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Symbols In Mexican Culture

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In our Mexican culture we celebrate el dia de los muertes or the day of the dead, in a lively and cheerful festival. Instead of mourning the loss of our loved ones we celebrate and have a day to remember how amazing those people were and how they lived their life. Probably one of the most important symbols to that festival and to our Mexican culture is the sugar skulls. Sugar skulls are handmade skulls made of mostly sugar. However, at first the skull is a blank canvas and anyone can decorate them to resemble their deceased loved ones. Some people even write the name of their deceased in the forehead of the skull. Usually we decorate the skulls extremely colorful with the primary colors of yellow, orange, light green, and pink. The reason for this is because we use vivid colors that represent the joyful times and things the deceased person lived through, instead of remembering the woeful times. The sugar skulls tradition dates back to more than 500 years ago. Originally this was practiced by the indigenous Aztecs, eventually as the Spaniards conquered the land they tried …show more content…

As people we try to stay as optimistic and joyful no matter what obstacle comes our way. The sugar skull emphasizes the optimism and liveliness in our culture, because if you compare other skulls from other cultures they paint skulls that are dark with horrid colors signifying that they believe death is gruesome and scary. The sugar skulls symbolize unity with the community and the belief that you should always look at the bright side of things. The sugar skulls, definitely represent our religious beliefs as we believe our life is precious and valuable but even after death there is a life beyond what we know. Even though the sugar skull is not used daily it definitely is an extremely important object in the Mexican

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In the book “Mexican Whiteboy¨- by Matt de la Peña some of the biggest symbols that stood out to me were stickball, mental health and a hawk because there was a common occurring symbol that continuously popped up in the book. I chose these symbols because they are all connected with Danny and effect him a different way The first symbol that I would be explaining is stickball because In the book the main character Danny plays and talks about stickball a lot. Danny enjoys playing stickball so much that he hopes to be in a team but to him stickball is not only a sport it's his passion even when danny went to a new place the only way he felt like he was fitting in was when he was playing stickball and that's the reason why I chose stickball as a symbol is because even when he was sad and depressed he was still thinking about stickball and how he didn’t enter the team he wanted to, on page 41 and 42 it says “This had been Danny’s spot since Coach Sullivan pulled him aside after the last day of tryouts-in front of everybody-patted him on the back and tried to let him down easy.

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By introducing these new traditions on to the people of Mexico they slowly gained popularity and brought different people together. For example Spaniards created a different society to protect indigenous people, they slowly started to

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Aztecs had a wide majority of power over Southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Yucatan. Spanish arrived in Mexico in 1519, and wanted to take advantage of the massive amount of silver, the mines produced in the Aztec’s land. In South America, ingitis labor was cheaper, so it was beneficial to the Spanish to use these people to work in the mines to earn them high valued items that they can take back to the Old

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(2011): 1. Online Jonathan Brown. “Hieroglyphs of Death and Salvation: The Decoration of the Church of the Hermandad de la Caridad, Seville.” 52(3). (2014). 265-271 National Gallery of Art.

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Dia de los Muertos and Halloween can often be confused because they are celebrated within very close dates, but in reality they have distinct characteristics. Dia de los Muertos was originally introduced in Mexico with the Aztec Festival of the Dead, but the traditions have been tweaked over the years. Likewise, Halloween originated in Ireland, beginning with the Celtic Festival called “Samhain”. Now, the popular holiday, Day of the Dead, is celebrated from October 31st through November 2nd by visiting the graves of dead friends or family members. People who participate in Dia de los Muertos leave food, candles, incense, a poem, or a picture at the altar to honor the past lives of people they love.

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The first day, called “Día de los Angelitos” (Day of the Little Angels), is dedicated to the souls of deceased children, while November 2nd is set aside for the souls of adults. In preparation for these days, families may clean their homes to welcome the arrival of the souls of their loved ones. Many people also visit cemeteries to decorate the graves of the dead with their favorite items and flowers. Graves and ofrendas are decorated with papel picado, photographs, cherished objects, marigolds (cempasúchitl), and skeletons made of paper or clay. Food and drink are placed on the ofrendas for the dead – people commonly believe that they can still enjoy the tastes and smells.

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Olmec heads The Olmec built heads out of sand and water. The Olmec had heads made in mexico by hand. When you look up Olmec you see a bunch of different heads made of sand. The Olmec made heads to show the religion by making heads out of sand.

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This is one of the civilizations that flourished form the ninth to thirteenth century A.D, and is now home to enormous archeological sites. Among the sites, there is evidence of remains of skulls racks, which once displayed the multiple rows of stone-craved skulls of sacrificial victims (Brandes 1998, 190). However, during the Spanish Conquest, much of the design was removed and completely destroyed by the beginning of the Sixteenth century (Shcmal 2010). During the time of the Spanish Conquest, the Aztec and the Zapotec were the leading power holders of the region of southern Mexico. Because of this, it only makes sense that their usage of elaborate representations of death was then carried over into the artwork of colonial Mexico, becoming, then, associated with Dia de Los Muertos (Brandes 2003,

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On Day of the Dead, people go to markets to buy certain foods and items, some include las flores (flowers), El Mole (spicy chocolate), and El pan de Muerto (bread of the dead). People buy theses items because Day of the Dead is a very important holiday in Mexico and it usually takes 2 months salary to buy all of these things, it’s crazy. Along with people making altars, they must also prepare favorite foods of that loved one and also prepare themselves for the huge parties that they have on this special day. Halloween however, is prepared for by people going out and buying house items for the interior and exterior of the house. Parents also buy their kids costumes for this holiday to go out on halloween night and get candy.

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1134 Words | 5 Pages

Nowadays, many people wear items of clothing decorated with sugar skulls or skeleton prints, such as shirts, dresses, or leggings on Día de los Muertos. You can also wear shells and dance so that the noisiness "wakes up" the dead or even dress up as the deceased. •Some women also dress as Calavera Catrina in long, flowing, brightly-colored lace dresses paired with flower crowns and sugar skull makeup. •Sometimes, children dress in costume and ask people on the street for a calaverita (a small gift of money). Unlike Halloween, though, they don't knock on doors.

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Their religion is what drove the warriors, and many of their artifacts reflect this. Highly praised, they reached heights of divinity, and had temples built for them that reflected the people’s thoughts towards them. The Aztecs had a high regard for their religion, which made the center

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However, there is a distinct difference between the two holidays. In America, Halloween has shifted from focusing on death to focusing on trick-or-treating. The Day of the Dead celebrates the fact that death does not destroy the unity between those alive and those dead. While both celebrate with dressing up, eating with loved ones, and spending time with family, they gather for vey different reasons. In keeping with their culture, Americans celebrate being with those still alive, while Mexicans include deceased individuals in their

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719 Words | 3 Pages

Necklaces, crucifixes, statues and pictures of saints (estampitas), and stones are given by santeros to protect them from evil and provide well-being. The three favorites saints are La Caridad del Cobre, Santa Barbara, and San Lazaro. The festival La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre is celebrated annually by Cubans, on September

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That day we eat tamales and atole. It is a Good time with the family. In November 30 or around December 5 we do some thing that it is call Rasca de reyes. It is a bread that Have a little baby Jesus hidden in the bread represents the flight of the Holy Family,fleeing from King Herod. In my culture , if a person get one they are reponsibility of hosting a dinner and providing tamales and atole to the guests.

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Look around you, what do you see? Do you see objects that hold any significance or are they just considered ordinary? It’s quite challenging to see ordinary objects and devise a figurative and concentrated meaning. Many of the things that are seen and used in everyday life have very significant meanings. These objects are considered symbols.

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