spiritual world melts away.

ALTARS BUILT TO HONOUR DEAD, BECKON THEM BACK

A man arranges skeletons in a Day of the Dead altar in Mexico City on Oct. 31, 2017. (AP / Rebecca Blackwell)

The ofrendas -- typically set up in people’s homes or at graves -- contain items to “welcome them back to the earth,” said University of Regina history professor Scarlet Munoz Ramirez in a phone interview. “(They’re made by) people trying to get closer to their dead loved ones.”

Marigold flower petals, for example, are believed to help guide the dead, with bottles of tequila and Atole (a traditional corn-based drink) being offered as a way to guide late loved ones to the land of the dead.

Ramirez, who specializes in colonial Mexican history, notes that the ofrendas are typically a blend of Indigenous and Catholic symbols, such as statues of the Virgin Mary and crucifixes.

In parts of Latin America, Día de los Muertos is marked with families remembering the dead with graveside picnics, all-night vigils and prayer gatherings.

“For me it makes me feel very happy to see it be more common – especially when people learn about the background of it,” Ramirez said.

ORIGINS STEMMED FROM AZTECS, NAHAU PEOPLE

People pass under an archway made out of a skull sculpture in Chapultepec, Mexico, Oct. 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Some of the earliest origins of the tradition can be traced as far back to 2,000-3000 year-old rituals honouring the dead in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.

The Nahau and Mexicas, Aztec people -- who also incorporated other regional Indigenous groups’ customs -- believed that death was part of the cyclical view of the universe.

Villagomez explains that Indigenous people believed the dead went to the land of the dead but spent years getting to their resting place. She notes the rituals originally took place in August and celebrated the Aztec goddess of the underworld, Mictecacíhuatl.

Living family members would leave water and food out to help the dead get to their final resting place -- which is what contemporary ofrendas were inspired by.

Then, when Spanish colonizers came to the region, they carried Catholic holidays of All Saints Day and All Souls Day, celebrated on the first two days of November. “(Day of the Dead) was moved to correspond closer to these days,” Villagomez explained.

During these days, believers would blanket graves with candles and flowers to beckon the dead back to the living. Nov. 1 has since become the day to honour dead children, with Nov. 2, the day where families go to cemeteries and clean loved ones’ tombstones.

DISNEY’S 'COCO,' 'SPECTRE' PROPELLED HOLIDAY TO MAINSTREAM

This image released by Disney-Pixar shows a scene from the animated film, "Coco." (Disney-Pixar via AP)

Traditionally, Day of the Dead was typically only celebrated in rural, Indigenous areas in southern Mexico but by the late 20th century -- the 1980s -- it began spreading to other cities.

In 2008, UNESCO added the country’s “indigenous festivity dedicated to the dead” to its list of so-called Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

But Villagomez pointed out that it wasn’t necessarily celebrated as a national holiday until even more recently. And a lot of that had to do with non-Mexicans taking note.

Day of The Dead iconography has been featured in non-Latinx mainstream pop culture, including the 2015 James Bond movie “Spectre” and SYFY’s short-lived TV show “Deadly Class.”

The year after the Bond flick, Mexico City held its first Day of the Dead parade, Ramirez points out. In 2017, similar city-wide celebrations wereseen in several U.S. cities such asLos Angeles, San Antonio and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

But arguably, one of the more prominent examples was Disney’s 2017 Academy-Award-winning film “Coco.” The animated movie-- inspired by the Mexican celebrations and folk art -- followed the story of a 12-year-old boy accidentally getting trapped in the Land of the Dead.

The film draws heavily from the Mayan tradition of the three deaths including the physical death, the soul unlinking from the body and living loved ones forgetting about the dead.

“Both ‘Spectre’ and ‘Coco’ in a roundabout way have brought the tradition (of Day of the Dead) to all of Mexico,” Villagomez said. “They’ve shaped the reception of (the holiday).”

She only warned against non-Mexicans embracing the costumes without looking at the meaning of the holiday. “Remembering your roots is never a bad thing -- your ancestors and where you’re from,” she said. “But people should realize what it is.”

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