Dia de los Muertos - Day of the Dead.Oaxaca, Mexico on 31 October - 2 November.
If you come to Mexico in earlyNovember can be invited to the Mexican family and Get Company from the deaddeserve. Holiday Dia de los Muertos is close in time with Halloween, but it has
nothing to do with him. This is not a holiday goblins, ghouls and evil spirits.
On this day honored dead souls and welcome them home as a blessing.
Built altars in homes
represent the deceased in the afterlife relatives. Greeting death for Mexicans,
this is a way to take their fears. The line between life and death is blurred
in this culture, the living and the dead coexist together in parallel. This
beautiful holiday - riding lesson of life that goes beyond life itself.
Three in one
This holiday was formed long
ago, in pre-Columbian era, about 3000 years ago. After the Spanish conquest of
celebration combines the ancient Indian ritual and Christian teaching. The
Aztecs believed that death is the continuation of life, it is only a door,
opening into the underworld, reviving the soul in a higher state. They believed
that the death of the beginning of the present life. But the souls of the
departed do not forget and can visit the living. Ancient festival will coincide
with All Saints Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2), now merged
into a single holiday’s Aztec-Christian celebration. Interestingly, in Catholic
Mexico, cemeteries and crosses necessarily occur Aztec symbols of skulls.
Holiday instead of mourning
Death, painted in dark tones,
was left without a place on this holiday. Day of the Dead - a joyous celebration
of life: love, remembrance and reverence, the protagonists of the event. Dia de
los Muertos is the acceptance of death without mourning, and the real glory of
life. This attitude helps to come to terms with the death of all the families
and especially children. Allows you to not be afraid of the unknown, can be
very frightening issue in my life.
Day of the Dead is celebrated
in Mexico and in the United States, in places where there are large Mexican
community. Holiday lasts three days, beginning on October 31 training. On this
day, women clean the house and cook, men build altars of clay. November 1 is
dedicated to children and babies - Dia de los Angelitos, Day little angels - on
altars lay toys and candies, hoping that the dead will take them with you on
the way to another world. November 2 - Dia de los Muertos - Day for adults.
Calaveras - decorated with a skull bigger and pretentious, more complex
rituals, and served on the table very spicy food and tequila.
On holiday fun the whole
country, but the Day of the Dead is the capital - Oaxaca. This is the best
place that would dance with the dead. What would help the lost souls find their
way home, they needed direction - the arch of bright orange marigolds symbolize
the gateway to another world. Occupy the central place of course altars built
by relatives. One of the symbols of the holiday ritual - Pan de Muertos - the
bread of the dead. It is often made in the form of Calaveras that would feed
the tired on the way home spirits.
The noisiest a holiday - the
evening, when the dead come to life. Candlelight processions, vigils around the
altar, and the soundtrack create stray maryachos.
Festive food and body art
Food for the soul on this
holiday is taken quite literally. In addition to the Bread of the Dead to the
site and other traditional treats - cakes, Mexican Hot Chocolate Caliente. All
prepared for the dead, but eat and live. Souls of the living and the dead eat
each other, celebrating both worlds. Sugar skulls are the most iconic images of
the holiday. To make them, granulated white sugar is pressed in the form of the
skull, the artist draws his colorful and always gets the name of the deceased.
The skulls are placed on the graves and altars in memory of the departed. Some
sugar skull inspired a trend in the art based on this tradition.
Another tradition that has
spread beyond Mexico, the complex painted on his face. In the tradition of
sugar skulls, people paint their faces and Calaveras procession becomes a dance
of the living dead. The Aztecs believed that death was an awakening, a revival
of the skull symbolizes the transformation and transition to a higher level of
consciousness.
Tips
Always speak well of souls.
Although it is a holiday, it's not Halloween, is a ceremony of respect.
Paint your face. By
participating in the festival, give your face, let it be painted by a local
artist.
Visit the cemetery. Altars -
an important part of the festivities and go to the cemetery, it is a good way
to visit the altars with this atmosphere.
Calacas - buy as souvenirs
puppets dancing skeletons.
Practical aspects
To try the real taste of Dia
de los-Muertos, flying in Oaxaca. Oaxaca has a rich culture, sights and good
living conditions. Other fantastic celebration taking place near Mexico City in
Barrio Magico in Mikskik, it is often called the "city of the dead"
and in Guanajuato (between Mexico City and Guadalajara), where there is a
museum of mummies.
In Russia, during the holiday,
too, can see the Mexican Altar dead in Moscow at the Institute Cervantes.
