Why November the 2nd?
November 2nd was chosen for Family Storytelling Day, because on this day, in Mexico, there is a festival of exuberant, life-affirming ancestral commemoration known as The Mexican Day of the Dead or ‘Dia de los Muertos’.
‘The Mexican is familiar with death, jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates it; it is one of his toys and his most steadfast love’
Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz
The festival
Traditionally there are two days of celebrations. The 1st of November is the Day of the Little Angels, ‘Dia de los Angelitos’, or the day of the child dead. November the 2nd is the day of the adult dead: ‘Dia de los Muertos’.
The Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala and other central and South American countries. It is also celebrated in areas of the United States with a Mexican heritage, such as Texas and California. In Mexico it is considered to be the most important holiday of the year.
The celebrations
In Mexico’s celebrations of the Day of the Dead, dead relatives, young and old are invited to return to the mortal world to visit their loved ones. Over two days, specific rites of joy and celebration are faithfully observed, taking place in the home and in the cemetery amid bouquets of flowers, banquettes of bread and ghostly sweets.
In cemeteries families tend and decorate family graves with flowers, enjoy picnics and tell stories. The meals prepared for these picnics are sumptuous, usually featuring meat in spicy sauces, chocolate, cookies, skull shaped sweets and egg-batter bread (pan de muerto) in which plastic skeletons may be hidden.
Graves are decorated with marigolds and adorned with pictures of the dead, religious amulets and offerings of food.
In the home altars are created and decorated with items which the family feel will attract the souls of their dead ancestors, such as flowers and food, as well as items which remind them of the departed (clothes, toys and photos) and things that they prized or enjoyed while they lived.
The Origins
The origins of the Day of the Dead can be dated back to Mesoamerican native traditions such as the festivities held during the Aztec month of Miccailhuitontli, a festival dedicated to children and the dead, and presided over by the ‘lady of the dead’.
In the Aztec calendar this ritual fell roughly at the end of July/beginning of August, but in the post conquest era, it was moved by Spanish priests to coincide with the Christian holiday of All Hallows Eve.
This was a vain attempt to transform the observance to a Christian celebration. The result is that Mexicans now celebrate the Day of the Dead on the first two days of November, and the modern festivity is characterised by a traditional Mexican blend of ancient aboriginal and introduced Christian elements.
