Once a year, Mexicans invite their deceased relatives over for dinner. At least, that’s the thought behind the Mexican holiday, el Día de los Muertos or the Day of the Dead. This holiday, a fusion of Aztec and Catholic beliefs about the afterlife, was the subject of a lecture given by Salvatore Scalora, Associate Professor of Art and Director of the William Benton Museum at the University of Connecticut. The lecture was held Thursday at the Russell House and was well attended.
“It’s nice to see so many of you come out when the subject of the lecture is death,” Scalora said at the beginning of his talk. “But it’s one of the great themes.”
Accompanied by a slide show depicting rituals associated with the holiday, Scalora spoke of the ancient Aztec beliefs about the afterlife that have influenced the Day of the Dead.
“For the Aztecs, death was the raw material of life,” Scalora said.
The Aztec creation myth centers on the idea that the human race was created from the bones of an extinct race of humans that had lived during the time of a previous sun, with our age being the time of the fifth and final sun.
Aztecs believed that after death, human spirits began a four year journey to one of three possible realms of the afterlife, with one’s placement determined by how you died, not how you lived. To help their dead loved ones on their journey, the Aztecs would set out offerings of food and other essentials during July and August.
When the Spanish arrived in Mexico and began to convert the natives, they moved this celebration to coincide with the Catholic holy day of All Saints’ Day on Nov. 1. The two celebrations and the two belief systems fused together, resulting in the Day of the Dead, a time when all spirits, whether they reside in heaven, hell or purgatory are allowed to come back to Earth for one day.
“It’s one of the most glorious fruits of the post-colonial religious garden,” Scalora said.
To commemorate their loved ones, Mexicans spend large sums of money to provide the spirits with the foods they liked most in life, their favorite beverages, a variety of candies, including brightly decorated sugar skulls, and even cigarettes for those who smoked in life.
“Even if they died of lung cancer,” Scalora said.
Day of the Dead is the most popular holiday in Mexico; Mexicans spend more money every year preparing for the Day of the Dead than they do for Christmas. Despite its seemingly morbid focus, the holiday becomes an occasion for families to come together and remember those they loved.
There is even candy and miniature, comical skeleton figures that are given to children, helping them come to terms with the concept of mortality. The calavera, or skeleton figures made of paper maché, have been used over the years to satirize popular culture and political figures.
“What normally would be grotesque is made wondrous,” Scalora said. “Most of all, the Day of the Dead reaffirms love and family bonds.”
After the lecture, Scalora fielded questions from the audience, indulging the opportunity to speak on an issue that is clearly of great personal, not just professional, interest to him.
“I liked the way he included the discussion about artwork as a means for satire, and also how he made the point that el Día de los Muertos is uniquely Mexican,” said Norah Andrews ’07.
This lecture was the third and final in the Center for the Americas 2004 Forum: Days of the Dead. The Benton Museum at the University of Connecticut will have a special exhibit on the Day of the Dead through Dec. 22.