On November 1 and 2, a time when many children around the world have already finished sating their sweet tooth and relishing the annual sugar rush that accompanies Halloween, many with Mexican heritage spend El Día de los Muertos, or The Day of the Dead, honoring the deceased, celebrating the cycle of life and death, and even laughing in the face of death.
It’s a celebration that blends elements from different cultures in a process known as “syncretism.”
On this day, cemeteries fill with candles and picnickers as participants construct altars filled with their departed ones’ favorite foods, belongings, and pictures. Parades are held with skeleton processions and skull masks.
Junior Adolfo Ortiz-Feder hails from Morelos, Mexico, and celebrates the holiday every year. “In my family, we decorate the house with skulls, and contact family in Mexico via Skype,” he said. “We dress up in costume. In [his town in] Mexico, they go around asking for a certain kind of vegetable—like trick or treating. We make dinner out of it, the ‘meal of the dead’.”
The holiday and its rituals can come as a shock to some Americans. Spanish teacher and Mexiphile Ms. Melody Sweigert said, “You would think by the title, ‘Gosh, day of the dead—who wants that?’ But we do have times when we honor those people…But I think that we sanitize death too much in the United States. I think that what they [those in American culture] should take away is that even though those persons aren’t alive, they can still be with us here in our heart and head.”
There’s an element, too, of defiance against death. Ortiz-Feder said of traditional Mexican philosophy: “Death wants itself to be feared, and when we help the dead and they help us, it’s laughing in the face of death. We find the good in death.”
The imagery of the holiday has influenced culture here in the United States, with the holiday’s elaborately decorated skeletons and skulls. Senior Mandisa Greene joined the cultural exchange and painted a mural on the theme of El Día de los Muertos. “It had about seven skulls. I love that style and the way the skulls look. They’re really decorated. Normally, you see skulls and they’re scary, but these are beautiful,” she said.
A number of local organizations have sponsored celebrations for El Día de los Muertos, including UCF’s Hispanic American Student Association and the Orlando Museum of Art.