Celebrating the “Day of the Dead” in Mexico and Guatemala

*Prelude to my WS 123 on All Saints' Day*

Today is 1st November, All Saints’ Day, which is a special day for the Christians to remember the love ones who have departed. It is like the traditional 清明节 for the Chinese. The practice varies widely among the many Christian denominations. Some Protestant groups do celebrate this festival but some don’t. For many it is time for the families to visit the cemeteries to lay flowers and candles on the graves of the deceased. 

Some denominations, like the Catholics, continue the celebration to the 2nd of November as well, calling the day All Souls’ Day. The “official” day for Malaysian Catholics to visit cemeteries and pray for the dead is on this All Souls’ Day. Official in the sense that the priest will be there. 

The Americans and Canadians celebrate Halloween on the evening of 31st October, an extension of All Saints’ Day. The celebration involves costume parties, carving of pumpkins, trick-or-treating, etc, but is more secular than religious. 

The Mexicans and Guatemalans are mostly Catholics and their form of celebration is called “Day of the Dead”, stretching from 31st October to 2nd November. And this is the topic of the segment of my travel story today.

*WS 123: celebrating the “Day of the Dead” in Mexico and Guatemala*

The Mexicans and Guatemalans in Central America are mostly Catholics. They celebrate the “Day of the Dead” from 31st October to 2nd November each year to remember the relatives and friends who have passed away. 

On 31st October to 2nd November 2013 we were in a very poor neighbourhood of San Jorge la Laguna at Lake Atitlan in the Guatemala Highlands in Guatemala and did not see any elaborate celebration like flying of giant kites famous in bigger Guatemalan cities. What we did see were the newly dressed graves, 1st and 2nd photos, and a decorated home altar, 3rd photo. 

On this same trip we were in Mexico too, starting on 3rd November. The main activities of the festival were over but there were still many decorations left in public places. In Mexico skull masks and papier mache painted with skeletons are the most common decorations. The 4th and 5th photos show the papier mache "skeleton family" and paper-cut laces at the lobby of our hotel in San Cristobal de las Casas. The 6th is a sea of special laces at a church, the Templo de la Merced in the same city. The 7th is a pair of “girls” found at the Zapotec ruins at Mitla. 

A coffin was on display at a park called Centro de San Angel in Mexico City, so was a giant skeleton, 8th and 9th photos. The last is a very popular skull called “La Calavera Catrina” based on the itched image by the famous engraver Jose Guadalupe Posada made in 1910/1913. Could be found everywhere.