57 El Dia De Los Muertos Facts The Day Of The Dead Unveiled

Día de Muertos, also known as Day of the Dead is a major festival in Mexico and is celebrated to honor the lives of the departed on November 1-2.Mexico’s Day of the Day has its origins rooted deep in the ancient cultures of the Aztec, and it underwent some small changes under Spanish influence. The day is celebrated in a colorful fashion and houses and public spaces are decorated with flowers.Today, Día de Muertos is recognized in various parts of the United States, Latin America, and other parts of the world. This Mexican holiday is celebrated every year with families preparing for the arrival of their loved ones weeks in advance! Altars are created at homes and food items and photos of the deceased are placed alongside other offerings are placed on this altar. Marigold can also be found used commonly on the Day of the Dead altars as their yellow and orange petals are believed to protect the deceased soul from the sun.Families often celebrate the day by spending their night in cemeteries as they light candles and reminiscence their favorite memories or stories about the deceased. The day is seen as a celebration to honor and remember the lives of the dead instead of a mourning period. Large parades can be seen on the streets of Mexico during the celebrations of the Day of the Dead.History Of El Dia De Los MuertosThis ever-evolving holiday has seen various changes since its inception and has become synonymous with Mexican culture. Learn more about its history with these facts:The origin of Día de Los Muertos is credited to ancient Mesoamerican civilizations of indigenous groups including the Maya, Aztec, and the Toltec.All of these ancient civilizations had specific periods where they celebrated deceased loved ones. Specific months were dedicated to honor the departed, based on whether the death was of a child or an adult.After the Spanish arrived on the continent, the ritual of celebrating the dead was entangled with Catholic holidays, All Saints Day on November 1 and All Souls Day on November 2.Día de Los Muertos is celebrated even today to mark the deaths of children and adults on November 1-2 respectively.As mentioned above already, the origins of the Day of the Dead are etched into Mexican history and date back to years before the Spanish inquisition.It is believed that Pre-columbian cultures had various celebrations to honor their dead loved ones. They did so by reading poems and anecdotes about the deceased, they also displayed the pictures and items they left behind.Most of the traditions that we know of today have descended from the Aztecs and their religious practices, and the belief that different afterlives were reserved on how people died.Mictlán is known as the final resting place for people who died of natural causes. This place is ruled by the goddess Mictecacíhuatl who is represented by a skull.It was a common belief amongst the Aztecs that the dead souls would have to complete a difficult journey before they reached their final destination.The Aztecs made offerings of useful things at the burial sites of relatives to help them complete the tiresome journey.Several Aztec festivals involved honoring the deceased by placing offerings and decorating tree stumps for dead relatives. This tradition set the foundation for the ofrendas, or altars placed by families on the Day of the Dead.Contrary to popular belief, this day celebrates the life journey of the dead rather than their death. They believed that once the person was gone, it was the beginning of a new life for them, so they celebrated the journey they went through in this life.Significance Of El Dia De Los MuertosDay of the Dead signifies the spiritual aspect of Mexican culture and shows the world how to remember and pray for deceased friends and family. These fun significant facts will help you know more:The Day of the Dead celebrations is a major part of the Mexican culture and the day has had various significances ever since it was created.Many people expect the Day of the Dead to be a serious memorial day, but in reality, the day is a joyous occasion and is marked to celebrate life.The celebrations of this day are far from somber and dark and are marked with brightly and beautifully decorated art. Nearly every public place and house are decorated in the country.The celebrations also mark the tradition of eating celebratory meals with family members, as well as music, dancing, and street parties and parades.The processions on this day involve masks, colorful costumes, and puppets, with people from all regions of Mexico participating.Monarch butterflies swarm Mexico every year during the first week of November as they travel a staggering 3,000 mi (4828 km) from Canada to Mexico. The belief that the deceased return in the form of butterflies and hummingbirds can be traced back to the Aztecs!The public celebrations of Día de Los Muertos made their way to San Francisco and Los Angeles, most commonly in the Chicano communities in 1972.The celebrations were practiced in San Diego and Sacramento as an effect of the civil rights movement of the Chicano community.The Chicano communities adopted the altar-making practices and eventually, it became a way to honor ancestors and the dead but was also used as a way to raise awareness about the deaths caused by socio-political unfairness against the Chicanos.UNESCO recognized the immense importance of the Day of the Dead among the indigenous communities of Mexico and decided to celebrate it.In 2008, the Day of the Dead festival was added to the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.UNESCO described this Mexican holiday as a union of two worlds, one marking the indigenous beliefs, and the other marking the ideology added to the festival by the Europeans in the early 16th century.What countries celebrate El Dia De Los Muertos?In recent years, the Day of the Dead celebrations has garnered a big following amongst the various Latino communities in the United States and other parts of the world. These facts about countries that observe the day are sure to amuse you:Over the years, the Día de Los Muertos or Day of the Dead festivities have broken all geographic barriers and have expanded from just Mexico to the United States and other countries in Latin America.Some of the countries that celebrate the Day of the Dead are Mexico, the United States, and Latin American countries such as Venezuela, Peru, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador, and Colombia.Each region celebrating the day has its traditions, customs, and special take on the celebrations. They cook traditional foods and come out on the streets to celebrate this day as a community.Giant kites soar the skies of Guatemala as a part of the Day of the Dead processions. This practice stems from the belief that flying objects of art often represent the merging of the world of the living and the underworld.The annual celebration of the Day of the Dead in Pomuch, a small town in the Yucatán Peninsula, includes family members removing the bones from the graves and dusting and washing them by hand!Symbols And Traditions Of El Dia De Los MuertosBright colors and decorations are an important part of the Day of the Dead celebration and flowers, sugar skulls, and face paint have become a symbol for the day. These symbols and traditional facts will help you learn more:Brightening up awnings, arches, and ofrendas, cempasuchil flowers (marigolds) are a prominent symbol of El Día de Los Muertos.Fresh or sometimes made of paper, marigolds are thought to guide the souls of loved ones from the Land of the Dead to the offerings left out for them.Skeletons and skulls are synonymous with the El Dia De Los Muertos and are decorated in bright and bold colors with wide smiles.The sugar skulls are mostly used as an offering to the dead, but they are also given out as treats.The origin of these skeleton and skull designs is traced back to José Guadalupe Posada’s drawings in the early 1900s. The ‘La Calavera Catrina’ was first published in 1911 and portrayed a female skeleton wearing french clothes and makeup.La Calavera Catrina was created as a symbol of the Mexican culture and its rich heritage, and since then has become one of the most significant icons of Día de Los Muertos.The Day of the Dead extravaganza begins at home! Homes are decorated and traditional foods and the favorite foods of the deceased are placed on altars alongside pictures of the deceased.Ofrendas are decorated with various offerings for the spirits and are used to represent the four elements: wind, earth, water, and fire.Altars at home and at cemeteries are decorated with marigold flowers. Mexicans believed that the yellow and orange petals of marigolds protect the dead from the sun’s heat.The bread of the dead, or pan de muerto is the most prominent food consumed during the celebrations. Pan de muerto is made from sweet bread. Other food items consumed during the celebrations of the Day of the Dead include Calaveras (sugar skulls), calabaza en tacha (candied pumpkin), spicy Mexican hot chocolate, and tamales.Since the inception of the Day of the Dead, cleaning the graves have become a major part of the celebration. The traditional day is used to clean graves and prepare them for the rituals.Early Mexican people held the belief that the dead are in attendance during Day of the Dead celebrations.Another popular belief was that the dead could travel back and forth between life and death. This belief has led to many people even today believing that the soul of deceased relatives partakes in the celebrations.Portrayals of Xoloitzcuintli (species of Mexican hairless dog) are often used in the dead art featured in Day of the Dead celebrations. It is believed that these dogs escort the deceased back to heaven once the celebrations are over.Family members use this day to celebrate dead ones and often tell stories about deceased relatives and how they lived.People like to paint the faces of the deceased on themselves to celebrate them. However, anybody’s art is acceptable and there is no right or wrong way to celebrate this day.All these joyous celebrations are practiced on the day because many in the Mexican culture believe that it is better to host the souls of dead relatives with a smile on their faces.People greet each other on this day by saying ‘Feliz Dia de Los Muertos or ‘Happy Day of the Dead.‘Did You KnowLearn more about the Day of the Dead with these random facts:Día de los Muertos is also known as Días de los Muertos and it is celebrated over a period of two days. El Día de Los Angelitos (the Day of the Little Angels) or El Día de Los Inocentes (the Day of the Innocents) is celebrated on November 1 and honors children who have died. The celebration sees the graves of children being decorated with baby’s breath and white orchids.November 2 is celebrated as Día de Los Muertos and is celebrated to honor adults, and their graves are decorated with bright orange marigolds. This festival has become a major part of the Mexican heritage.Marigolds, also known as flor de muertos (flowers of the dead) are used to decorate ofrendas and graves of dead ones on the day of the dead celebrations.Contrary to popular belief, Halloween and Day of the Dead are completely different. Halloween’s history can be traced back to Celtic roots, whereas Day of the Dead and its origin is credited to the indigenous people of Central America and Mexico.During Halloween, spirits are portrayed as scary or creepy. Day of the Dead concentrates on welcoming the souls of dead relatives or family members with hospitality and joy.All Souls Day celebrated on November 2 is another tradition that is as old as the Dia de Los Muertos tradition. All Souls Day, created by Abot Odilo, of France, has been celebrated since its inception in 998 AD. All Souls Day became a Catholic tradition where prayers for the dead souls of the dead were offered.All Souls Day is less of a joyful celebration compared to Dia de Los Muertos.The Day of the Dead celebration has often been portrayed in American pop culture. A scene of the Día de Los Muertos parade was shown in the 2015 bond film ‘Spectre.’ This appearance inspired people in cities like Chicago, Mexico City, and Los Angeles to host their distinct Day of the Dead celebrations.Believe it or not, Disney came up with an atrocious plan of trademarking the phrase ‘Dia de Los Muertos’ in 2013. This plan was put into place in anticipation of the Pixar film ‘Day of the Dead’ (Coco). Needless to say, Disney faced numerous backlash including exploitation of Latin American Culture. Disney eventually dropped the application.The Pixar film ‘Coco’ portrays the Mexican tradition through a story of a young boy who is sent to the Land of the Dead where he reconnects with long-long ancestors.

Día de Muertos, also known as Day of the Dead is a major festival in Mexico and is celebrated to honor the lives of the departed on November 1-2.