 |
| My in progress altar. |
Día de los Muertos is an ancient
ceremony for honoring the dead. Over the centuries and the dispersal
across villages, states and countries, it has been shaped by local
customs. What I have found in my short time here in Mexico is incredible
diversity around this holiday, from a stunningly beautiful but quietly
reverent atmosphere to a noisy, carnival-like approach.
Now that this celebration is creeping
into western culture, enriching the candy and trick-or-treat holiday
with a deeper meaning, perhaps we should give more thought to how we
want to participate in the ritual.
As people are attracted to the Mexican
celebration of the ancestors, one of the first things they think about
is creating an altar. So far, so good. There are hundreds of articles
about how to create a traditional, Mexican altar and some of my
favorites will be listed below. I started to synthesize some of these
into a step-by-step guide and then decided that wasn’t the right
approach. Following a connect-the-dots guide might create a beautiful
altar, but it could also be empty and meaningless.
If you are reading this, you’re probably
feeling a tug toward recognizing your lost loved ones. You want to
honor them in some way and creating an altar seems like one way to do
it. And, that’s true. However, there are others. One friend on Facebook
lost a son four years ago in October. She has been posting a fall
picture every day and inviting friends to add their own colorful images
to the collection. She has been open about her grief and her attempt to
honor her son. Another friend created a Facebook tribute to the
important people in her life, enumerating the gifts each of them gave
her.
Whatever you decide to do, do it your
way. Honor the gifts, but also honor the grief their passing has left
with you. Typically, altars include pictures, flowers, candles, incense,
food and drink for the ancestors. There are layers and layers of
meanings that have been added over the years. What’s important is what
these things mean to you and to the loved ones you are honoring.
 |
| Church in San Cristóbal de las Casas with papel picado |
Perhaps, starting with a few questions might help:
- What gifts did you receive from the person you are honoring?
- How is your life different because you knew and loved, and were loved by, this person?
- What did your ancestor love to do, to eat, or to drink?
- What would show that person that you loved her or him?
- What shared memory would make that person smile?
- What story captures the essence of your loved one?
Regardless of your belief about death
and life after death, honoring the people you’ve loved and whom have
loved you, is a way of honoring yourself, a way of remembering that you
were and are worthy of their love. In many ways, this celebration is not
only about honoring your ancestors, it's about loving yourself and
accepting the realities of life and death. Here in Mexico, the
delicately cut paper decorations called papel picado are used to
represent the fragile boundary between life and death.
One of the beliefs about Día de los
Muertos is that the dead are allowed to return to Earth once a year. The
altars and all the other preparations are to make sure the living are
ready to receive them. Thus, the emphasis on food and drink that was
preferred by the ancestor as well as candles, incense and aromatic
flowers to guide the spirits back to their families.
According to Nicolás Medina Mora. "The
altar serves as a kind of beacon to guide the souls of the dead to your
house. The powerful scent of flowers and incense, the glow of the
candles, and the brightly colored papel picado all act as a giant cross-dimensional welcome sign to ensure that your grandmother makes it safe to your living room."
Enjoy this time to contemplate life and honor death.
How to Make a Day of the Dead Altar:
- A step-by-step, humorous and hip approach:https://www.buzzfeed.com/nicolasmedinamora/this-is-how-you-make-a-dia-de-los-muertos-altar?utm_term=.qh2Rvjp32#.umV08eRko
- A complete overview with meanings for many of the items: https://www.tripsavvy.com/make-day-of-dead-altar-1588750
- More about the art and beauty of altars: https://www.inside-mexico.com/the-day-of-the-dead-ofrenda-2/
No comments:
Post a Comment