Festival Happens Known As The Day of The Dead

The Day of the Dead is a huge event that is very important to the Latino culture within the celebration and traditional ways that have been going on for many centuries. Every year on the dates October 31 to November 2 a festival happens known as the Day of the Dead, more specifically known as Día de Muertos. The first day celebrated is known as the Day of the Angles, meant to be in honor of kids who past and the the second day is the major celebration known as the Day of the Dead meant for adults who have past; both these celebrations are equally important (Brandes). The Day of the Dead originated within the Aztec ways of worshiping the dead and this tradition all started about 3,000 years ago (Brandes). This festival is held profoundly in Latino culture, and the occasion centers around the social affair of family and companions and the remembrance of individuals who had died that were close to them. People celebrate this occasion to honor their loved ones and to know that they are never forgotten. Within this culture they believe that afterlife and death is more important than life itself, and as a result the people who died should be celebrated (Brandes). All cultures have something they hold deeply, and in this case in Latino culture family is a huge value and even within death they still give recognition and respect to those loved ones.

As a result, in this Paragraph I will talk about why this holiday is celebrated and unpack it further into detail of what the holiday is truly about. The Day of the dead is a tradition that had been going on within the latino culture for many years and death itself is taken seriously and is an an important aspect within their belief. The Latino culture takes death seriously and has their own ritual on honoring their loved ones of when a person passes. When a person dies, more specifically in the latino culture, the corpse is placed on a bed for a period of time.

To honor their died one they place flowers near the bed area and also an incense container is lit which fills the area with smoke in order to help illuminate the negative energy within the room. In traditional medicine incense is used for cleansing, and the latinos use this method in the case that the disease one did not go threw a cleansing period through their lifetime. After this the corpse is taken to church for a mass before the burial processes. After the mass, the coffin is carried by both family and friends and during this time they sing praises to the Virgin Mary if it were to be a women and if it was a man they would chant to a saint, more specifically to the saint that the dead was devoted to. Finally the priest blesses the dead and than they bury them, covering the coffin with flowers. During the burying process all the dirt that had came out of the hole must be put back on top of the coffin because of their beliefs if any dirt was left over a living relative could possibly die. After the burial, the family would stay in at the grave site for about two hours and than go home. But at five o’clock the next morning the family members and friends go as a group to the cemetery and celebrate the deceased life by arranging flowers and candles on the grave.

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