ARTBEAT Issue 01 October 2016

ARTBEAT MAGAZINE
7
Continued from Page 5 : How Dia de los Muertos Came to AIC
Dia de los Muertos - The Day of the
Dead, is a lively Mexican holiday
which honors the dead and is
celebrated throughout Mexico on 1
November. It features in other Latin
American countries too but it is
particularly relevant to Mexico.
The Day of the Dead Festival mixes
Aztec ritual with Catholicism, brought
to the region by Spanish
conquistadores. (Dia de los Muertos is
celebrated on All Saints Day and All
Souls Day, minor holidays in the
Catholic calendar.)
What we know of as
“Halloween” (celebrated the night of
31st October) is an equivalent festival,
now observed worldwide but originally
important in North America and
throughout Europe. Halloween has a
similar link to ancient pagan rituals
and beliefs with the attempt for it to
be also “Christianised" by a church
holiday: All Hallows Eve.
The Dia de los Muertos celebration
features in the memorable opening
scenes of the 2015 James Bond film:
“Spectre”. These scenes depict street
parties and parades in Mexico City
with people dressed as skeletons, and
wearing elaborate, highly decorated
colorful costumes, face paints, masks
and flowers. There is a carnival
atmosphere with live music and
processions and it is hard to imagine
that this event has anything to do with
death.
Assured that the dead would be
insulted by mourning or sadness, Dia
de los Muertos celebrates the lives of
the deceased with food, drink, parties,
and activities the dead enjoyed in life.
Dia de los Muertos recognizes death as
a natural part of the human
experience, a continuum with birth,
childhood, and growing up to become
a contributing member of the
community. On Dia de los Muertos,
the dead are also a part of the
community, awakened from their
eternal sleep to share celebrations.
People go to the gravesides of their
passed loved ones to enjoy a family
picnic with homemade treats and chat
by candlelight at night time.
The most familiar symbol of Dia de los
Muertos may be the calacas and
calaveras (skeletons and skulls), which
appear everywhere during the holiday:
in candied sweets, as parade masks, as
dolls. Calacas and calaveras are almost
always portrayed as enjoying life, often
in fancy clothes and entertaining
Can you hear the Floral Skull cursing? Some say that they can!
(especially as we draw closer to Dia de los Muertos).
If you can hear it, then send us what you have heard the skull saying.
The best entries will be published in future issues of Artbeat. For
goodness sake, whatever you do, do not touch its flowers!
E-mail your entries, labelled : Toucha Ma Flowers I Smasha Ya Face to : jlowe@aicib.org