Scares aren't over, it's El Dia de los Muertos

By Colette Lefebvre-Davis

Nevada Daily Mail

Halloween is over, the costumes are put away but Nov. 1, isn't the end for many cultures. Nov. 1 marks the Mexican holiday of El Dia de los Muertos, or the day of the dead. The holiday has it's origins more than 500 years ago, when the Spanish conquistadors landed in Mexico, they encountered natives practicing rituals that seemed to mock death. It was the very same ritual that indigenous people had been practicing for at least 3,000 years. It was a ritual the Spaniards would try to eradicate. This ritual is known today as El dia de los Muertos, or Day of the dead. It is celebrated in Mexico and certain parts of the United States. The celebration as it is known today, is a blend of both Catholicism and traditional Aztec rituals, which includes the use of skulls. Today, people don wooden skull masks called calacas and dance in honor of their deceased relatives. The wooden skulls are also placed on altars that are tributes to deceased relatives. Sugar skulls, inscribed with the name of dead relatives are eaten by a relative or friend. Aztec and other meso-american civilizations believed that the dead came back to visit them during the month long ritual. Unlike the Spaniards, who viewed death as the end, the natives saw it as the continuation of life. Instead of fearing death, they embraced it. To them life was simply a dream state, once they passed on, they would truly be awake. Though the Spaniards viewed the ritual as an abboration, they could not squelch it. So, the Spaniards moved the holiday to Nov. 1, or All Souls day. Previously, the day of the dead was a month-long celebration beginning in August.

The holiday is celebrated differently depending upon where it is observed. In Mexico, people visit the cemetery where their loved ones are buried. They decorate gravesites with marigold flowers and candles. They bring toys for dead children and bottles of tequila to adults. They sit on picnic blankets next to grave sites and eat the favorite food of their loved ones. In Guadeloupe, the ritual is celebrated much like it is in rural Mexico. In Arizona, Native Americans and African Americans are doing their own unique dances. In the U.S and Mexico's larger cities, families build altars inside their home that are dedicated to the dead.

All types of foods are offered to the dead. The Day of the dead is a family vent to remember ancestors, whose spirits visit the earth once a year. Even, though many Americans see the holiday as macabre, its not. It's reflective, not sad nor scary.

Sugar Skulls

A Dia de los Muertos altar without sugar skulls is like a Charms blow pop without bubble gum.

Supplies:

1 set of plastic skull molds

mixing bowl and spoon

2 cups of granulated sugar

2 teaspoons of meringue powder

2 teaspoons of water

1 piece of cardboard

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Sprinkle the water in and continue to mix until the sugar is completely moistened and becomes the consistency of moist sand. Scoop some of the mixture into the mold and pack it evenly and firmly. Place the piece of cardboard on top of the mold and quickly flip it over so the sugar skull pops out. Very carefully slide it onto a flat surface.