Features - The Grateful Dead
An altar at Hudson Museum for Dia De Los Muertos.
By Laila Sholtz-Ames
Journalism major/Honors College, Exeter, Maine
Nov. 1 marked not only the beginning on the month, but also the beginning of Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a three-day Mexican celebration that honors deceased family members. The tradition began over 500 years ago, when Spanish conquistadors landed in present-day Mexico and saw natives practicing a ritual that appeared to be mocking death, a ritual that the indigenous people had been practicing for thousands of years. This was a practice that the Spaniards would try unsuccessfully to eradicate.
Thankfully, this tradition carried over to UMaine’s Hudson Museum, where students from Mexico gave a presentation on their country’s vast traditions. The students, who are in Maine for an eight-day exchange program, spent the past few days visiting the university and surrounding communities before taking time to speak about Dia De Los Muertos.
“This is a really big part of our culture,” said Hilda, one of the Mexican students. “There are so many different regions in Mexico, so we all celebrate it a little differently, but the mainly we cook the favorite food of the deceased members and just try and remember them.”
Students from UMaine’s Spanish classes, as well as local high school groups, sat in amazement as Hilda talked about the nonimportance of Halloween.
“Halloween really isn’t a huge celebration in Mexico, but occasionally children do eat candy and dress up,” Hilda said.
After the presentation, I sampled pan dulce, or sweet bread (a popular food in Mexico), and talked with Erik, another Mexican student who told me in rapid Spanish that he loves Dia De Los Muertos, because it’s all about family and tradition.
“In Mexico, we have a lot of pride and family is so important for us,” he said. “We don’t really celebrate Halloween, so this is really our special time of year, this is our big celebration.”
Along with baking special food, families also set up an altar, complete with pictures of family members, so that their spirits will live on. Today, people also put on wooden skull masks called calacas, and dance in honor of their deceased relatives. The wooden skulls are also placed on the altars that sometimes the name of the dead person is written on the forehead.
As I left the gathering, I realized that even though I love Halloween, and would probably miss it if I lived in Mexico, I love the tradition and the celebration. Mexico, a country where family, friends and fiestas are extremely important, is something that Americans could take a lesson from. That, and the extremely tasty sweet bread.
