First of all, Dia De Los Muertos which means “The day of the dead” is not Halloween. They are not even related, contrary to what I have always believed since. Halloween is actually an American tradition as explained by one of my American friends who lives here in Mexico. On the other hand, Dia De Los Muertos is a very Mexican tradition. It is usually an official holiday in the rest of Mexico. I probably confused them or rather thought they were the same, just like most people, because they are 2 days apart, (Halloween-31st October & Dia de los Muertos-2nd November) and they are both associated with spirits.
This is what I know about Halloween from my own experience and as explained by my Mexican students. It is an American tradition though partially observed here in Mexico. I can’t tell much about the origin since it’s not my tradition either. So every year 31st October, Many Americans celebrate the tradition by dressing up in costumes and telling tales of witches and ghosts. I really dunno why pumpkins are carved into glowering jack-o’ lanterns, and as part of the tradition, children go from house to house calling out “Trick-or-Treat” hoping to have their bags filled with candies. The idea is that when they knock on your door you have to open and treat them with candies or trick them that you are not in the house. If not they might do naughty things at your door like throwing eggs on the door an even worse pooping at the door. So when they knocked on my door on Wednesday I tricked them by switching the lights off and playing dead until they left. Phewks! there was no poop on my door in the morning as I expected. More about the history of Halloween can be found on this link. https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween. Don't be surprised because it is completely different from my own experience.
Here is a glimpse of Halloween celebration with my colleagues (in the middle) in one of the Schools that I teach at.
Pupils in their trick-or-treat costumes.
Okay, on the other hand, Dia De los Muertos is The day of the Dead in English. This is a very important day in Mexico. It is actually an official holiday when all sorts of business stops to celebrate the dead. On this day, it is believed that the dead people come back in spirit form to mingle with their beloved ones who are still alive.Classes are suspended and the whole day is dedicated to the dead. So this is the story behind the day of the dead, again from what I personally experienced and as explained by my students. On the eve of 2nd of November preparations of the actual day commence. This includes preparing an Altar, which is, for lack of an appropriate word, a stage which looks like this. This is a photo of an Altar from a different state that I screenshot from one of my old colleague's insta stories.
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What you have here on the altar is basically a picture or sometimes pictures of a family member/s who passed away and is/are being celebrated. Beside their picture, the family members arrange all the good stuff that the person enjoyed. Be it food, wine or even musical instruments. So usually, the person's food is prepared and left on the altar which most of the times is right outside the house. The idea is that at night, the dead person's spirit will hover around and eat the flavor of their favorite food and enjoy their favorite things placed on the altar. That way, they are very happy for being remembered and celebrated. Therefore, in return they watch over the rest of the family members who are still alive. From what I was told, some Mexican Christians believe that celebrating the day is demonic. Out of curiosity, I asked if there is anything negative associated with not celebrating the day. Guess what happens? NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. Only that the dead people are very sad for not being remembered. With that said, would you honor this day or would you not? If you haven't watched COCO MOVIE, please do. It was filmed here in Mexico and it is a clear representation of The day of the Dead. May be it will help you perceive this tradition differently.
Interesting, right? You know what else is interesting? Pan De Muertos(Bread of the dead). First things first. I have never eaten such a delicious bread in my life. At first I was skeptical about eating a bread specifically prepared for the dead. Right now my fridge is stuffed with Pan de Muertos enough to last me a whole month.
This here is the bread.
This is a special bread that is available in the stores only once in a year, A week before until a few days after the day of the dead. I cant explain how it is prepared since only a few Mexicans know how to prepare it. It is made of special ingredients and it has a peculiar circular shape, with a representation of bone-shaped phalanges of a dead person. Feel free to scroll back and take a look at the bread one more time.
On this day, my students dedicated the day to Stephen Hawking who passed away early this year. They prepared a beautifully decorated altar for him with his favorite stuff. It was a whole day celebration with different presentations which were incredibly beautiful. All the student had brought each at least a packet of Pan de Muertos which was cut in small pieces and shared with everyone. This culminated the day's celebration of the dead followed by even more celebrations at their homes and in different parts of Mexico.
Below is a picture of Stephen Hawking's altar which was prepared by my students.
I'd love to hear what you think about The Day of the Dead. Please leave your comments below.