“El Día de los Muertos es algo muy sagrado. “These altars pay respect to both the indigenous and the Catholic beliefs of the afterlife and situates them logically.”Ĭomo se celebra Día de los Muertos en ChicagoĬalaveras y esqueletos adornados con flores coloridas, vestidos de novios o hechas de azúcar con diseños extravagantes: Así son las representaciones del Día de los Muertos, una tradición en México y Latinoamérica.Īl contrario que Halloween, el Día de los Muertos no es para sentir miedo o tristeza, sino un momento para recordar a los seres queridos que ya partieron. “The altar is a good example of the fusion of both religions and cultures,” said Eric Garcia, Arte Ambulante coordinator of the National Museum of Mexican Art. Offerings of food, beverages and prized possessions are displayed. An altar is made in honor of the deceased and can be displayed at a grave site or in the home. The altar is one of the most distinctive ways Day of the Dead is celebrated. And more recently, Day of the Dead products are popping up at stores like Wal-Mart, Target, and Crate and Barrel. Activists in California began to organize Day of the Dead processions and altar exhibits in the 1960s and ‘70s as a way to honor Mexican-American heritage. In Latin America, Day of the Dead customs are passed down from generation to generation, but the celebration is a relative newcomer in the U.S. How is it celebrated?Ĭustoms vary, but can include standard Catholic rituals - including attending Mass and praying for the dead with rosary beads - and folk customs - including cleaning and adorning grave sites of dead loved ones and constructing home altars in their honor. The Catholic holidays, All Saints Day (Nov. Souls of children are believed to visit the Earth Oct. It is certainly not a sacred day, and I think those are the big differences between the two.” When is it? Halloween, you don’t want those ghosts around. “And it’s a sacred day in which a lot of people pray. It’s a day in which we welcome back the memory and the souls of those people who are still - are still - an important part of our family, even though they many not be physically present,” Cesareo Moreno, chief curator at Chicago’s National Museum of Mexican Art, told the Tribune in 2015. Unlike Halloween, Day of the Dead is not meant to be a sad or frightening holiday, but an uplifting time to remember loved ones who have died. These are representations of a popular celebration in Mexico and other parts of Latin America called Day of the Dead. Look closely and you’ll see them paired with colorful flowers, dressed as bride and groom, or made from sugar with intricate designs. It's just part of the same thing.Skulls and skeletons are popping up in stores around Chicago, but they’re not your typical Halloween fare. It's a way of understanding death as a part of life. "But certainly it is at the heart of it, at the core of it, it is providing this idea of life and death and just sort of a celebration of life. "It's not as beautiful as having children walk through the museum galleries and hearing their reactions," he says. Moreno says that despite the show being entirely virtual, the tours are from all over the country, which feels, in a way, that they've "reached a little bit further." The pandemic has had an outsize impact on Latinx people in the United States, who are hospitalized from COVID-19 at four times the rate of white Americans. This year, though, like so many other celebrations, the coronavirus pandemic has thwarted the way Día de los Muertos can be celebrated. It's really important that we keep saying their names, we keep telling their stories, and we pass these ideas on to the next generation." You also put their photographs out, you share stories about them, and it really becomes a time to memorialize these individuals. "So if somebody had a specific food that they liked, you would place that out on the altar as an ofrenda. "We remember them by remembering what they enjoyed while they were here on Earth," Moreno says. Michael Tropea/National Museum of Mexican Art Sin título (Untitled) by Alfonso Castillo Orta (1944-2009) of Izúcar de Matamoros, Mexico, undated, polychrome ceramic and wire.
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