Some Cheerful Soul-Searching in Mexico

While children north of the border dress up for trick or treat on the pagan holiday of Halloween, Mexicans prepare for a two-day holy observance, the Days of the Dead.

All Saint’s Day on Nov. 1 and All Soul’s Day on Nov. 2 are at once sacred and satirical. They are fiestas to welcome back the souls of recently departed loved ones.

On All Saint’s Day, children’s souls are supposed to return to visit their homes. In many villages, celebrants create flower-strewn paths for young spirits to follow from their graves to their homes, where families gather for welcoming feasts.

All Soul’s Day is for recently departed adults. Relatives dress in their Sunday best and visit their muertitos (dead loved ones) at local cemeteries. There, with lavish picnic lunches and generous drink, they stage all-day and all-night vigils to welcome back the souls of the recent dead.

They leave small offerings beside graves cheerfully decorated with paper banners and streamers and flowers. Some even display jack-o’-lanterns. At dusk, celebrants light candles, and the multitude creates a warm, slightly eerie glow. The merrymaking includes music and dance and skits that make fun of death and dying--and all other aspects of life.

Meanwhile, in many towns, adults and children dress up as monsters, ghosts or goblins and parade through the streets. They wear scary masks and beat loud drums to chase away any evil spirits who might interfere with the celebrations or bring bad luck to townspeople.

Like our Halloween, Mexico’s Days of the Dead tradition stems from ancient pagan rites marking the end of the summer growing season. When missionaries brought All Saint’s and All Soul’s days to Mexico, Catholic beliefs merged with native myths to create Days of the Dead celebrations that have continued to the present. The tradition is particularly strong in Oaxaca and in other rural areas with large Indian populations.

Over the centuries, a folk art form has evolved from the celebrations. These handcrafts include papier-mache skeletons and skulls, ceramic devil figurines and candelabra. There are paper and tin cut-outs in styles ranging from cartoon-like to surreal, from minimalist to rococo, and sweets in the form of crystallized sugar skulls and skull-shaped buns.

Every craft-producing region of Mexico contributes to Days of the Dead celebrations. In Oaxaca, craftsmen make toy wooden skeletons with woolly hair. They are dressed as brides and grooms, musicians, tailors, bakers, tourists. Their arms and legs are attached with small springs so they jiggle in a jolly fashion. Skeletons with pull strings that make their limbs jump are favorites.

Although sugar skulls are universal this time of year, Guanajuato makes the best and biggest variety of candy associated with the Days of the Dead. In the town’s marketplace, stalls sell sombrero-clad candy skeletons, smoking cigarettes and holding miniature tequila bottles.

Craftsmen from Puebla make Days of the Dead candelabra elaborately ornamented with skeletons, skulls, devils and flowers. These sculptures often stand four feet tall, or more. They are spiritually opposite the better-known Tree of Life candelabra decorated with flowers, animals and people painted in vivid colors. Puebla also produces many of the paper decorations designed for cemeteries during Days of the Dead celebrations.

To stateside residents, Days of the Dead celebrations may seem macabre, but in Mexico, they are joyous and widely celebrated.