|
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
Sign
up for the Museum of New Mexico Foundation FREE E-News»
|