The Day of the Dead 

Culture is part of who we are and consists of “all the ways of life including arts, beliefs, institutions of a population that are passed down from generation to generation”. People from all over the world have been celebrating the memory of their loved ones they lost since ancient times.  Although we are so diverse and we belong to different cultures with specific traditions, the celebrations of the memory of those we lost have been bringing people together for meditation and prayer, and for reflection that death is not the end but a different way of life.   In my essay I chose to talk about Illumination, a tradition from my culture, and El Dia de los Muertos, a Mexican tradition, because both traditions celebrate the memory of the departed and they are similar on many levels, although the people of these cultures live so far away on two different continents: Europe and North America.

In my culture, the celebration of the memory of the deceased is called Luminatia (Illumination) or the Day of the Dead and has a “Celtic origin brought by the Catholics in the North-West and South-West regions of the Romanian territory”. This celebration, along with many others, is important for me because it represents the Romanians’ strong religious traditions endurance through centuries, although considerable efforts were made during the fifty years of communism when the political regime tried to diminish and erase these religious traditions. In the Romanian culture, the departed are remembered throughout the year, on every Sunday, when the priest is reading the names of the dead written on a piece of paper (pomelnic) by the member of the family attending the service. Luminatia (in Latin: commemoratione omnium fidelium defunctorum) is celebrated on November 2nd of each year and is an important day when people belonging to Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic and Orthodox churches commemorate the loved ones they lost. According to the tradition, on the night of the Illumination, the gates between the two worlds (living and dead) are open, and the spirits of the departed can come and visit their families. The ritual begins on the evening of November 1st, after the evening church service. People go to cemeteries and clean the tombs of their departed, decorate them with flowers (usually chrysanthemums) and small garlands made of fir trees, and light candles and place them on the graves. On the morning of November 2nd, people are going to church with food (consisting of their departed relatives’ favorite dishes) and a special dish – “coliva” (made of boiled wheat and walnuts) to be blessed by the priest during the service.

Coliva is a traditional dish made only for the commemoration of the dead. It consists of wheat that is boiled and sweetened with honey or sugar and mixed with walnuts, and on top is decorated with a cross made of powdered sugar mixed with cinnamon. Coliva symbolizes the body of the dead and is a material expression of the faith that we will ascend from the dead (like Jesus), because it is made of wheat and Jesus used the wheat as an analogy for the bodies’ resurrection: “just as a grain of wheat, in order to sprout and bear fruit, must first be buried in the ground and then rot, so the human body must first be buried and rot, in order to be resurrected in incorruption” (John 12, 24 ; I Cor. 15, 36 su). The sweeteners used symbolize the virtues of the dead for which the coliva is made, and the sweetness of the eternal life that we hope the departed obtained. According to the Orthodox religion, coliva has an even deeper and hidden meaning: the wheat grains that are gathered represent the Church of Jesus Christ and all its members, living and dead, who pray together. This is why, when the priest ends the religious service for commemoration of the dead, the people that attended the service take the plate with the coliva and lift it up, as a symbol of their offering to God. Many times, priests are asked by families to officiate a short service at the burial places, and when the service ends, all the food and coliva are given away to the people present in the cemetery. Among the superstitions related to this tradition are the beliefs that, if a person had an unresolved feud with the departed, they should not visit their tomb, that no laundry should be done during this day, that you should not cry and be upset when visiting the tomb, and that you should be generous and prepare the best dishes for giving away. In other parts of the country, it is customary to bring fresh water to the burial places until the sun rises, and only children can do this because they have pure souls and no sins. The cemeteries are shimmering with the light of the hundreds of candles, and you can hear the voices and even laughter of the people sharing memories about the people they lost. Illumination is a special tradition celebrated by my family along with millions of Romanians, a tradition passed along through generations. This tradition will continue to live on because this event is an occasion for people to meditate and pray, and to celebrate the memory of the people they lost, and a way for the departed to live forever.

El Dia de los Muertos is a unique Mexican tradition that has always fascinated me. The joyful, colorful, and bright way the people of Mexico are celebrating their deceased shed a new light on the way death is perceived by other cultures: a time for celebration with color, food, and music.  Day of the Dead is celebrated on November 1st and 2nd, when it is believed that the gates between the two worlds: the living and the spirits are open, and the departed ones come and visit their families.  It is said that on November 1st the spirits of the children who have passed come back to visit and celebrate (angelitos), and on November 2nd, the spirits of the adults (difuntos) come for the festivities. Families are preparing several weeks in advance for this tradition by decorating burial sites, creating altars, and cooking specific food.  When Spaniards came to Mexico and introduced Catholicism to the indigenous people, they blended traditions and beliefs to create their own. The Day of the Dead is the result of a blend of the Aztec festivals dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl with the Catholic influence. Goddess Mictecacihuatl is the “lady of the dead” that is guarding the bones of the dead. The church eliminated the Aztec’s belief and turned it into All Saint’s Day and All Souls’ Day turning it on two days to fall into the Catholic calendar. Since then, Mexicans have changed it into a unique holiday that they celebrate every year.  Hickman, K. (10) painted a vivid picture of the festival in the article she published in the World Magazine: “In the cities throughout the country for several weeks before the fiesta begins, street markets and shops are awash with … skeletons and devils impishly cavorting as nuns, priests, aristocrats, and drunks, playing the trumpet, dancing, and sporting sombreros. … The complex nature of the nation’s real attitude towards death is rooted deep in the country’s Indian tradition, going back hundreds of years, and predating even the Aztec reign”.

“Celebrated annually on November 1 and 2 in Latin America, the two-day observance, known colloquially as “The Day(s) of the Dead,” (Marchi) is a syncretic fusion of Roman Catholic All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day practices together with pre-Columbian Indigenous rituals for honoring ancestors”. During these festivities, families set up beautifully decorated altars in their homes and place pictures of the loved ones they lost. Families gather during the night at the cemeteries, they light candles, and place flowers (marigolds) on the burial sites of their departed. Marigolds are believed to guide the spirits back with their color and powerful smell. Small, decorated sugar skulls with colorful edible paint are also part of the offerings. They were used during rituals in the Aztec era. The offerings consist of the favorite dishes of the dead they enjoyed during their life, such as foods, drinks, sweets, and fruit. Pan de Muertos (bread of the dead), a special kind of bread, is also an offering and is traditionally baked by the man of the household or one of the closest relatives. These foods are to be shared with family, neighbors, strangers, and the visiting spirits.  This holiday is a wonderful way to remember and celebrate the memory of the loved ones who have passed.

In both traditions, people celebrate their dead for two days and they all go to the cemeteries to clean and embellish the graves with flowers, different decorations, and candles. Both cultures prepare offerings, consisting of the dishes that their departed ones enjoyed during their lives. Both traditions have a special dish made only for this celebration: Pan de Muertos (bread of the dead) and coliva (a sweet wheat dish). In the Mexican culture Pan de Muertos is made only by the man of the household or one of the closest male relatives, while in the Romanian culture coliva is made only by the woman of the household or one of the closes female relatives. A major difference is the fact that Mexican people are getting ready for this celebration weeks in advance, and that the cities become flooded with colorful decorations representing death symbols, while in the Romania although people are also preparing for this celebration weeks in advance, the atmosphere in the cities is quiet and solemn. We might find the explanation in the origins of these traditions, as the Mexican holiday has its roots in the Indian tradition, predating the Aztecs, with Catholic influences, while the Romanian one has Celtic roots brought by Catholics. In both cultures, people attend Mass, and then they visit the graves of their lost relatives in the cemeteries, they place flowers and light candles and spend time remembering their relatives. Although cemeteries are shimmering with the light of the hundreds of candles and you can see some color from the flowers and the small garlands made of fir trees, the Romanian cemeteries are mainly grey. There are no vivid colored decorations adorning the graves, as there are in the Mexican culture (as the sugar skulls). There is a Merry Cemetery though, located in Sapanta, in the Northern part of Romania (Maramures) quite famous because the crosses placed on the tombs are painted in bright colors and depict scenes from the lives of the dead people. Many crosses have poems written on them, capturing the essence of the personality of the deceased, many times with humor nuances. According to Stan Ioan Patras (1908-1977) a researcher of the Romanian traditions, the Merry Cemetery is rooted into the Dacians’ culture (Romanians’ ancestors) who perceived death as a moment of celebration. “The crosses are carved out of oak. They are about five feet high, capped with two small beams that converge upward to form a pointed roof. The portrait of the deceased is central, surrounded by geometric designs in symbolic colors: yellow for fertility, red for passion, green for life, black for untimely death” (Popp). But that cemetery is one of a kind in the entire country.

Although Illumination is celebrated in a more solemn manner and El Dia de los Muertos has a fiesta feeling, with colors, fireworks, and fragrances, both traditions celebrate the dead and are rooted in centuries of rich and diverse customs and beliefs. They are an expression of the people’s way of celebrating the memory of the loved ones they lost, and of the way death is perceived: a continuation of life, but on another level.  People get to live forever since their memory will be passed down from generation to generation while there will always be someone to remember and celebrate their lives.

Works Cited

Ce este Coliva? Originea si semnificatia colivei – Ortodox.MD (What is Coliva? The Origin and Significance of Coliva), https://ortodox.md

Hickman, K. (1992, 10). Rejoicing in the face of death. World Magazine, , 54. Retrieved from http://168.156.198.98:2048/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/magazines/rejoicing-face-death/docview/218764985/se-2

Marchi, R. (2013). Hybridity and Authenticity in US Day of the Dead Celebrations. The Journal of American Folklore, 126(501), 272–301. https://doi.org/10.5406/jamerfolk.126.501.0272

Luminatia CrestinOrtodox (Christian Orthodox Illumination), https://www.crestinorthodox.ro

Popp, C. (2002, Sep 29). One of a kind: Transylvania–the merry cemetery. New York Times Magazine, Suppl.the Sophisticated Traveler, , 74-6 (Part 2).74. Retrieved from http://168.156.198.98:2048/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/magazines/one-kind-transylvania-merry-cemetery/docview/215487490/se-2

Ziua Mortilor (The Day of the Dead), https://ro.wikipedia.org

Ziua Mortilor sau Luminatia (The Day of the Dead or Illumination), https://www.libertatea.ro