For us Americans, one of the most popular commercial holidays of the year, Halloween, rapidly approaches, for our neighbors to the south, it is Dia De Los Muertos. Though historians on both sides of the border claim that each holiday is unique in its own right - they have startling similarities in both origin and modern celebration.
Few people remember or even realize that Halloween has been celebrated since the Druids inhabited the British isles. Most believe Halloween has it's roots in the Catholic religion. Halloween or "All Hallows Eve" is better known to Roman Catholics as All Saints Eve. The night before the consecutive holidays of All Saints and All Souls Day - holidays instituted by the church in the 6th century - to celebrate those who have passed on to heaven. But the story truly begins further back still, in Celtic times where at the of October they held their end of summer festival called Samhain. This holiday was absorbed into the catholic church who eventually conquered the indigenous people adopted this holiday in an attempt to blend the two cultures for easier transition with less resistance. Dia De Los Muertos shares a similar history. It was first celebrated by native Americans in Mexico as long as 3,000 years ago - also to celebrate those had passed to the after life. The Aztecs later adopted this holiday, which historians believe they celebrated for the entire month of September. The ancestors of the Aztec's preserved this holiday until the conquistadors and the same church that adopted Samhain, e
ventually conquered Mexico and adopted this holiday just like they did with the Celts, to avoid conflict.
Today Halloween means costumes, candy, parties, scary movies and bobbing for apples, while De de los Muertos means calvera's, sugar skulls, parades and local artist hocking their wares . In the last century, these once spiritually significant holidays have become largely commercialized celebrations. Where once All Hallows Eve festivities consisted of a church service and a family gathering, these activities have been replaced with trick or treating children and costume parties. And where once Dia De Los Muertos meant a quiet candle lit procession to the cemetery for a picnic and the construction of an altar to pay tribute to deceased loved ones, now it means a lively parade of dancing skeletons (most of who are of Caucasian descent) and cultural literacy workshops to educate people that the dancing skeletons are not traditional (well not till the 19th century anyways).
This modernizing of religious holidays is not a new or even surprising trend (Ever been to the mall at Christmas? The candy store on Easter?), but it is an interesting one. Much like the Catholic Church and the Conquistadors that originally absorbed and modified Halloween and DDLM - modern thinking and science are, and have been for sometime, re-inventing the rest of our religious holidays so that they might be preserved in some form for future generations to enjoy and also to keep centuries of our cultural traditions alive.
This may be disturbing for the devout Catholic or exuberant Lutheran - who still celebrates these holidays in their strictest definition. But for the rest of us agnostics, atheists and lapsed Christians of all types its pretty awesome. It allows us an opportunity to celebrate our childhood traditions with our own families and friends with out the stigma of religion attached. Many of us are raised in our parents religion, and not given a choice, until adulthood to think for ourselves in that regard. Many of us choose at that point to go on our own spiritual paths, but just because we no longer embrace our childhood religions does not mean we did and do not treasure the traditions and memories that these holidays awarded us. And it certainly does not mean we do not want to keep these traditions alive for our children and the future generations. We simply want to celebrate our family and social traditions in our own way, with out having to attach a system of beliefs and rules to them.
Use these links to find a great way to celebrate your holiday!
