Day of the Dead in Oaxaca

Soul Celebration: Celebrants get into the 

spirit of Day of the Dead 

Death happens to all of us, but the way it is greeted and what is taken to mean differs radically from place to place. In Oaxaca, Mexico the community believes the gates of heaven open up on November 1st-November 2nd to celebrate the death of their loved ones. The cultural wealth of this tradition resides on the fact that it not only blends Mexico’s ancient mythologies with European Catholic traditions, but also, it combines all fundamental elements of Mexico’s rich culture: family, food, music, arts and crafts, and a strong sense of community.

Mexico’s Perspective on Life and Death

As practised by the indigenous communities of Mexico, el Día de los Muertos, commemorates the transitory return to Earth of deceased relatives and loved ones. The festivities take place each year at the end of October to the beginning of November.

Disney's film "Coco" beautifully portrays a mosaic of the holiday's
traditions that remain true to its essence. In this picture, the
altars displays portraits of the past loved ones,
inviting them to return to earth. 

In certain communities, this period also marks the completion of the annual cycle of cultivation of maize, the country’s predominant food crop. Interestingly, this traditional holiday even made the UNESCO list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.

The pre-Hispanic cultures of Mexico believed that death is as much a part of life as birth, and should be accepted and approached with positivity rather than fear. In essence, they celebrate life through death. This is the core truth behind the tradition of Día de los Muertos.‍

Death Ritual: Novenario  

In Oaxaca it is thought that when a person dies, his soul enters a luminal state, remaining tied to the earth. For the first nine days after death, the deceased or difunto  remains in its former house. On the evening of the funeral and for the next eight days, people gather in the home of the deceased reciting prayers for his soul’s salvation. These nine days are called the Novenario de los Difuntos.

Tradition

Great care is taken with all aspects of the preparations, for it is believed that the dead are capable of bringing prosperity, an abundant maize harvest or misfortune such as illness, accidents, financial difficulties upon their families depending on how satisfactorily the rituals are executed. It is essential for the salvation of the deceased that the living pray for and include them in their religious rituals. Not only will they help the deceased to enter into the afterlife but they, in turn, will earn the future intercession of the dead with the saints on their behalf. It’s a win-win proposition for both the living and the dead. 

For example, a man from Oaxaca states, “If you don’t put an altar for the difuntos, they go off sad… and something bad can happen to the person who didn’t make them an altar like an accident… she or he may trip, that is the belief here...” (Norget pp.355) 

The precise ceremonies, offerings, and customs for Day of the Dead celebrations vary by region and town, but they’re all an integral part of the event which is echoed all over Mexico. Day of the Dead celebrates life, its fragility, its complexity but, at its core, it is a celebration of hope for humanity.  

"When I was in Oaxaca, my family used to go to the cemetery where our loved ones rest... Early, very early, around two or three in the morning," recalls Hernandez a Oaxacan woman living in Madera, California who has prepared an altar for her dead loved ones. “There you share with those who departed from this life, normally you stay up until the candle is almost consumed"

In Oaxaca, death is not experienced as an event that introduces discontinuity. Significantly, those who die remain attached to the whole community in a way that is quite rare in the United States. It’s this intimate connection between the living and the dead that explains the Oaxacan attitude toward death.

The dead are not gone, not disappeared; they are merely on one more step of a journey that we will all enter upon. The dead remain. Not only in their memories, but as active partners in their lives and own salvation.

Works Cited: 

Stanley, Eduardo. "Dia De Los Muertos: A Spiritual Celebration for the Departed." La Prensa San Diego, Nov 01, 2013, pp. 1-1,5. ProQuest, http://proxy.library.cpp.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.cpp.edu/docview/1465229338?accountid=10357.