Dia de los Muertos, known as Day of the Dead, started more than 500 years ago when the Spanish Conquistadors landed in Mexico and encountered natives practicing a ritual that seemed to mock death, according to azcentral.com.
It was a ritual that was being practiced for the last 3,000 years by the indigenous people and something the Spaniards wanted to try, which turned into the Day of the Dead.
Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico and in the United States November 2nd.
Day of the Dead event’s include people donning wooden skull masks called calacas and dance in honor of their dead relatives. The skulls are used to symbolize death and rebirth.
In rural Mexico, people visit the cemetery where their loved ones are buried and decorate their grave with flowers and candles and bring toys for dead children and bring a bottle of tequila for the adults.
In the United States, families build altars in their homes, dedicating the altar to the dead and surround the altar with flowers, food and pictures of the dead. They light candles and place them next to the altar.
Unlike the Spaniards, who viewed death as the end of life, the natives viewed it as the continuation of life. Instead of fearing death, they embraced it. To them, life was a dream and only in death did they become truly awake, according to azcentral.com.
The Spaniards moved it to November 1st (All Saints Day) and November 2nd (All Souls Day) to make it more Christian and have it celebrated that day, it was moved back from it’s original month, the ninth month of the Aztec Solar Calendar, which is the beginning of August.
I have been to a Dia de los Muertos event before in L.A. and I saw the different masks that where on display and how Hispanics celebrate that day with dances to their decreases families and how they honor them. I really enjoyed going to that event.
My mom usually put’s different type of sweets that my deceased uncle and grandma would like and then me and my brother’s and sister’s would eat it, the day after.
Another family member that celebrates Dia de los Muertos is my Aunt.
She decorates her altar very nicely and put’s fruit and different kind of sweets on the altar and she has a ally with flowers for my deceased uncle and grandma to see when they come in that day.
So this November 2nd, remember your deceased family members and those fighting overseas for this country and for the deceased celebrity’s that have died in the past and present.