Day of the Dead Essay

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Day of the Dead Day of the Dead is a Mexican tradition that has been around for about 3,000 years. This holiday started a long time ago when the Spanish conquistadors first arrived. The Spanish conquistadors observed how the indigenous people celebrated death, unlike how the Spanish conquistadors saw death as a punishment. They wanted abolish the practice of this ritual when they were converting all the indigenous people to Catholicism, however, the ritual did not die out. Eventually, this practice mixed in with the Spanish conquistadors’ beliefs. It became a holiday and is celebrated on All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, which is November the first and November the second. The natives used to celebrate this ritual in August, but the Spanish conquistadors changed it to those two days to make it more Catholic. Today, it is celebrated in Mexico, South America, Philippines, Spain, and it is even starting to get popular in the United States. People prepare for this celebration in many ways. They make beautiful altars or “ofrendas” at their homes. They decorate these altars with candles, flowers known as marigolds or cempasuchil, fruits, peanuts, stacks of tortillas, and the most important which is “Day of the Dead” bread called pan de muerto. Pan de muerto is round and has a miniature skull in the center of it. To make the altar complete they add their colorful sugars skulls. There are various markets where they sell these skulls. They also have toys or shots of mezcal. The toys are for the children or angelitos, and the mezcal are for the adults. On October 31 at mid-night is when the gates of heaven open up. On the first of November, the dead children spirits or angelitos are able to reunite with their family for the whole day. On the second of November, the adult spirits are awaken and are also able to communicate with their family. At the afternoon, the

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