We had a discussion with friends this week about my allergic reaction to any scary television shows or movies or books or...I am a total scaredy cat with any form of "boo!" type stuff. Yet the Day of the Dead fascinates me. Today, All Saints Day, is the Day of the Dead in many Latin American cultures. My first encounter was in the state of New Mexico a few years ago when I was at a conference. The Christian centre where the event took place had a number of what seemed like ghoulish altars. They jarred me. I discovered that pre-Columbian veneration of the dead had been incorporated into the Christian festival of All Saints & Souls, which has its roots in Celtic tradition. The motto of religion is, recycle, recycle, recycle.
Frances Ann Day summarizes the three-day celebration, the Day of the Dead—
Frances Ann Day summarizes the three-day celebration, the Day of the Dead—
| On October 31, All Hallows Eve, the children make a children's altar to invite the angelitos (spirits of dead children) to come back for a visit. November 1 is All Saints Day, and the adult spirits will come to visit. November 2 is All Souls Day, when families go to the cemetery to decorate the graves and tombs of their relatives. The three-day fiesta filled with marigolds, the flowers of the dead; muertos (the bread of the dead); sugar skulls; cardboard skeletons; tissue paper decorations; fruit and nuts; incense, and other traditional foods and decorations. | ||
—Frances Ann Day, Latina and Latino Voices in Literature
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It all got me thinking about our generally death-denying culture and that we just aren't great about facing our mortality, nor do we spend much time honouring or remembering the loved ones who have died. Now I'm mindful of this commemoration every year. With a name like Day of the Dead it does focus our attention!
Do we need to develop our own Day of the Dead tradition, or is this morbid? Do you visit and maintain cemetery plots for departed loved ones? Have you made your peace with your own mortality?
Do we need to develop our own Day of the Dead tradition, or is this morbid? Do you visit and maintain cemetery plots for departed loved ones? Have you made your peace with your own mortality?
7 comments:
My family plots have perpetual care, so I don't need to maintain them ... and I do not visit often - the remains are there and I am glad the deceased are memorialized, but they are not "there" they have moved on to whatever lies ahead for us - and I believe it will be something good...also, am well aware of my own mortality...and the need to savour each day.
As a young child, I would go with Mom to my grandparents grave to take the planter of plants in the late spring and throughout the summer to care for the planter. Nancy and I carry on the tradition by taking a planter to both our grandparents and parents and go throughout the summer to care for the plants. Yesterday, Ali wanted to celebrate the Day of the Dead by going to her grandparents grave and sharing some of her halloween candy with Nana and Poppa.
The belief is that the spirits return on those days and are with the families at their home altars where they put out the loved ones' photographs and favourite foods and belongings and/or in the cemeteries.
Imagine our cemeteries coming alive with families, colour, music and food a day or two a year! We don't have rituals or nationally marked days around "spending time" with the souls of our deceased loved ones. Could we make the leap?
Thanks for the thoughtfulness of all your responses. I'm game for a Day of the Dead in the cemetery but it may need to be August rather than November!
... and what if you do not wish to be reconnected with some of the dead (as in, you are glad they are gone ... it happens to some of us !), or have their spirits come to visit you???
Wouldn't it be helpful to make peace with our ghosts? A lot of us are haunted by our not-so-dearly departed.
When you find out how to do that, please let me know...
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