As a child, I grew up celebrating both Halloween and the Day of the Dead also known as El Día de los Muertos. I used to believe these holidays were the same thing but that they just celebrated them differently in Mexico and the United States. Halloween and the Day of the Dead have many similarities, but they differ in its reason for the celebration, the type of food served on these days, and the way people celebrate the two holidays.
Halloween and El Dia de los Muertos both recognize the dead but for different purposes. People would celebrate Halloween, on October 31st, as an appreciation of the afterlife and the survival after death. This day meant that All Hallows' Day, also know as All Saints Day, would come the following day. People believed that on Halloween ghosts of the dead returned to earth. For that reason they would dress up and have special rituals. For the Day of the Dead, people celebrate on November 1st and 2nd. On these two days, people in Mexico remember and honor friends and family members that
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have passed away. November 1st sometimes goes by the name of El Dia de los Inocentes or the day of the children. Young children and babies that have passed away are celebrated on this day. On November 2nd, Mexicans celebrate everyone, and they call it All Souls Day. Even though Halloween and El Dia de los Muertos land around the same time of year, the food used to celebrate these holidays are very different.
Pumpkins play a big role in Halloween. People use them for all sorts of things like making pumpkin spice flavored foods and drinks. The cookies made on this day vary in shapes and sizes. Americans like to decorate their treats like bats, pumpkins, ghosts, or anything that symbolizes Halloween. Many people also make cakes and candies that they decorate to fit the theme of Halloween. The Day of the Dead has a traditional bread called Pan de los Muertos which means bread of the dead. This bread is typically shaped like a skull. Mexicans also make white colored skull candies, but every person decorates it with color to make it prettier. People usually cook any favorite foods for their loved ones that have gone to the after world. They place these foods on the altar, and after a certain time, the families eat
it. Both Halloween and the Day of the Dead celebrate with parties and festivals, but they have a few other differences. Halloween has a huge tradition known as Trick-or-Treat. During this tradition, children go into neighborhoods and knock from door to door asking for candy. When they do this, most people dress up as their favorite characters just for fun. Many people like to decorate their houses all spooky like to give it a Halloween feeling. Every year, Americans carve pumpkins with special designs and light them up with candles as decorations. On El Día de los Muertos, families visit graveyards and take their loved one gifts and treats. Mexicans have a tradition where they build altars for the dead and they surround it with flowers, items, and foods that they loved. To finish it off, they place a photo of the person in the middle. On this holiday, people paint their faces, other sing and dance, and some pray. Overall, everyone in Mexico enjoys the huge two day celebration and embraces death by celebrating the deceased for the time that they lived. Halloween and the Day of the Dead have many similarities, but they differ in their reason for celebrating, the traditional food, and the way they celebrate them. After comparing these two similar holiday, I decided I enjoy El Dia de los Muertos a little bit more than Halloween. In my opinion, there is more tradition behind the Day of the Dead, and the holiday is celebrated for a longer period of time. It helps families connect better with their loved ones, and the celebration for the dead is more meaningful.
In digging the day of the dead a distinction between Dia de los Muertos and Halloween is made, the purpose, to highlight the differences and showing the importance and significance of Dia de los Muertos. This ethnography begins by loosely describing Halloween in American culture, it is described as a day where “children dress up as grotesque corpses” and a celebration empty of historic or cultural significance and knowledge. The author Juanita Garciagodoy, later goes on to describe Dia de los Muertos in a romanticized way, by statin that the dead “are not forgotten or excluded from recollections, prayer, or holidays because they are no longer visible” Garciagodoy then goes on to tell a heartfelt story about a couple one holding on to tradition,
In the Hispanic culture, The Day of the Dead is a very special holiday celebrated in Hispanic communities. The Day of The Dead is a celebration that last two days. It occurs on November 1 and 2. On November 1, they have a celebration for the young. On November 2, they give honor to family members who have passed away. Traditionally they set up alters in their homes with pictures, candles, foods, and many other decorations. They believe this holiday connects them to their dead ancestors and allows the spirits to be welcomed back. It is one of the biggest celebrations in Hispanic communities and is a very meaningful celebration. One of the specific holidays that is celebrated in the US is called Martian Luther King Jr. Day. This day is in honor of Martian Luther King Jr. and his fight for civil rights. His actions have had a huge impact on America and has become a role model for not only African Americans, but for everyone. He died for fighting for what was right and is honored on this day only in America. Both the Hispanic and US cultures have their own specific holidays only celebrated in these
A long time ago more than 500 years ago, there were Spanish Conquistadors who had landed in what is now referred to as central Mexico. Once here they stumbled upon populations of natives who were performing a customary celebration that appeared to simulate death. Dia de los Muertos initiated periods in the past in Mexico, where it is still commonly celebrated to this generation. This festival that takes place over 3 days is a assortment of pre-Hispanic ethnic views and Spanish Catholic philosophies. The Mexican celebration of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, proceeds over the initial 2 days in the month of November. Its beginnings are a concoction of Native American behaviors and a set of Catholic celebrations. The celebration concentrates
Halloween is originated from Ireland, and Day of the Dead was started in Mexico. During Halloween, people usually have various types of candies. Kinds of candies include chocolate, caramels, sugar candies, gummy candies, and much more. On Day of the Dead, Calaveras and pan de los muertos is served, along with many other candies in shapes of coffins, skulls, and skeletons. The symbol for Halloween is the classic jack o’ lantern. Back in the Middle Ages, ritual harvest festival in Welsh, Irish and Gaelic cultures. They were used to guide trick or treaters through the night and keep way evil spirits. Not all the jack o’ lanterns were pumpkins. Some were made out of radishes or squash. The symbol Day of the Dead is the classic skull or skeleton. If you went to a Day of the Dead celebration, you would see happy skeletons on display practically everywhere across city streets. Another important symbol of the Day of the dead is the marigold flower. It is said that the flower draws back to souls of the dead and leads item to the homes of their families. Believe it or not, Halloween is a holiday that is nearly 1300 years old, and it originates from Welsh and Gaelic cultures. It was a holiday evolved from the Samhain, an ancient Celtic holiday. This was a time where the harvests were collected for the winter, and it was believed that since winter was approaching, it would allow the souls of the dead to breach tohe world of the living.
Foreigners have more trouble understanding Dia de Los Muertos than any of Mexico's other celebrations. At first glance, they see Day of the Dead decorations which are colored paper garlands, little skeletons performing daily tasks and sugar skulls inscribed with names, which remind them of Halloween. Other tourists discover that much like Memorial or Remembrance Day in the US, families here visit, clean and decorate graves of loved ones for the November 1 and 2 holidays. Many families honor their ancestors and dead with different traditions, which I will be telling u about.
Different cultures have different holiday traditions. At this time of year different cultures are preparing to celebrate Halloween or the Día de los Muertos.These two holidays occur around the same time of year. October 31st is Halloween and the Day of the Dead begins on November 1st and ends on November 2nd. Halloween is an American tradition and the Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico, and other Latin American countries. Both holidays share some similarities but also have some differences.Some common themes between the two holidays are food and religion. For example, Pumpkin is associated with both holidays. And Christianity is the religion associated with both holidays. The symbols for these holidays share some similarities , for example skulls. While Halloween also is associated with ghosts and witches. A big
The Day of the Dead celebrates life past and present and not just death alone. Revelers construct ofrendas, the offerings of food, drinks, cigarettes, toys, and candy, set out for returning souls. Revelers take joy in honoring the dead, usually with music, dancing, crafts and food. The children have many activities also including the decoration of pan de muerto. Kids can also try to throw beanbags into a skeleton's mouth, make cascarones (confetti-filled eggshell wands), or create clay whistles, paper flowers, pinatas or masks. Mexico and other Central American countries to include visits to graveyards, where families decorate the sites of deceased loved ones.
...parts of the celebration, October 31st, November 1st, and finally November 2nd. On October 31st, it is seen that the kid’s souls return. November 1st is considered the adult’s day of returning, and November 2nd is when all souls have returned from the dead and there is a big celebration. People of Mexico celebrate by making many baked goods and cooking meals, making objects such as masks and decorating papers and toy coffins to prepare for the return of the souls.
Special foods such as candy, breads, and buns, they are often baked in the shapes of skulls with icing. The use of puppets and masks are very popular as well. The belief that family members who have died will return to their gravesite that is why the flowers and gifts are placed there. The warm social environment the colorful setting, and the abundance of food, drinks and good company are the ceremony of the dead. It has pleasant overtones for most observers.
Mexicans and Venezuelans celebrate Halloween very differently; to the extent, some Venezuelans do not even celebrate the holiday. Mexicans celebrates Day of the Dead instead of Halloween. During Day of the Dead, Mexicans build altars and fill it with desserts, tamales and candy for their passed loved ones, and decorate and clean their graves. These altars are made specifically as a welcoming to the loved ones who passed away. People are sometimes welcomed to visit other’s families’ altars and take part in any of the goodies or stories involved. Some Pueblos or communities, they gathered food from different altars and enjoy the food at their loved one’s grave. Day of the Dead is much similar to Halloween, but contain much more meaning and spirit. We celebrate this holiday to remember our loved ones; not in a weeping sense, more over into a joyous sense. We only talk about the good and special times we had with that individual. People tell each other’s stories and thoughts of the dead to let them know we still remember their presence. On the other hand, in some communities in Venezuelans celebrate Halloween exactly how Americans do, but...
First things first, let’s talk about the food! On The Day of The Dead, the Mexicans who celebrate this holiday eat many things including something called ‘el pan de muerto.” This round, sweet bread is essential when celebrating the day of the dead. Another dish eaten is something called mole. This is a spicy chocolate sauce that is eaten on this holiday or even on a normal day. Onto Halloween, this holiday is mainly celebrated in America and involves lots of sweets that children eat. Nothing on this holiday is homemade and everything thing is
In total, it is a three-day celebration starting on October thirty-first and reaches to November second. Celebrating death and honoring the dead are its focal points. It is believed that during this time, the spirits of those who have died return to their earthly homes, where they are made welcome with gifts, flowers, and food (“Mexico” 218-226). In Mexico, festivals to honor the dead have been celebrated for hundreds of years, beginning in the fifteenth century when the Aztec controlled the region. These early festivals were meant to honor the Aztec god of death and were held during harvest time (“Halloween and Festivals of the Dead” 195-209). The Aztec also honored their dead during the month-long harvest celebration. As a part of these celebrations, many prisoners of war were sacrificed to the Aztec sun and war god, Huitzilopochtli (“Mexico”
In the Hispanic culture such as Guatemala and Mexico, the Dia de Los Mortos is celebrate on November 1st and 2nd. Families’ getter to go to the cemeteries together; they clean the graveyard and bring flowers to their loved ones. They also decorate skulls with the name of the departed written on the forehead. Many
A day for mourning and grief is what many reckon a day for honoring the dead is all about, but not based on the Mexican holiday Día de Los Muertos, also known as the Day of the Dead. This day is filled with festivities that celebrate and honor deceased loved ones without any source of dolour or sorrow. Festivals and street parades erupt throughout the whole day with galvanizing masked dancers and chimerical performers. The dynamism of the celebrators’ culture and beliefs are well expressed throughout each day, from the thirty-first of October to the second day of November, and the rituals that are performed are accompanied by traditional foods. The elaborate Mexican celebration, the Day of the Dead, has been thriving through many generations
The Chinese New Year is fifteen days long and each day involves a different custom based off of a different ideology such as cleaning your house will wipe away the bad luck of the preceding year. Halloween although originating in Ireland, was carried to other countries and is now often seen as an equivalent to the popular Day of the Dead Celebration in Mexico. Although, Day of the Dead is about celebrating dead loved ones, the act of dressing up in costumes happens in both celebrations. Halloween follows the ideology that children dress up in costumes and go collect candy from people’s houses whereas day of the dead is centered around the ideology that for one night dead loved ones can be reunited with their families. Easter and the popular Jewish holiday Passover are often seen as the same thing because they fall around the same thing and both celebrate spring. All around the world countries celebrate independence days that are on different days but they all represent relatively the same thing. But, different countries hold different ideologies for their independence days. For