Mexican
holiday celebrates death
Jennifer
Camacho/On-line Forty-Niner
By
Renee Lemus
On-line Forty-Niner
Celebrating
with food, presentations, and the building
of an altar, the Women's Resource Center
along with Hermanas Unidas held an event
honoring the traditional Mexican holiday,
Dia de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.
Susan
Luevano, one of the speakers, discussed
about how people in Mexico and local cities
celebrate Dia de Los Muertos. She said that
it is a national holiday in Mexico and it
is a way to celebrate the spirits of the
dead. Luevano is a librarian for Anthropology,
Ethnic Studies and Women's Studies. She
also makes public altars for display all
around Southern California.
The
presentation was then followed by the creation
of an altar. The people who attended placed
several items that were laid out on a table
onto the altar. Then the traditional bread
of death was shared and some of the attendees
explained how they celebrate Dia de Los
Muertos in their own homes.
Dia
de Los Muertos, as explained by Luevano,
is an ancient indigenous tradition that
began in Pre-Columbian Mexico in the 16th
century. Indigenous Mexicans celebrated
the life of their deceased relatives and
ancestors. The belief is that "life
springs from death and death from life,"
said Luevano.
The
people celebrated this day by traveling
to the cemetery and making altars at the
grave sight. However when the Spanish came
to conquer Mexico the Indians were not allowed
to celebrate this holiday in public and
had to resort to making altars in their
homes.
That is the tradition that has remained
present to this day.
The
altars are made up of several symbols with
different meanings. These symbols include
candles, pictures of the deceased, the favorite
food of the deceased, "calaveras,"
or skulls, the universal symbol of death,
and the flower Marigold that sends off a
scent that is supposed to guide the dead
home.
According
to Luevano for Mexicans making these altars
and celebrating this holiday is "a
symbol of resistance for our cultural heritage."
Luevano goes on to say that this kind of
celebrations is not just a Mexican tradition
but has "universal appeal." Many
people in Asia and South America celebrate
similar holidays for the dead.
Other
people at the event said they also celebrate
Dia de Los Muertos by making altars, and
such. Other traditions that they mentioned
were, reciting the rosary and lighting candles
for nine days because that is how long it
takes for the spirit to travel home.
Luevano
said that La Raza will be holding a march
on Nov. 6 at 6 p.m. from the Indian burial
grounds on campus to the Soroptimist House
where an altar will be erected.
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