Understanding the “Day of the Dead”
Veronica Alvarado is Director of Hispanic Ministry for the diocese of Raleigh.
Since I began to work in Hispanic Ministry, I do not how many times people have called me to ask about “Mexican customs and traditions.” However, there is a particular one that makes priests, parish staff and non-Mexican born Hispanics especially curious: the celebration of Día de los Muertos. Perhaps because in our current culture death is considered as something “bad” or “sad” even “scary,” one may fail to see the real origins of this celebration.
In Mesoamerican Cultures, death was not just an end to everything, but an important event in the entire life cycle of each person. Each culture celebrated in different ways. In México, in the Aztec culture, such celebrations dated roughly from 1800 B.C. In the Aztec calendar, which consisted of 18 months, the ninth and tenth months were dedicated to celebrate the day of the death of children and adults, respectively. The belief was that there were three places where people would go, depending on their life state when they died, not because they were “good” or “bad.”
One place was called Mictlán, the place for those who were not destined to be “gods.” Probably this is why the Spanish missionaries translated this term as “purgatory.” This place consisted of nine levels that the dead person had to journey before arriving at the eternal repose called Obsidiana de los Muertos, something similar to heaven. Therefore, the family and friends would bury the dead with food, liquor, even a dog, to help them on their journey to the ninth level. Another place was called Paradise of Tláloc. Tláloc was the God of the rain. Those who drowned went directly to this place. The third place was called Cihuatlampa or Mocihuaquetzque, also known as heaven and the place of the sun. Warriors who died fighting and women whot died in labor went to this place.
It has been stated that Catholic culture among indigenous peoples was formed from Spanish Catholic culture and Mesoamerican religiosity, and that this may have given rise to El Día de los Muertos. There are many ways to celebrate this tradition, but the foundation of this celebration is the basic belief that the souls of our dead return from heaven to be with family and friends spiritually at least once a year.