DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

McKaycee Abrenica

Rominna Joie De Torres

Anthropology 121

Professor Wolfe

November 5, 2014

Hollywood Forever Cemetery has an intercultural version of the Day of the

Dead. There, in a mixture of Mexican traditions and Hollywood hip, conventional

altars are set up side-by-side with altars to Jayne Mansfield and Johnny Ramone.

Some families build altars

or small shrines in their

homes; these sometimes

feature Christian cross,

statues or pictures of the

Blessed Virgin Mary,

pictures of deceased

relatives and other

persons, scores of candles

and an ofrenda.

There were hundreds of Aztec Ritual Dancers in full

costume. Colorful native dancers and music intermix with

performance artists, while sly pranksters play on traditional

themes.

Dia De Los Muertos is a

time of celebration on

remembrance. It is also a

time to come to terms with

our mortality and become

aware of the cycle of life and

death. Rather than deny and

fear death this event teaches

us to accept and

contemplate the meaning of

mortality.

People go to cemeteries to be

with the souls of the departed

and build private altars

containing the favorite foods

and beverages, as well as

photos and memorabilia, of the

departed. The intent is to

encourage visits by the souls,

so the souls will hear the

prayers and the comments of

the living directed to them.

Celebrations can take a

humorous tone, as celebrants

remember funny events and

anecdotes about the departed.

This altar has a theme of a peacock. Traditionally,

peacocks have been associated with the afterlife. Their

colors attract spirits of the dead back to living. They also

symbolize integrity, beauty, reincarnation, and new life.

ETERNAL QUINCEAÑERA

On Dia De Los Muertos,

tradition holds that the dead

return to earth to visit their

living relatives. It is

believed that although these

relatives can’t see them,

they can surely feel them.

This night is an important

feast and evocation. It is a

time when family members

share memorable stories

that evoke the lives of their

ancestors .

Dia De Los Muertos expresses this

perspective: it is not a mournful

commemoration but a happy and

colorful celebration where Death

takes a lively, friendly expression and

is not frightening or strange. There is

no place for sorrow or weeping for

this could be interpreted as a

discourteous to the dead relatives

who are visiting gladly. Indigenous

people believed that souls did not

die, that they continued living in

Mictlán (Place of Death) a special

place for them to finally rest.

Altars are decorated with

candles, buckets of flowers

mounds of fruit, peanuts,

plates of turkey mole,

stacks of tortillas and big

Day-of-the-Dead breads

called pan de muerto. The

altar needs to have lots of

food, bottles of soda, hot

cocoa and water for the

weary spirits. Toys and

candies are left for the

angelitos.

Since the theme of this

year’s Day of the Dead

celerebration is

Quinceañera they had an

altar with actual 15 year

old girls dressed in their

quiceañera dresses with

their beautiful crowns

and have their faces

painted with sugar skull

designs.

They have different

booths, one of which is

where they do painting

your face with the

sugar skulls. The

people doing the face

painting also have

sugar skulls painted on

their faces.

There are also musical performances by

Grammy Award winning recording artists such

SUGAR SKULL

Sugar skulls represented a

departed soul, had the

name written on the

forehead and was placed

on the home ofrenda or

gravestone to honor the

return of a particular

spirit. Sugar skull art

reflects the folk art style of

big happy smiles, colorful

icing and sparkly tin and

glittery adornments.

ROBIN WILLIAMS

Starting as a stand-up

comedian in San

Francisco and Los

Angeles in the mid-

1970s, he is credited

with leading San

Francisco's comedy

renaissance.

BELA “DRACULA” LUGOSI

Bela Lugosi, was a

Hungarian-American

actor, famous for

portraying Count

Dracula in the original

1931 film and for his

roles in various other

horror films.