Day of the Dead
What is death? What is after that? Those questions have been in my mind since I remember. I’m not afraid to die because everything that is alive most die one day. I also know that even after death I’m going to be remembered because of the culture that I’m part of it, form which I feel proud of.
Every November, we the Mexicans celebrate the day of the death. This is a legacy, which the native Aztecs left us. This day is to venerate our loved ones that passed on. The myths say that November second is the day which God let all the death souls to come to Earth visit their families. For the Mexicans this is a special holiday in which either poor or rich people go to the cemeteries to visit them. In Mexico City there are cemeteries that are open the whole night. For you can say “Good bye” to your family. There are two special days; November first and November second. The first is to venerate the angels. The youth who die are the angels. The second is for the adults.
The legend says that they come to the cemeteries at the midday. My family adopted the tradition to go to church before twelve o’clock, after that we go to the cemetery because that’s the first place where the death souls go to. We start cleaning up the grave and putting down the fresh orange flowers. There are some people that eat at the cemetery because they feel like they are eating with their loved ones. In my case we don’t. We make an altar at home and we eat there.
The first thing that we do is to make an altar of several levels in their honor. The first and highest level has her or his picture with white candles. The second level has to be larger one that the first one, it has her/his favorite food and drinks. The last level also has to be larger one that the second one, that one has fruit on it. We also put orange flowers around the altar. We call those “flowers of the dead”. For the altar every single thing is special, also the bread the bread. We either make or buy the bread that is also on the altar, and we called it “bread for the dead”. In the altar everything has a meaning to it. For example the white candles, they give light to the way back to the heaven. Another example is their favorite food. It’s the only day that they’re able to eat with us.
At the midnight the dead leave the Earth to go back to the heaven. We wait a year to feel the sensation that they are with us. The day if the dead is part of my culture; culture that has been transmitted over years. This event is growing over boards and now a considerable part of East Los Angles celebrate it too. The event is a legacy of the native Aztecs. The event is part of my native roots from which I feel proud to be part of it. The Aztec legacy is the day of the dead.
-Yari-