Posted on 11/02/2007 10:14:18 PM PDT by Coleus
Tamara Morales paid homage to her grandfather on her lunch hour at the fast-food chain Chipotle on Thursday. "I told the guy behind the counter, 'Give me the most 'picante' salsa,'" said Morales, in Spanish. Morales was preparing for "El Dia de los Muertos," or "the Day of the Dead," a holiday when the spirits of the deceased are said to return and reunite with loved ones.
Her grandfather, Manual, died six years ago at the ripe age of 87, she said. He had a loud voice and a penchant for spicy food, so Morales was going to savor the salsa in memory of her "abuelito." Later Thursday night, Morales joined others at the headquarters of Casa Puebla on Essex Street to begin the two-day holiday. Morales, vice president of Casa Puebla, a Mexican social activist group, led several families in celebration as they recalled memories of the dead and ate candy skulls, fruits and special bread called "pan de muerto" or "bread of the dead," sometimes stuffed with a miniature skeleton.
The holiday, celebrated in Latin American countries and predominantly in Mexico, traditionally begins the night of Oct. 31 and continues until Nov. 2. During the two-day celebration, Mexicans hold vigils and build altars with food for their dead loved ones. The first night honors children who have died and the second night is for adults.
In Mexico, it is common practice for families to go to the cemetery or "panteon" and pluck weeds, wash down the tombstones of their relatives and leave flowers, such as customary yellow marigolds. Morales said that since most cemeteries prohibit visitors after dark in the United States, Casa Puebla has a celebration at their headquarters on Essex Street in Passaic.
The holiday reflects how Mexicans view the afterlife as something not to fear but as a natural part of the human life cycle. "El Dia de los Muertos" stems from a combination of Aztec traditions and the commemoration of the Christian religious holiday All Saints Day. Before the Spanish arrived in Mexico, Aztecs paid homage to the goddess Mictecacihuatl during a month-long summer celebration. The traditions blended when the Spanish colonized Mexico in the 1500s and Catholicism became the dominant religion.
As the group Thursday prepared an altar at Casa Puebla, some recalled personal memories of relatives who died. Alejandra Galaciaawaited the spirit of her brother-in-law, whom she said collapsed and died suddenly last month on a soccer field in Mexico. The youngest in his family, she used to call him "patito" or little duck, because when he walked he would waddle strangely, with his toes pointed inward. "He was loved by everyone in the family," she recalled in Spanish, as her four young children sat by her side. "He was so calm and nice." The group told old fables of death, like the story of Francisca and Catrina. Catrina, a spirit of death, dresses up fancifully and runs about looking for Francisca, a tired old woman, said Morales. Francisca in return, cannot find this elegant lady of death.
"It's a metaphor. You may want to find death but death does not want to find you," Morales explained. Unlike Halloween, which characterizes the spiritual world as gruesome and scary, "El Dia de los Muertos" is a holiday where Mexicans embrace death. "We laugh at death," said Hermenio Garcia , President of Casa Puebla. Mexicans dress up statues of skeletons like real people, sometimes wearing wedding dresses or carrying a briefcase, the skeletons are supposed to be like guardian angels. "In Mexico, we have a saying 'that they run errands for us,'" Garcia explained. Casa Puebla celebrates again Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. at 37 Essex St.
**”El Dia de los Muertos**
The Day of the Dead — this is bigger to the Hispanic community, I think, than it is to the English speaking community.
The Masses today for English speakers had sparse attendance, but the Hispanic Mass had a church about 2/3 full.
And they're right. I think it's a wonderful tradition.
Consistent with their driving patterns.
Deu 28:14 And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
Deu 11:27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:
Deu 11:28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.
Exo 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
Exo 34:15 Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;
Exo 34:16 And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.
Exo 34:17 Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.
Exo 34:18 The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.
Memorial Day picks up some of this emphasis, at least in the South. Although the holiday originally specified the war dead, it’s become a general “visit the family graves” date in many places.
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