Feast of the Dead. The most famous holidays of the dead. Long preparation for the celebration of the day of the dead

There is one mysterious and ancient tradition, listed by UNESCO as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which has inspired many artists, historians and anthropologists who have observed it. It's the Day of the Dead in Mexico. Find out more about this magical date and where is the best place to celebrate this holiday.

The origins of the Day of the Dead date back to pre-Hispanic times. In the ancient Mexican cultures of the Aztecs, Maya, Purepepecha and Totonac, the ideas of life and death were always interconnected, one could not exist without the other. As a result, many customs have arisen.

For example, Indian peoples kept the skulls of the dead and used them in their ceremonies as symbols of death and rebirth. Death was present in all forms of self-expression and this tradition has survived to this day.

In Aztec times, the festival was celebrated for a month in August. The goddess Mictlancihuatl was the queen of the dead, an analogue of the current Katrina (female skeleton personifying death). The festival was dedicated to the memory of departed relatives and children.

When the Spanish conquistadors arrived here in the 16th century, they treated the holiday with respect, but moved it to the beginning of November, which coincided with the Catholic Day of All Saints.

All Saints' Day comes just after Halloween, a festival derived from the Celtic Samhain, also associated with the dead. Thus, the Spanish evangelists combined all these traditions, from which the modern Day of the Dead came about.

However, the celebrations in different regions of the country differ from each other. Since Mexico is a multicultural state, each city, nation and social group adds its own elements to the Day of the Dead. That is why it cannot be called a single Catholic holiday, it is rather the result of a mixture of European and indigenous cultures, which are innumerable in the country.

According to beliefs, the souls of children return to our world on November 1, but the main celebrations take place the next day, when the souls of adults come. Early in the morning, families go to cemeteries to decorate the graves of relatives with amazing altars, which, according to legend, help souls return to the right path.

Altars and graves are decorated with candles and calendula flowers so that souls do not wander in the dark. Mexicans also bring items related to the deceased: children's favorite toys, paintings, favorite foods, drinks, flowers, etc.

Often on the altar you can find sugar skulls with the names of the dead and the traditional “bread of the dead”, which is made from sweet dough with stripes symbolizing the bones. Many families also set up altars at home and honor their deceased loved ones there.

In addition, Mexicans write calavera poems in which Katrina ridicules the living, noting their shortcomings, and dooms them to death. Every year newspapers publish poems dedicated to politicians and other celebrities.

In general, attitudes towards death in Mexico are multifaceted. It is solemn and festive, and despite many jokes, death is treated with respect and religious reverence. All this can be seen during the Day of the Dead.

In Mexico City, it is customary to celebrate the holiday on a grand scale, and it is best to do this in San Andres Mishquik or Xochimilco. The first is a small and ancient town south of the capital. Thousands of people come to the local cemetery on November 1 and 2 with candles, flowers, sugar skulls and delicious food. Mariachis also come with them to cheer up. Mexicans open the doors of houses so that the souls of the dead can enter the premises and be comforted by altars in their honor.

In Xochimilco, there is a wonderful performance, which can be enjoyed from the board of a traditional wooden trachinera boat.

In the evening, you need to swim through the canals to a small island where the popular Mexican legend about the Weeper is played. Along the way, you will see that the courtyards of the houses are decorated with candles and bright altars, and you will hear the aromas of flowers and the “bread of the dead.

Among other things, streets, squares, museums and churches are decorated with altars. At this time, there are many competitions for the best altar and various kinds of performances. In early November, all of Mexico is filled with Katrina, marigold flowers, colorful flags, skulls, skeletons and other items related to the holiday.

And these are just a few reasons why you should not miss the ancient festival in the capital of Mexico. This is one of the most surrealistic festivals in the world, the liveliest celebration of death is not to be imagined, it is worth seeing.

Have you ever been to the bottom of the dead in Mexico? Tell us about it in the comments to the article.

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Mexicans are a special people. Who else, if not the Mayan ancestor, would think of turning the memory of the dead into a holiday, and even the most popular holiday in the country? On the Day of the Dead, people drink, dance and have fun in Mexican cemeteries, so why should we be surprised at skeleton carnivals?

The roots of the tradition to celebrate the holiday "Day of the Dead" (Day of the Dead) go back to 2500-3000. The celebration took place in the ninth month of the Aztec calendar. But since the Spaniards joined the "Day of the Dead", the holiday was postponed to the end of October - the beginning of November. Today, the holiday also begins to be celebrated on October 31. On this day, it is customary to commemorate the dead children. For this reason, the first two days of the holiday are called "Little Angels' Day". November 1 and 2 are already commemorating the adult dead.

On the Day of the Dead, people dressed as female skeletons called Katrina take to the streets of Mexico. Colorful street processions take place in different ways. In some parts of the country, they take place in the form of funeral processions - people arrange gloomy torchlight processions. In others, people prefer to have fun - singing, drinking and dancing.

In the evening people go to cemeteries where their loved ones are buried. In a humorous tone, the Mexicans communicate with the souls of the dead. Then the fun begins in the cemetery - people drink, eat, dance, and also tear their clothes and sprinkle ashes on their heads. In the morning, the interlocutors of the dead go home.

The main symbol of the holiday is a skull. Also, people willingly buy gloomy lanterns and treat children with creepy-looking lollipops. This Mexican tradition resembles Halloween.

The holiday attracts tourists from all over the world. In 2004, the "Day of the Dead" was recognized by UNESCO as a heritage of mankind. There is a mention of the holiday in the Guinness Book of Records - in the same year, students built a wall of 5667 edible skulls.

The second time we were lucky enough to be in Mexico at the time of the year when the Day of the Dead is celebrated - November 1-2. But even for the second time, I looked forward to this day to walk around the flower-decorated city and take pictures of altars and painted faces. But this time I wanted to understand what this holiday is about and why it is celebrated in this way.

9 Interesting Facts About the Day of the Dead in Mexico

1. Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday born from a mixture of Spanish Catholic and Mesoamerican traditions. It is believed that once a year the spirits of the dead return to earth to visit the living. And instead of tears and crying, here they prefer to meet the spirits with joyful smiles. Here they believe that birth and death are integral parts of life, so the celebration of the Day of the Dead is in some way a celebration of life. There are no scary costumes on the Day of the Dead, but decorations are always bright and cheerful.

   

   Altars are made from flowers and various seeds (beans, corn, rice)

2. The Day of the Dead lasts for 3 whole days, and sometimes even longer! It all starts on October 31st, when altars are built and offerings are made, children dress up in costumes and even sometimes receive sweets (although this is a recent innovation and more likely to come from American Halloween). November 1 is celebrated in Catholicism as All Saints Day, and in Mexico on this day the souls of children who have passed away are commemorated. And the official Day of the Dead, November 2, is dedicated to adults who died this year.

   

   The boys carry a cardboard coffin :)

   

   Bright altars in the square

3. Day of the Dead in Mexico is a very serious holiday. It's not Halloween with costumes and candy (which I personally have nothing against). And even if this holiday seems like a fun party, it is still a day that Mexicans treat with great respect. These days, families gather together, remembering deceased relatives, and one day (November 3 this year) no one goes to work.

   

   Hundreds of candles are lit in the evening!

   

   As darkness falls, the festivities are just beginning

4. One of the symbols of the Day of the Dead - Katrina (a skeleton in a European dress and hat) - was originally a caricature of the native Mexican Indians who tried to Europeanize, but gradually fell in love with everyone and became the main female symbol and costume for the Day of the Dead.

   

   Photo from www.queconque.com.mx

   

   Now Katrina is the only costume for girls and women on the Day of the Dead

5. But the skulls on the Day of the Dead came from the Aztecs and Mayans, who also celebrated this holiday, and one of its symbols were skulls, personifying death and rebirth.

   

   Skulls are on every altar

   

   And some even have skeletons :)

6. What about "sugar skull"? For some, this is an intricate print on a T-shirt, for another, a painted face for Halloween. But it turns out that all these patterns come from a long tradition of decorating and painting sugar skulls, which are actually made from sugar cane! So multi-colored skulls are completely edible (albeit not for everyone)!

   

   Photo from www.escapehere.com

   

   Bright altar in the city center

   

   A makeshift cemetery in front of the main cathedral of San Miguel

   

   Each altar is unique and handmade.

7. The traditional delicacy for this holiday is Pan de los muertos (bread of the dead) - a bun of a certain shape.

   

   Photo from www.negocilibre.com

   

   Children love to look at bright decorations.

8. Well, the traditional orange daisies are the unshakable symbolism of the Day of the Dead. It seems that out of nowhere the whole city is suddenly orange! And this color suits San Miguel especially, because the city is built in shades that blend perfectly with daisies - yellow, orange, burgundy, brown.

   

   Daisies on the main square of the city

   

   Elderly American women dressed as Katrina

   

   Fresh flowers are used for decoration.

   

   Finishing touches

   

   All the altars are very beautiful, it's good that you don't have to choose the best one

   This is how the Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico. In each city, celebrations may differ, but what’s there - even in the same city, something new appears every year, so you won’t get bored. Here we are in the same San Miguel, and everything was a little different. There were many more events this year - Catherine's parade, a tour of the cemetery, workshops for children, special dinners at restaurants and pool parties.

Skeletons, decaying corpses, reanimated dead... Brrr! But this isn't a cemetery photo or a zombie movie - it's Day of the Dead in Mexico. And today you will read about this unusual holiday on the website "Me and the World".

"Merry" carnival

On what date is a joyful meeting with beloved dead relatives celebrated? Dates of celebration - November 1 and 2 - a day of remembrance for young children and, accordingly, adults. These days in Mexico, the dead are “rising”, and people rejoice and have fun, because they have the opportunity to meet with deceased relatives.

Why the holiday has such a name, we think it is clear. The history of this day begins with the Aztecs and Mayans, who kept the skulls of dead relatives and from time to time used them for their intended purpose, that is, resurrecting and sacrificing them for sacred rituals. It was sacrifices that were considered great respect for the dead, so the bloody days continued in the summer for a whole month in honor of the Goddess of the underworld.

Over the centuries, the conquerors tried to eradicate terrible traditions, but they only managed to cancel the bloody sacrifices and reduce the holiday to 2-3 days.

But it did not work out to replace unbridled joy with sadness for the dead, and the skull remained the main attribute of the Day of the Dead. According to ancient tradition, the Mexicans believe that the dead continue to live in another world, but every year for a few days they are allowed to return to the world of the living and see their beloved relatives.

Beautiful ritual

These days are celebrated across the country, schools and businesses are closed, and preparations begin months in advance. Colorful costumes and masks are made, large dolls of human height and above are invented, and flowers are ordered so much that they are brought on trucks.

Each house has an altar decorated with unusual designs and yellow marigolds (flowers of the dead). At the altar, there must be offerings: candles, cornmeal dishes, various fruits, children's toys and alcoholic wines. Be sure to put dishes with water and special sweet bread, because it is believed that the dead will definitely want to drink and eat after crossing into our world. After the day's chores - cooking a lot of favorite food of deceased relatives and tidying up the house - the whole family gathers in one room to meet relatives and friends.

In every store you can buy art objects: skulls and skeletons, and, in general, they are everywhere: on clothes, walls, on the road. Turtles mostly "smile", because it's a fun holiday. And in the confectionery, they buy shards on sticks for kids - a kind of sweet candy. If you are presented with a coffin or a skull with your name on it, don't be scared - it's from the bottom of your heart!

Be sure to do a colorful make-up in the image of the popular Katrina. Who is this? A sweet, beautiful and rich woman from an engraving by a Mexican artist who wants to show that everyone is mortal: both beggars and oligarchs. Usually girls and women wear an outfit from the beginning of the last century, where a hat is required, but you can just paint your face and weave flowers into your hair. Men are not far behind, painting their faces in the form of skulls. Guys with beards look especially colorful.

Distinctive features

In small towns and villages, the celebration traditionally ends in cemeteries, at the graves of relatives, where they are escorted alive at the end of the holiday. Sincerely sitting at night at the burial sites, everyone returns home.

But in large metropolitan areas, fun takes place on a grand scale: festivals, parades and processions are simply a must these days. First the musicians come and play with such fervor that the dead can really "wake up". They are joined by all and sundry and this procession moves through the streets, and without a pre-planned route, cutting circles around the city. In 2017, more than a million people took part in the parade of the dead in the Mexican capital. This 2018 you can order a tour for 3 days and 2 nights with a Russian-speaking guide from November 1 to November 3.

The brightest celebration takes place on the island of Janicio. Duck hunting begins early in the morning, and at midnight birds are taken to the cemetery. In the light of hundreds of candles, women pray and men sing songs. Everything ends when the first rays of the sun touch the earth, and the night begins to gradually “melt”.

Almost at the same time that the rather scary Halloween is being celebrated in Europe, Mexicans are pitting fear and horror against the fun of the Day of the Dead. They believe that it is not worth scaring the spirits with a stupid pumpkin, it is better to remember the dead relatives with joy, and the spirits certainly will not do anything bad to the living.

And remember the name of a beautiful Russian holiday, when sweet Easter cakes are baked and the dead also return. Easter in Russia can also be compared with the Mexican joyful Day of the Dead. It seems to us that there is no need for terrible holidays, the world is already so restless, so let's have fun more often and celebrate events joyfully!

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El dia de los muertos is a very ancient tradition associated with pre-Spanish culture. The Aztecs had a similar holiday in honor of children and the dead, the main figure on which was the Lady of the Dead - Mictecacihuatl. The Indians had a memorial day approximately in July-August, but after the conquest of South America, the Spanish priests decided, following their favorite method, to move it to the beginning of November - All Saints Day. Thus, according to their idea, the pagan festival was to be transformed into a Christian one. However, as usual, it was not possible to crush the powerful aboriginal culture: the transfer took place, but the methods of celebration still bore the stamp of paganism. In particular, the Mexicans do not commemorate the saints at all, as the churchmen planned, but the dead.

This holiday is celebrated for two days. The first day is called "Día de los Angelitos" (Day of the Angels) and is dedicated to the commemoration of small children. November 2 is allotted for adults - this is, in fact, the Day of the Dead. All major events fall on the second number. It is then that street processions are organized - especially in small towns and villages. The nature of the celebration can be very different: in some areas of the country, residents organize gloomy solemn torchlight processions, such as funerals, in others they prefer burlesque fun, bright colors, dances and songs.

On the Day of the Dead, 2 things must be done - visit the graves of close relatives and invite their souls into the house. Both events are associated with the consumption of tasty and intoxicating things (it is clear that the word "spirit" means not only "spirit" but also "alcohol") for a reason. Cemeteries become places for picnics where familiar families meet. In addition to the living, those who managed to go to another world invisibly take part in the banquet - this does not bother or frighten anyone. The food here is usually high-calorie and plentiful: meat dishes with spicy and spicy seasonings, chocolate drinks, cookies, sweets in the form of skulls or animals and a special kind of bread called "pan de muerto", which necessarily includes eggs. In some places, a small skull (usually made of plastic) is baked in such bread: it is believed that the person who gets it will be happy. Graves are generously decorated with flowers (preferably bright and large, like chrysanthemums); cigarettes, alcoholic drinks and various delicacies are immediately laid out.

All this is done in order to encourage the soul of the deceased to visit the living. Sometimes celebrations take on a cheerful coloring when relatives of the deceased remember funny or funny facts from the life of the deceased at the tombstone.

A special memorial altar is arranged in the house, on which things are placed that are attractive to the deceased. These items traditionally include, again, food, flowers, scented candles, as well as everything related to the memory of a deceased relative: his photographs, diplomas, clothes, jewelry, trinkets, and so on. It is desirable that these things be associated with some pleasant moment of earthly life. All this is done in order to attract the deceased to the house, where he can temporarily reunite with his family. In some areas of Mexico, where traditions are especially strong, the living even lay out a path of petals for the dead, which leads to the house - right to the altar.

Like any big event, the Day of the Dead has spawned a special industry. The stores have numerous graveyard accessories for sale, such as decorative cardboard skulls, grim-looking lanterns, scary costumes, plastic skeletons, and candy canes. All this can be given to friends, receiving something similar in return.

In Mexico, in general, there is an interesting attitude towards death, and in order to understand why all of Mexico rejoices so much on such a gloomy occasion, it is necessary to know how the inhabitants of this country relate to the “Destroyer of Pleasures and Separator of Meetings.” In Mexican, and in many other cultures, death is not the end, but just a state between different lives, and the skull symbolizes a different life and reincarnation. This means that death is not your complete destruction, but only a transition to a new state after your physical life. The writer Octavio Paz said it best of all, noting that “the Mexican, instead of being afraid of death, seeks her company, teases her, flirts with her ... this is his favorite toy and enduring love.”

In the city of Aguascalientes, there is a museum - museo de los muertos (Jardin del Estudiante, 10.30-18.30 ma-do), dedicated to everything related to this holiday and cult.

In 2003, the holiday was included by UNESCO in the list of intangible cultural heritage of mankind. The holiday is very cool and interesting, and planning a visit to Mexico on these dates is very worth it.