DAY OF THE DEAD:
Hundreds of people dressed as skeletons took to the streets for an early celebration of the Day of the Dead in Mexico City. Yesterday's parade is one of many events for "Día de Los Muertos" celebrations. pic.twitter.com/zymNm6wXOW— KTVN 2 News (@KTVN) October 23, 2023
When I was a wee child in parochial school, the nuns’ Baltimore Catechism said that All Saints’ Day (November 1) was for ‘calendar’ saints — those who were named in the 365 days of the official liturgical calendar — and All Souls’ Day (November 2) was for the rest of our beloved deceased, most especially those who might need a little additional prayer-boosting to move them from Purgatory to the higher plane of Heaven. (Then the Second Vatican Council dropped a whole bunch of the ‘official’ saints for insufficient historical documentation, precursing Wikipedia and pissing off a great many believers in those no-longer-publicly-celebrated icons…)
Regardless of the precise theological dating, it had long been a(nother) three-day observance, in a season when many cultures in the Northern Hemisphere mark the shift from harvest abundance to winter rigor. A time when the veil between present, past, and future seems thinnest… and one where it behooved every community member to settle old grievances and prepare to be cooped up together for the hard dark days.
We’ve all been talking, in recent days, about how the encroaching darkness is making us sad and reminding us of how much we’ve lost, individually and collectively, in the past months…
Good Washington Post story (with a terrible headline) on ofrendas and their purpose — [unpaywalled gift link]:
Enrique Quiroz didn’t know his grandparents, but you would never suspect that if you heard him talk about his grandmother.
He can tell you what she looked like and what sweater she loved wearing. He can tell you what she cooked and what phrases she was known for saying.
“I feel like I know her,” he told me on a recent afternoon. “I feel like I met her because of this tradition.”
“This tradition” is part of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. For the holiday, people across Mexico and the United States put together ofrendas — altars that are adorned with photos of their loved ones and items that tell of the lives those loved ones led. A grandfather’s favorite drink might sit in that space. So, too, might a beloved aunt’s gardening gloves or a child’s toy.
“It’s about remembering and respecting your ancestry,” Quiroz said. “The Aztecs and the Mayans used to say there are three deaths. The first one is when your heart stops. The second one is when you’re buried. And the third one, and the most fatal one, is when you’re forgotten. The minute I stop talking about my grandma, she is dead. Because then no one remembers her, no one is talking about her.”
Wednesday Morning Open Thread: <em>Día de los Muertos</em>Post + Comments (169)