Glowing psychedelic skulls grin at me.
The dead are alive.
Today is the Day of the Dead.
The Maya Hanal Pixan is ‘The Day of the Dead’ across Mexico
And Mexico’s Day of the Dead is like Halloween but …
But instead of the American dark love of horror movies, sugar-crazed trick or treat kids and inanely grinning pumpkins, you find life – with costumed street parties, drinking, family picnics and cleaning graves to celebrate their deceased loved ones.
Either way, the origins of these festivals merge.
Global cultures celebrate the dead
And it’s no secret that all cultures across the planet respect and remember their ancestors in a ritual (for example, in China, it’s known as Qing Ming: Tomb Sweeping Day).
Origins of Halloween
However, the origins of Halloween go back over 2000 years to the Celts in Britain and Ireland.
They celebrated Samhain (pronounced Sow-in) at the end of Autumn, when winter brought more deaths.
This was a time to connect with their dead, with bonfires, food, and masks.
Later, with Christianity in Britain, they assimilated Samhain into the medieval holidays of All Hallows’ Eve, Hallowmas, and All Souls’ Day (October 31, November 1 and 2).
How does Halloween relate to the Maya? A world away from Europe?
Well, with Columbus there followed fortune-seekers, soldiers and missionaries flooding the Americas.
And these – often over-zealous – Christians were hell-bent on local conversions.
Like that earlier era in Europe, they incorporated local customs into conquering Christian beliefs to win over converts. So an ancient Mayan ritual of worshiping the Gods of Death (Ixtab & Ah Puch) became a day for dead relatives.
And in other parts of Mexico, Aztec customs also became part of this colonizing process. (Although the Spanish believed they were rescuing the natives from the grips of Satan. You know – human sacrifices and trophy skulls).
Hanal Pixán – meaning: ‘Food of the Souls’ – is celebrated on October 31st
Naturally, like at any celebration, piles of food decorate tables.
For Hanal Pixan, Maya decorate tables with flowers, traditional candies made of pumpkin, yuca, sweet potato, and also with tortillas, bread, maize.
And with fruit like mandarins and grapefruit, alongside cigarettes and strong liquor.
There’s a skull grinning at me.
I gulp my beer.
He looks menacing – glad he’s dead.
Travels in Mexico – 2009