Día de Muertos History Continued

Medieval Europe
The Christian evangelization of non-Christian Europe took about 1,000 years with all rites, rituals and ceremonies associated with death and the dead being nearly eradicated. Prior to the evangelization, it was common to honor the dead around the growing cycles held during the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes where large bonfires were built around the gravesides, offerings of food and wine were brought and consumed, and singing and dancing lasted through the night. The Roman Catholic Church, having its roots as an underground religion, had held celebratory masses in the catacombs around the graves of saints and martyrs and in the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV established All Saints Day to be celebrated in May. In the following century, Pope Gregory III moved this feast day to November 1st, but this was not sufficient to attract converts, so in the tenth century, the Abbot of Cluny decreed that all Cluniac monasteries celebrate the dead who had died as baptized Christians in the same manner as the saints and martyrs. By the eleventh century, November 2nd was incorporated into the liturgical calendar as All Souls Day by Pope Urban II. Unofficially, at the time, the church made other concessions to incorporate rites and ceremonies of non-Christian Europe into the newly established traditions of All Souls Day.

One of these traditions in Northern Spain was prepared bread, pan de animas or soul bread to flower-bedecked graves then later distributed to the poor. Another tradition, was the use of lit oil lamps outside the home in order to help the souls find their way back to their earthly homes. In some cases, people set fresh linen on the beds and did not sleep on them all through the night with the belief that loved ones used them to rest before undertaking the long journey back to paradise.

Spanish Conquest of México
México-Tenochtitlan fell on August 13, 1521 and the systematic destruction, sacking, exploitation, and extermination of the indigenous population began in earnest. With the divine permission of the Roman Catholic Church and the Spanish Crown, the evangelizing clergy proceeded to erase all vestiges of the belief systems of the natives. Although pyramids, temples, codices (picture books) were destroyed and desecrated then replaced with churches and written doctrine, eventually many of the Spanish beliefs came to co-exist with the indigenous beliefs, as the numerous Catholic Saints joined the hierarchy of the gods. After the conquest, the mass conversion of the Mexika-Aztecs and other native peoples to Catholicism was facilitated by combining the sites and ceremonies of indigenous culture with Spanish.

Colonial México
One example of this cultural merging is the apparition of La Virgen de Guadalupe, now the patron saint of México and a powerful icon in Hispanic culture. Ten years after the conquest of México in 1531 on the hill of Tepeyac where a temple once stood to Tonantzin (TOH-Nan-seen) the Mexika-Aztec earth goddess, La Virgen de Guadalupe appeared before a native of a local village and requested a church be built in her honor; he was the messenger to the Bishop. Overall, the legend was successful in fusing the brown skinned, Nahuatl (NA-watl) speaking goddess with the Christian Virgen Mary.

The first celebrations of All Souls Day on November 2nd in México were carried out when the very first relics arrived from Europe in the early 1530's. From that date, during the next 300 years of the Spanish Colony, people took relics made of bread or of sugar paste to be blessed on November 2nd seeking protection and blessings for the year. This custom set the stage for the present day tradition of sugar skulls and the addition of little bones made out of dough to the traditional Spanish pan de animas now known as pan de muerto.

Death was also made into a public spectacle for elaborate and festive funerary rituals and processions in honor of the death of the king, a member of the royal family, the viceroy, or an important member of the clergy. Death as La Portentosa or La Reina Muerte was seated on top of an elaborate catafalque (coffin stand), built especially for the occasion, as she presided over the funerary rituals. Her presence was used as a means to remind all of the imminence of their own death as well as of her powers. No one could ever escape her or her whims. These "official" rites were performed in all of the cities and towns of La Nueva España and attendance was mandatory.

Post-Colonial México
Towards the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, Jose Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913), a master printer and lithographer, reanimated the skeletal image of the benign Portentosa. He gave her a humorous touch and his calavera images have become classic worldwide images associated with the Mexican traditions of Día de Muertos. Posada used his calavera images as social commentary, political satire, and statements by asserting the very egalitarian principles that Mexicans attribute to death itself. He tapped into the syncretic traditions and mindset of México. Posada recognized the roots that lay in Pre-Columbian culture as well as in the Spanish obsession death as a punishment from God. His calaveras marked the standard of present day Día de Muertos skulls and skeletons with their grins, cocky attitudes, and ability to portray a great variety of human activities. They reflect the Mexican understanding that death is always imminent, making them embrace her in a satirical and humorous way - not the European angst. To make the point that even the rich and powerful must come to terms with the inevitablitlity of death, Posada created and personified the elegant Victorian lady Calavera Catrina and the mustachioed Calavera Zapapista.

Present Day Celebrations
Ultimately, over the last 500 years through diverse manifestations and subjugation, the syncretization of Christian and indigenous beliefs and practices contributed to the evolution of Día de Muertos to the present day. Death is celebrated in the midst of life as Día de Muertos is one of the most important yearly celebrations in México and in communities in the United States from coast to coast where there are Méxicanos, Mexican Americans and Chicanos who identify with their cultural inheritance. In México, the building of an altar with its accompanying ofrenda is a tradition which is practiced primarily by indigenous groups, blue collar and working class Mestizos, as well as urban intellectuals and artists who recognize their "Indian" roots and pay homage to that heritage.

Preparation for Día de Muertos festivities begin in mid-October and continues through to the two days of the fiesta, November 1st - All Saint's Day and November 2nd - All Soul's Day. On November 1st, children are honored and adults on November 2nd. For these dates, altars are erected in the homes and/or day of the dead community events in the United States, and special visits or pilgrimages are made to the cemetery. Often altars are decorated with photographs of the deceased, marigold flowers or cempasúchil (sem-pah-soo'-cheel), petate mats, candles, personal mementos, pan de muerto, papel picado (paper cut-outs), miniature toys, food, water, salt, and kopal incense (a resinous incense).



* Images from 2007 Microsoft "Live Search"

Muertos | Introduction| Vocabulary & Bibliography | Hands-on Projects

Day of the Dead Home | Vocabulary & Bibliography | Lesson Plan

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