Professor explains origins and significance of Día de los Muertos
Get insight into the days that help people confront their mortality and remember their loved ones
Coming on the heels of Halloween, it may be common for major retailers and general observers to see Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) as an extension of Halloween.
In actuality, however, sweet treats—specifically in the form of skulls made of sugar and decorated with brightly colored icing (called calaveras de azucar)—are likely the only connection between Halloween and Day of the Dead.
Despite the prominent imagery of skulls, Día de los Muertos isn’t meant to be spooky at all.
We sat down with Lea Ramsdell, professor emerita of Spanish and Portuguese in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, to learn more about the holiday.
Ramsdell, who has “more of a personal interest” in Día de los Muertos as opposed to a scholarly interest on the topic, discussed the evolution and true meaning of Día de los Muertos.
5 Facts About the Meaning of Día de los Muertos
Día de los Muertos has a stronger connection to Catholicism than it does to Halloween.
“The holiday evolved from the Catholic holidays of All Saints Day (Nov. 1), a day to honor saints and children who have died, and All Souls Day (Nov. 2), a day to honor all the adults who have passed away. Day of the Dead is a manifestation the Aztec and Indigenous influences of central Mexico coming together with Catholicism to create something different.”
Death isn’t always sad, and Día de los Muertos is a time to see death differently.
“Remembering the people who have passed away is a very important part of the holiday. It is not solemn, though. It is a celebration. Día de los Muertos is more about healing than it is about feeling bad. Celebrating Day of the Dead means facing the fact that death is real and that although our loved ones are no longer with us, we can remember them and are happy that their spirits have returned to be with us during the holiday.”
[The holiday] is a time to remember the dead, but it’s also a time to realize your mortality and not be afraid of it.
Lea Ramsdell
In the 20th century, activists and artists have embraced Día de los Muertos for political, cultural and social commentary.
“There was a dictatorship for almost 40 years in Mexico that eventually ended in the Mexican Revolution. During this period José Guadalupe Posada, a journalist and graphic designer, started to really popularize the skeleton imagery for Day of the Dead. Posada really used the image and related folk art as a way of social commentary on the dictatorship and upper classes who believed that they were better than the masses. Posada’s point was to remind those with greater social status that they are mortal after all.”
Portraying the dictator as a skeleton was a way of saying, ‘You are going to die too, we are all going to die. We don’t care who you are or how much power you have, in the end you are mortal.’ So on Day of the Dead, we really see [in the artwork and symbols] these images of everyone’s mortality.”
The commercialization of Día de los Muertos in popular culture or in stores isn’t all bad.
“[The 2017 film] ‘Coco’ really got people interested in Day of the Dead in a way that they had not been before.
Día de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead is celebrated on November 1 and 2.
The cultural references in the movie were actually researched for the film so the bright orange cempoalxochitl (pronounced cem-pa-SU-chil) used to form a trail from the loved one’s tomb back home and the ofrenda [altar] depicted in the film are pretty close to what you might see in Mexico and the borderlands (Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas) where Day of the Dead is big.”
Day of the Dead is a holiday that anyone can celebrate, regardless of cultural heritage. Ideally, it should remind us of our commonalities as humans.
“I don’t think it would be considered cultural appropriation if someone wanted to make an ofrenda in their house to honor their ancestors. I do it because my parents are gone now, and my grandparents. I put my altar up for about a week and it is a reminder and understanding how my loved ones are still a part of me.”
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Ramsdell is so well traveled in Spanish-speaking Latin America that it’s easier for her to list the countries she hasn’t yet visited: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela. Ramsdell's intense wanderlust means the bookshelves in her office are filled with musical instruments (she teaches a class on Latino cultural identity through music) and cultural keepsakes that she buys on her adventures. She picked up three figurines at a market in Mexico City in 2005, when she led a TU Study Abroad trip there.
Figurines from Mexico watch over Lea Ramsdell’s office.
Day of the Dead is celebrated on November 1 and 2, when art like this is displayed on altars and in windows throughout the country. “It’s a time to remember the dead, but it’s also a time to realize your mortality and not be afraid of it,” Ramsdell says. “It’s also a time to make social commentary. In a way they’re making fun of people in high society. They’re very dressed up and elegant, but they’re skeletons. She looks like she thinks she’s really something, but she’s still mortal after all.”
The design of the female skeleton’s dress conjures nationalistic images, Ramsdell says. Both the Mexican flag and the dress feature a green, white and red color scheme and include an image of a cactus with an eagle perched atop it eating a serpent. “That was the signal for the Aztecs, who were a nomadic tribe at one point,” she says. “They were to search for this cactus with an eagle on top of it eating a serpent and build their homeland there.”
The figures are made of papier-mâché, so they’re extremely light. Ramsdell thinks she bought them for $15 or $20—pricey by Mexican standards at the time. “I find it fascinating to go to different cultures and see the kinds of things that are important to the people there,” she says. “Popular culture appeals to me. I studied literature and civilization, and I love that, but something about the common person and what they find important, I’m really drawn to that. That’s exactly what this is about. These are an expression of the common person, not necessarily a trained professional artist. This wouldn’t be considered high art, but that’s exactly why I like it.”
This article was originally published in 2022.
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