When it comes to death, most people associate it with sadness and mourning, but the Mexican holiday Dia de Muertos or Day of the Dead, embraces dying as a natural cycle of life worthy of joy and celebration.
Calgary’s Arts Commons and Casa Mexico hosted a Dia de Muertos event in the Jack Singer Concert Hall in early November.
“Dia de Muertos is about respecting the people that pass away. But not with sadness. We celebrate with joy. We celebrate with food,” said Miguel Cortines, the president of Casa Mexico, an arts and culture organization.
Families come together to honour their dead loved ones, who are believed to return to the world of the living on Nov. 1 and 2.
Dia de Muertos accepts that death is inevitable and that one should make peace with death, and one should celebrate life rather than fear and dread.
Many family members build ofrendas or altars in their homes using photos, candles, flowers, and food.
To persuade loved ones to come back for family reunification, families decorate grave sites with candles, marigolds, and the favourite foods of the departed. Some people wear calacas, which are wooden skull masks.
“As soon as you remember your loved ones, they are going to be with you forever,” said Cortines.
The event held in the Arts Commons consisted of live music, performances, an altar exhibition and many information booths. There were also samplings of Bread of the Dead, a traditional sweet bread that is eaten on the day of the dead and is often decorated with bone-shaped dough pieces on top that represent the deceased. Organizers estimate about 2,000 people attended the festivities.
The event also featured Catrina and Catrin makeup stations, a traditional Mexican face paint that features skulls and floral patterns connected with the Day of the Dead. The face painting style is known for its detailed designs.
There was also a catwalk contest to see who was the best dressed La Catrina, a popular skull symbol in Dia de Muertos. The event also featured a traditional Indigenous smudging, which has its roots in spiritual cleansing.
“Our gesture by offering smudging to the participants of the Dia de los Muertos event was our way of it’s like kind of a blessing,” said Juan Ramirez, an Indigenous educator.
“By applying this it meant to everyone, we’ve accepted them into our community and helped them rid themselves of negative energy. So that they can continue walking on the red road in a good way.”
Following the spiritual cleansing, the show started. Singers Mera Reyes and Paloma Negra performed at the event.
Other performances included traditional Mexican music sung by Mariachi Sol Azteca and Viva la Danza.
The event attracted some new faces to the celebration. Juan Ramirez, also known as B’alam, is an Indigenous Mayan Kaq’ Chikel from Guatemala. He hosted an information booth — called Fusion of the Spirits — comparing Mayan Day of the Dead and Mexican Day of the Dead.
“It’s seven different stations that go over different death rituals or different members of the Red Nation that I wanted to be inclusive,” said Ramirez.
Dia de Muertos unifies the Latino community by emphasizing family and community bonds and Ramirez said their event was no different.
“It had a very authentic Latino feel that way. We’re like we’re very jovial and connected people. So we felt very natural. I felt very at home. It was nice to be able to share a bit of our culture with the residents of the city.”