Love, Novela [Completed]

Re: Days of the Dead

From: novela-harmon@bethel.edu
Date: Wed, Nov 1, 2017 at 9:47 PM
Subject: Days of the Dead
To: grace-k-nelson@bethel.edu

I put "Days of the Dead" in the subject line, even though the actual name is "Day of the Dead," because it's two days (November 1-2). It seems confusing to me. I guess the holiday begins the night before and ends the next day, kind of like a Jewish holiday? But it is also two days, because November 1 is the day for dead children and November 2 for dead adults. Tacked on to Halloween, it makes for three full days of creepiness.

OK, joking aside, people here take this very seriously, which is what we're here to do. Actually, to be very honest, this is making me miss delving into these subjects with Alex. It is fascinating subject matter. And he is a gold mine of information on it.

Day of the Dead is, for starters, a syncretic holiday. That is to say, the pre-Conquest beliefs got mixed (or sneaked) into Catholicism. They already had a day for celebrating the dead, and the Catholics got them to move it to All Souls' Day, but other than that, not much changed.

The basic idea is fundamentally un-Catholic: that the departed relatives come back on this day to visit family members. Just the idea of leaving them "offerings" of food on "altars" still kind of gives me the willies, however many people I've heard explained, whether in academic or in affectionate terms. It sounds like ancestor worship. Creepier still, the spirits supposedly take the "essence" out of whatever you give them (often bread, tequila, etc.), so that if you eat it afterward, it tastes wrong.

But, to quote the Cat in the Hat, "That is not all! Oh, no. That is not all." As if DOTD wasn't creepy enough, or un-Catholic enough, a whole cult has emerged around a "Saint Death" ("Santa Muerte"), which is absolutely not a saint because the Catholic church has outright condemned it. Whether it's a true case of indigenous beliefs that have survived underground (which I doubt); a back-to-our-roots, neo-pagan thing (which I strongly suspect); or a full-on, newly emerged cult (also possible), it's terrifying.

Day of the Dead now seems mild, because at least people are only seeking out their own relatives and make a connection with them. Kind of like Memorial Day, except... not. But Santa Muerte (or Santísima Muerte, "Holiest Death," as some call it) is no-holds-barred veneration of a skeleton-figure. People leave gifts such as cigarettes, food, and alcohol in exchange for favors being granted. If this is a continuation of the real goddess of death, Mictecacihuatl, the idea becomes more disturbing as human sacrifices were observed originally. Although most people would condemn that now, there was a case a couple years ago where some people were arrested for sacrificing relatives to the Santa Muerte.

Anyway, we are going to a cemetery tomorrow, to (respectfully) observe families' graveyard rituals. Since there is a level of real scariness involved this time, I'm glad this visit will be during the daytime.

To misquote Shakespear, "To sleep, perchance to not have nightmares..."

Love, Novela