Day of the Dead

History

UNESCO's own description is the most precise short account of what the day is for. "As practised by the indigenous communities of Mexico, el Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) commemorates the transitory return to Earth of deceased relatives and loved ones. The festivities take place each year at the end of October to the beginning of November. This period also marks the completion of the annual cycle of cultivation of maize, the country's predominant food crop." Families "facilitate the return of the souls to Earth by laying flower petals, candles and offerings along the path leading from the cemetery to their homes," and the dead person's favorite dishes are placed "around the home shrine and the tomb alongside flowers and typical handicrafts, such as paper cut-outs."

Two things in that account tend to get lost in English. The first is that the care taken is not sentimental: UNESCO notes that "it is believed that the dead are capable of bringing prosperity (e.g. an abundant maize harvest) or misfortune (e.g. illness, accidents, financial difficulties) upon their families depending on how satisfactorily the rituals are executed." The second is that the calendar is finer than the popular two-day split suggests. "The dead are divided into several categories according to cause of death, age, sex and, in some cases, profession. A specific day of worship, determined by these categories, is designated for each deceased person."

The origins are layered rather than linear. The Smithsonian traces the observance to ancient Mesoamerica, where indigenous groups "including Aztec, Maya and Toltec, had specific times when they commemorated their loved ones who had passed away," and says that after the Spanish arrived the practice "was intertwined with two Spanish holidays: All Saints Day (Nov. 1) and All Soul's Day (Nov. 2)." The Library of Congress puts the same process in the colonial period: "In Mexico in the colonial era, a similar mingling occurred between All Souls Day and several Indigenous celebrations of the ancestors, creating Dia de Muertos, which means 'Day of the Dead' but also 'Day of the Ancestors.'" UNESCO calls the result a fusion of "pre-Hispanic religious rites and Catholic feasts," bringing together "two universes, one marked by indigenous belief systems, the other by worldviews introduced by the Europeans in the sixteenth century."

The name has its own history, and it is not the one most people assume. According to the Library of Congress, "the 'los' in 'Dia de los Muertos' seems to come from a translation of the English phrase 'Day of the Dead' back into Spanish; the 'los' was rarely used in Latin America before the 1960s - however, now both names are used." The Library hedges with "seems to," and so should anyone repeating it, but the form Americans treat as the authentic Spanish name appears to have come back from English.

The holiday's most photographed modern image has a similarly recent provenance. In 2016, Mexico City staged a large Dia de Muertos parade; PBS NewsHour reported that the previous year's James Bond film, which "opened with a 'day of the dead' parade featuring floats, puppets, and skeletons" filmed in Mexico City, "became the inspiration for yesterday's parade," and that it was "part of a campaign by the government to bring tourists." One participant, speaking about the older rituals rather than the parade, told PBS: "It is really cool, very traditional, super Mexican, but no one has heard about it."

How to observe

Build an ofrenda, and build it to a plan. The Smithsonian's account has every ofrenda carrying the four elements: water left in a pitcher; papel picado, the cut-paper banners, for wind; earth represented by food, especially bread; and candles, often arranged in a cross for the cardinal directions so that the spirits can find their way. Sugar skulls - calaveritas de azucar - and toys are left for children who have died.

Use cempasuchil if you can get it. The Smithsonian describes it as "a type of marigold flower native to Mexico" placed on ofrendas and around graves, with the petals "used to make a path that leads the spirits from the cemetery to their families' homes" - the same practice UNESCO describes.

Cook the specific thing. UNESCO's wording is "the deceased's favourite dishes," not festival food in general, and that distinction is most of the difference between observing the day and decorating for it.

If you are in Washington in early November, the Library of Congress's Hispanic Reading Room puts up a community altar and says plainly: "Feel free to come leave an offering of your own." And if you want the primary material rather than the summaries, the Library's own guide suggests the catalog search terms it uses itself - decorated altars, calaveras, Catrina, sugar skulls, and All Souls' Day--Mexico.