[Source: presleyspantry.com]
When we come to think about the various connotations of death, we usually anticipate grief and tragedy over lost ones, and this is followed by a funeral which is an event implemented with a universality of dark toned colors and with absolute somberness. However, this quite generalized way of thinking regarding death is diametrically contradicted by Mexico’s way of remember the ones who have left us.
With the celebration El Dia de los Muertos, Mexico uses bright colors and vivid music with great allegory and wide smiles to happily cherish every moment of the celebration. Never through the festivities will one find a speck of sadness or somberness. Although this fact is very quizzical, Mexico has its own valid explanations. They believe that if friends and family who remain in the mortal realm celebrate the memory of the ones who have left their side with joy, those that have left us will also have the opportunity to live in an eternally jubilant afterlife. Alternatively, once the friends and family forget to celebrate those that have passed and forget to remember their prior existence, their souls will forever live in misery. Therefore, to prevent this confrontation, a large number of Mexicans celebrate El Dia de los Muertos.
[Source: The International Center]
Overall, Dia de los Muertos is a unique and lively event that brings joy to Mexicans and to those who were once close in the past, and still in the present. El dia de los Muertos will continue to be an honor among Mexico’s prideful traditions.
