DAY OF THE DEAD RITUALS

As Paul Westheim notes, "The only thing Mexico´s Day of the Dead has in common with All Souls´Day, as celebrated in Europa, is the fact that on both sides of the ocean it is a day dedicated to the memory of deceaced  loved ones ."

Whereas for Europeans the very mention of death is taboo-as if by rejecting the idea one could avoid the fact-Mexicans accustom themselves with the notion from childhood. This familiarity is evidenced in many ways; for example, in the many expressions to say that a person died: he got peeled, hit the mat, stretched a leg, carpeted the floor, went cold, took off, left us, turned in the equipment, left with the skinny one(Death), became defunct; and they brought him out sneakers first, the witch gobbled him up , he was carried away legs akimbo, we drank coffe with him (as at a wake ) and so forth.

Ruth D. Lechuga

Artes de México Número 62