La Corua Digital Art
  • Home
    • Roots
  • Traditions
  • Barrios
    • Gardens
  • People
    • Music
  • Folklore
  • Border
    • En Memoriam
  • Graphics
    • THCC
  • Codex
    • About

El Día de los Muertos - the Mexican and now American Tradition

10/15/2012

 
Sugar skulls
El Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead/All Souls Day has its roots in the Aztec and Maya traditions of Mexico and is thousands of years old. 
​

It has become more & more recognized and celebrated here in the greater American West in recent years. The Day of the Dead as it is celebrated in central and southern Mexico is an incredible amalgamation of native and Catholic beliefs, and honors departed members of the family. As the time of year when the veil between the worlds is the thinnest, it is believed that the departed actually come back, returning to visit their grave sites and the scenes of their lives.

One of the ways that Mexicans cope with loss is to view the concept of death in an almost playful manner. Markets are filled with candy skulls (complete with names) and statues and depictions of calacas (skeletons) engaged in everyday acts like playing music, celebrating weddings (and funerals!), riding skeleton horses, bikes, and countless other life delights.

Artists have participated in the long-standing tradition of creating calaveras (skulls) to celebrate this event - often satirizing the events, customs and personalities of the day. The most famous Mexican artist known for this is José Guadalupe Posada.

In the northern frontiers of Mexico and border regions, El Día de los Muertos is more muted but departed family members are honored just the same. Fall is when families of the departed clean grave sites, give them fresh paint, and decorate the graves with flowers--fresh, silk/plastic, and hand-made paper.

'Tis the Season of the Dead!

10/3/2012

 
Calaca butterfly
Of all the seasons of the year, Fall is my favorite. Here in the Sonoran Desert the temperatures begin to cool and there is a restful stillness in the air. Around the world, many cultures celebrate this time as the annual window when the veil between the spirit and physical world is the thinnest. In pre-Christian times, death was not a thing to be feared but a transition to be celebrated as another form of life. In this way, family members and ancestors were honored and kept close in the hearts of the living.

During this special fall window, many grand occurrences take place in nature that have helped people connect with those who have passed on. In North America, one of the most phenomenal is the mass migration of the Monarch butterfly. Every year, 60 million-one billion Monarchs make the journey from eastern Canada to the forests of western central Mexico. They arrive in the state of Michoacán every fall. The Purépecha Indians in the region have noticed the arrival of monarchs since pre-Hispanic times. In the native Purépecha language, the monarch butterfly is called the harvester butterfly, because monarchs appear when it's time to harvest the corn.

Monarchs and the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead (El Día de los Muertos) also occurs when the monarchs appear. According to traditional belief, the monarchs are the souls of ancestors who are returning to Earth for their annual visit.

All Souls/All Saints/Day of the Dead occurs officially on November 2nd. In Mexico, however, it is a three-day celebration that begins on October 31st. More on this festive tradition next post.

Monarch butterflies

     Codex

    La Corua
    A blog of inspirations, interpretations-- things that move me in this corner of the universe where I'm planted.

    Codices

    All
    Aboriginal
    Barrios
    Border
    Cultural
    En Memoriam
    Folklore
    Graphics
    Migrants
    People
    Sonoran Desert
    Spiritual
    Traditions

    Archives

    April 2021
    January 2021
    September 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    September 2018
    April 2018
    September 2017
    September 2016
    June 2016
    November 2015
    April 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    July 2013
    October 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    December 2011
    August 2011


 Home | Traditions | Barrios  | People  | Folklore  | Border  | Graphics ​|​ Codex

La Corua-Baboquivari-Mts
*  La Corúa  was a large water serpent that lived in springs of water and protected them. They say it had a cross on its forehead and cleaned the veins of water with its long fangs or tusks. It was a shy creature but could sometimes be caught sunning on the rocks of the spring.  According to Sonoran folk beliefs, if one killed the Corúa, the spring would dry up.  Vanishing water sources and  economic pressures have pushed the folklore of La Corúa  to the dustbin of history on both sides of the border, but La Corúa remains in the minds and memories of elders in the Pimería Alta.

Serpents have been sacred for millennia to indigenous peoples throughout the Americas and are respected as guardians of water sources and bringers of rain.

* Beliefs and Holy Places - A Spiritual Geography of the Pimeria Alta  -  James S. Griffith, University of Arizona Press, 1992

Background painting:  Baboquivari Peak - the monolith landmark defining the Baboquivari mountains southwest of Tucson. The center of Tohono O'odham cosmology, it is sacred and is the home of I'itoi, their Creator and Elder Brother. The peak is visible from Casa Grande in the northwest, south into Mexico.  (I'itoi is also the figure in the O'odham 'Man in the Maze' basket design.)

© Copyright 2022 | La Corua Digital Art
  • Home
    • Roots
  • Traditions
  • Barrios
    • Gardens
  • People
    • Music
  • Folklore
  • Border
    • En Memoriam
  • Graphics
    • THCC
  • Codex
    • About