El Dia Todos Los Santos

A quick entry
 I wanted to take time today to briefly provide some information to anyone that wishes to read it.  Today, as the title depicts, is All Saints' Day, but for Mexico it is the first seminal day for Los Dias de Los Muertos.  So I wanted to do something different.  Today, I will provide a link to a Day of the Dead site for anyone to read and provide more visuals of the contemporary Day of the Dead.  Hopefully, tomorrow I will present what occurs during All Souls' Day in Mexico. 

Day of the Dead

BBC Documentary Part 1

The second link is a documentary that the BBC did in 2011 that follows one of their journalists as he hopes to understand the Day of the Dead in Mexico.  Although this video focuses primarily on a Quinceanera in modern day Mexico, it does provide some detail into how Mexico understands death.  Various times the journalist discusses some of the basic concepts with understanding death.  For the purpose of this blog, I will focus on one the sections of 4:30 - 6:18 and the last minute of this section (which is also the beginning of the next Part of the documentary).  During the first section of this part of the documentary, the journalist begins to express some of his beliefs and understanding of death as they relate to Mexican beliefs.  When observing some of the various calavera characters found in Mexico, he finds one holding a small bottle of Corona and states, "That's slightly macabre." (BBC 6:00)  This depicts that to outsiders, Mexico seems to possess the idea that death is a natural as perhaps alcohol and is an everyday thing.  This is something that I have previously discussed throughout the semester, but there was another incident that seemed different from other accounts I have found.  In one scene, the journalist presents an image of a deceased loved one (which he was asked to do) and places it upon the ofrenda and begins to break down and cry from this symbolic act. (BBC 6:12)  This emotional expression of grief is something that is quite common in western society, but is approached differently in Mexico.  I believe that grief is expressed through the jovial and entertaining festivities of the Day of the Dead as opposed to simply expressing sorrow.  The journalist makes one final statement (which is repeated in the second section) in which he says, "I wonder if celebrating something I prefer to avoid [death] will make it easier to deal with." (BBC 19:58) 

BBC Documentary Part 2

The second part of the documentary is when we really begin to look at the Day of the Dead.  I will discuss only part of this video and discuss the rest of it tomorrow, because the video up to 6:05 focuses on the festivities of All Saints' Day celebrations in November 1st.  In combination with the final part, tomorrow I will also present the 3rd part of this documentary. 

This part begins where the first part left off as the journalist joins a family in Oaxaca just before the festivities begin.  He discusses some of the aspects of the Day of the Dead and what he could expect to see.  The responses given by the family continue to present the idea that death is not a time of sorrow but a time of celebration on behalf of the dead.  The daughter gave a very excellent response when she said, "It's like celebrating the birthday of someone who has passed away.  So you should give them a party." (BBC 3:28)  The duality of life and death seems to be exemplified through this holiday as life and death are reunited for these couple of days.  The mother also says a phrase that exemplifies this as well when she says, "...The dead are coming.  And we're waiting for them." (BBC 3:07)

The journalist then goes to the actual festival where people get dressed up and display their humorous expression of death.  The people tend to have fun as, "Day of the Dead seems to be a chance to laugh at death and show you're not afraid." (BBC 4:43)  The celebration also seems to present a new image for the people as life becomes a representation of death.  As the journalist states, "Here life is turned upside-down.  Locals dress up as skeletons, men dress up as women, and parties are thrown in graveyards to welcome death." (BBC 4:13)  The journalist gets dressed up as one of the most common characters of the Day of the Dead, Katrina who is the depiction of an old rich women as a calavera.  She is meant to depict a continued theme in Mexican society that one of the great aspects of death is that it sees everyone as equals regardless of status or wealth.  In fact, Katrina is meant to invoke the lesson that, "...even money can't keep us from death." (BBC 5:09)

Hopefully by tomorrow afternoon I will have the second part of this blog post completed so the other half of this festivity can be presented.

Sources Cited: 

BBC. “Feasts – Mexico 1 of 3 – BBC Culture Documentary - Quinceanera.” YouTube Web site. YouTube video file. http://youtu.be/94Itpne_1Ww?t=4m30s (accessed 1 November 2013).

BBC. “Feasts – Mexico 2 of 3 – BBC Culture Documentary Dia De Los Muertos.” YouTube Web site. YouTube video file. http://youtu.be/JFt8-WdstQA (accessed 1 November 2013)

Mary J. Andrade. "Day of the Dead in Mexico." Day of the Dead in Mexico Web site.   http://www.dayofthedead.com/  (accessed 1 November 2013)