BY DANIEL GAITAN | daniel@lifemattersmedia.org

Millions of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans will soon honor their deceased relatives and make peace with the eventuality of their own deaths during Día de los Muertos remembrances between Oct. 31 and Nov. 2.

In rural areas across Mexico and in urban areas of the U.S., many families will adorn grave sites with bright orange marigold flowers, candles and favorite foods of the deceased to help persuade them to return for family reunions. Some festivities involve black humor; toys and candies are created in the shape of skulls and skeletons.

The holiday, also known as Day of the Dead, is derived from rituals of pre-colonial peoples of Mexico. Prior to Spanish colonization of the 16th century, the celebration took place at the beginning of summer.

However, it was later moved to autumn to coincide with the Roman Catholic festival of Allhallowtide: All Saints’ Eve, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.

“There’s more general acceptance of death within Latin American cultures,” Christopher Tirres, associate professor of religious studies at DePaul University in Chicago, told Life Matters Media.

“People are dealing with life and death issues on a daily basis, and they’re not afraid to discuss issues of death,” he said. “Día de los Muertos can help people think just a little bit more about their own mortality.”

During the holiday, decorated altars and grave sites become a “sort-of physical space for people to enter” and reflect on their own mortality in a non-confrontational way, he added.

Sarah Troop, curator for the Lindsay Museum in California and a member of the Order of the Good Death, said she also believes the festivities encourage honest, and sometimes jocular, conversation about death and dying among family and friends.

“I’m Mexican-American, so I come from a very death-positive family and cultural experience where everyone around me talks about death,” Troop told LMM.

Troop said her vivacious grandmother has already shared her funeral wishes with family members.

“She’s planned it, she talks about what songs she wants, what color limousine she wants the family to ride in,” Troop said. “She laughs and says how sorry she is that she won’t be able to attend it, because she thinks it will be fun.”

Troop also writes and manages the Nourishing Death blog, which explores the intersection of food and death.

Plates of fruits and breads may be spread in front of pictures of deceased relatives.

“We have a really complicated relationship between death and food,” Troop said. “Every culture tries to continue a link between the living and the dead through food. In my culture, we have Día de los Muertos, so we use food to keep that connection between ourselves and our ancestors each year.”

Growing Popularity

Tirres expects the festival to grow in popularity as the U.S. Latino population grows larger and more diverse, and as more Americans age.

“I think there’s been a recuperation of it, especially in the last 100 years,” he offered. “Some of that has to do with recuperation of Mexican identity. Día de los Muertos is a big thing in Mexico, but as we look at the United States, we see this fascination of it by people in the diaspora, Mexican-Americans, and by non-Mexican-Americans. Anglos have taken to this, too.”

For example, the holiday was a central theme of the 2014 animated musical The Book of Life, which went on to gross nearly $50 million in the U.S.