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The Indigenous roots of Day of the Dead.
The Mexican tradition known as “Dia de Muertos” (Day of the Dead) has slowly spread from Indigenous communities in southern Mexico into the mainstream U.S. consciousness. In the days leading up to November 1st, popular media and businesses are flooded with images of calaveras, sugar skulls, marigolds, and beautifully decorated altars. And if the recent success of the animated film Coco is any indication, Day of the Dead is going to firmly remain a part of the cultural landscape in the United States.
But where did this Indigenous celebration of ancestor veneration come from? And why does it coincide with Christian celebrations of Allhallowtide?
Long before the arrival of Europeans, Indigenous Mesoamerican traditions of honoring the dead were celebrated with two specific feasts: Mikailwitl (feast of the dead), and Wey Mikailwitl (great feast of the dead). These feasts were celebrated in early August through mid-September. These celebrations were dedicated to honoring the dead through dance, song, and offerings of food and drink. Altars and burials were adorned with marigolds, a sacred flower thought to attract the spirits so that they might enjoy the offerings left in their memory.
Today, these celebrations have been blended with Catholic traditions, and take place on All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Many think that Mikailwitl and Wey Mikailwitl were absorbed into Allhallowtide (All Saints Day and All Souls Day) under the direction of the Catholic Church, as these Christian holidays also involve honoring the dead. Unfortunately, this popular claim is often repeated without any evidence to back it up. For example, a column about Dia de Muertos published on the website weareyourvoicemag states “in an attempt to convert the natives to Catholicism, the Spanish colonizers moved the celebration to November 1 and 2 (All Saints Day), which is when we celebrate it currently.”
But is this how it really happened?
The process of combining older rituals into another religion is known as Syncretism, and is intended to help ease religious conversion. While Catholic priests often employed syncretism as a strategy of conversion in the “New World,” this is not what happened in regards to the festivals of Mikailwitl and Wey Mikailwitl.
