A couple of years ago we went into a little bric-a-brac shop in San Diego’s wondrous ‘Old Town’ and one section of the store was devoted exclusively to trinkets, charms, jewelry, etc. revolving around ‘Dia de los Muertos’ – you know, ‘Day of the Dead’ rendered famous (for the literate at least) by Malcolm Lowry in ‘Under the Volcano’.
We were quite enchanted by some of the items we saw and Wendy wanted to get some earrings at least. But, we moved on to other shops and then we got hungry and we found ourselves a terrific little Cajun restaurant and we neglected to go back and only realized it once we were ensconced at our hostelry.
What ‘dia’ points out to me – with all its wonderful skeletal figures – is that Halloween as we have come to mark it, pretty much misses the point.
“Dia de los Muertos is a traditional Meso-American holiday dedicated to the ancestors; it honors both death and the cycle of life. In Mexico, neighbors gather in local cemeteries to share food, music, and fun with their extended community, both living and departed. The celebration acknowledges that we still have a relationship with our ancestors and loved ones that have passed away.”
And the skeletal figures are really cool. A bit macabre but also funny. When we were in Mexico and Central America last month we vowed to pick something up but, unlike Old Town what was on offer was in relatively short-supply and not as whimsical as that we found in San Diego. Oh well. Some other time
Regardless, the foregoing was what Halloween – All Hallow’s Eve – was originally meant to mark. It is the day before All Saints Day and foretells of the graves opening up and all our forebears coming to call in a kind of creepy way. The Dawn of the Dead, in other words.
I like the idea especially since what Halloween has become is a greedy, mercenary bore. I mean, why give candy to kids who have candy already coming out their yin-yangs? When we tried to score candy it was because it was a genuinely rare treat and none of us were obese or courting Type 2 diabetes.
What Halloween is meant to be like is ghoulish and ghostly, not people dressing up like pirates or nurses, but macabre after-life images. Time to being the spookiness back into Halloween and ‘dia de los muertos’ might be just the way to do it.
Source:
http://mrwriteon.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/want-to-put-some-new-pizzazz-into-halloween-look-a-couple-of-thousand-miles-south/
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