Day Of The Dead: Day Of The Dead

American culture is always evolving and introducing new movements to the public through various ways such as dances, music, parades, feasts, art among other traditions. Other cultural movements that have migrated to the United States have adapted in the country, but sometimes there is controversy that comes along with the movement. Day of the Dead also known as All Saints Day, is one of those. This Latin American holiday is celebrated on the first and second day of November. Families and friends honor their loved one’s death. Celebrating it from homes all the way to parades on streets, people set up alters with food and decorations in memory of their loved ones. Gravestones are decorated with bright candles. The main decoration used for this

Halloween is a different version, or an adaptation of this celebration here in the United States. That holiday, in certain areas, is centered in candy and satisfaction of attempting to impress others with a costume which leads some people to believe misconceptions of the Day of the Dead. Although it is celebrated on October 31, many people mix the traditions of Halloween into Day of the Dead. On the first day of Day of the Dead, people dress up in costumes and mix the wrong decorations on the wrong day. The public does not have the right knowledge about the Latino event. Some schools do not have the right knowledge about Day of the Dead and those who do know are allowing misconceptions to keep happening. Crumpecker from St. Paul’s Episcopal Day School claimed, “Paper bats and witches hang from the ceiling, decorated pumpkins vie for prizes, and costumed students and teachers parade through the halls as classes prepare for an afternoon of fun, food, and frolic”. This school placed decorations and even costumed students to celebrate Day of the Dead. Nowadays people are receiving the wrong education about the Day of the Dead. The event is celebrated as if it were a celebration for the living and not the dead. However, the widely celebrated event isn’t introduced like that in other places such as San Rafael, California’s Community Center where an annual community

It formed into a “hybridity, a process of selectively combining elements of cultural practices and beliefs to make meaning” (Marchi 274). Here in the United States, art is creative and very open to the public. In South Puget Sound Community College, Olympia Washington, students and a local artist created a recyclable art event at a Day of the Dead event. The team created an, “altar decorated with vibrant sugar skulls, and a table full of supplies to make skeleton dolls with Kurzyna, also known as ““Ruby Re-Usable”” (Christensen). While there might be ways of bringing the Day of the Dead out, Marchi affirms, “hybridity is a complex and often painful interaction that occurs as part of the political and economic conflicts of modernity.” Sometimes the mix of cultural practices can make it difficult for them to interact with one another. It becomes much more difficult to get the original meaning of the cultural tradition across others. This may be why others argue that the Day of the Dead has lost its meaning or its spiritual beliefs. It all comes down to whether the people are celebrating the event with the intentions of honoring the death and communicating with the loved one who passed away. The Catholicism mixed event involves traditions that many places fail to demonstrate except some other parts of the Country. Day of the Dead was born from