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In Mexico, November 1 is set aside for remembrance of deceased infants and children, often referred to as 'angelitos' (little angels). Those who have died as adults are honored November 2.
In the eighth century, the church decreed November 1 as All Saints Day. Setting aside the day to honor the martyrs and saints was an attempt to replace the 2000-year tradition of the Celts and their Druid priests who combined harvest festivals and celebrated the new year on November 1. | |
The Days of the Dead, celebrated throughout Mexico, coincide with the Christian All Souls and All Saints days, November 1 and 2nd.
While the church attempted to transform the joyous celebration to a suitably tragic image of death and a serious day of prayer focusing attention and reflection on the saints and martyrs. The people of Mexico did not fully adopt the early priests' ideas, and by keeping their familiar ceremonies, All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day evolved into the celebrations that today honor the dead with color, candles, joy.
In the pre-Hispanic era the Aztecs honored their dead with celebrations tied in with the harvest season. The ancient calendar called for festivities in remembrance of deceased children, called Miccailhuitontli (Little Feast for the Dead).
The mythology of the Aztec tribes has it that los 'angelitos' go to a part of Paradise where there is a tree of human breasts, and they sit under it with their mouths open.
Nowadays, it is believed that the little angels, having lived too short a time to fall into sin, go straight to heaven. The death of a child is not a catastrophe. A family knows that they have another angelito to be its representative, its natural intercessor with God.
The offering for little ones customarily features traditional wooden or tin toys, along with sweets and a cup of atole or milk. |
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Día de los muertos is celebrated from el primero de noviembre (November 1st) thru el dos de noviembre (November 2nd). Oftentimes, Mexican families camp out in cemeteries for up to three full days, as family members pray, bring food or goodies, sing, or burn incense. It is known that:
* much preparation goes into growing and gathering zenpzúchitles, the flowers of death;
* Bread of the dead made in human shapes and sugar skulls made of fruit are popular;
* Copal incense is burned on the altar through the midnight hours in séance fashion;
* Writing of sátiras or comical poems called Calaveras ("skulls") serve to lighten the grief;
*gravesites are cleared and cleaned annually by the surviving family members;
*Mano de león or "Lion's paw" flowers are used to decorate the altares and tumbas;
*Nubes or white carnations decorate the graves of departed children, signifying purity;
*Tallow candles or velas are burned, one representing each departed loved one.
Come nightfall:
* families walk to the cemetery and visit the tombs of their loved ones in honor of them;
*they feast or dine and drink coffee at the gravesite;
*they leave the holy ground and go home and throw a party or fiestecita;
*they attend mass given by a Catholic priest at daybreak;
*they return home to have sugar skulls for dessert and to tell fond stories of the deceased;
*fireworks displays illuminate the path for the returning spirits of the angelitos.
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