San Miguel FAQ

Cynthia Blanton wrote: At last, things are almost back to normal in San Miguel de Allende, and we were able to celebrated El Día de los Muertos in great style. The origins of the holiday are ancient. From the History Channel website: "The roots of the Day of the Dead, celebrated in contemporary Mexico and among those of Mexican heritage in the United States and around the world, go back some 3,000 years, to the rituals honoring the dead in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The Aztecs and other Nahua people living in what is now central Mexico held a cyclical view of the universe, and saw death as an integral, ever-present part of life."

The Aztecs honored the dead for an entire month in August, but when the Spanish came to Mexico, the Catholic Church moved the celebrations to November 1st and 2nd to coincide with All Saints Day and All Souls Day. On the 1st, the spirits of children are allowed to visit their families for 24 hours and the same happens for adults on the 2nd.

In addition to the skulls and other symbols and rituals used over the years, the Catrinas and Catrins were added to the celebrations. Catrinas, modeled after cartoons drawn in 1910 by Mexican illustrator Jose Guadalupe Posada and later incorporated into a huge mural by Diego Rivera, were satirical jabs at upper-crust Mexicans and their obsession with European high society. Tom Wolfe's skeletal "social x-ray" bears a striking resemblance to a Catrina. ...

Continue at Cynthia Blanton's Blog: Day of the Dead 2022. More #CynthiaBlanton.
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.....my journal about San Miguel de Allende, photography, travels and anything else that strikes my fancy.....

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