Anthropolo-G.: Dia de Los Muertos, Hollywood 2007

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

October 27, 2007

For the past 9 years, the oldest memorial park in Los Angeles--the Hollywood Forever Cemetery--has opened its vast and well-manicured graveyard for thousands of celebrants to remember those that have left our world for whatever awaits us all.

Los Dias de los

Muertos, November 1-2, are the traditional days the dead are welcomed, cherished, and celebrated in a huge festival of music, dance, food, and drink (at times too much) that lasts late into the night.

Olvera Street, Los Angeles, 2005

A syncretism of religious traditions, the Days of the Dead have origins dating back at least thousands of years to the

early cultures of Europe and Mesoamerica.

In the Mexica/Azteca empire of the 15th and 16th centuries, the deity Mictecacihuatl, the Lady of the Dead, presided over a twenty day month falling between July and August and set aside to honor the dead. Many Mesoamerican peoples kept skulls as trophies and displayed them during rituals and ceremonies.

Death was not the end but a mere continuation of life, and lost loved ones would join the living in their annual 'welcome home' celebration.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the Roman Catholic empire was expanding to the northwestern
parts of Europe, and quickly sought to replace the beliefs and practices of the people they encountered. Traditions stretching far back into prehistory were either altered or eradicated, yet in many circumstances old traditions persisted, much to the ire of the Church.

During the 4th and 5th centuries in modern day Ireland, the Celtic festival Samhain was celebrated on November 1st. This significant day was recognized as the beginning of the new year and the midpoint between the summer and winter solstices.

The Celts believed the gates that normally separated the worlds of the living and dead were temporarily opened, and offerings of food and drink were prepared while people dressed as animals and spirits welcomed their lost loved ones home if for just one day a year.

To counter these religious observances and festivities, missionaries reconstructed local customs into Christian themed events with limited success. Reinterpreting Samhain as a day to remember all of the Catholic Saints given no official church sanctioned holy day, they created All Saints Day, or All Hallows Day. The night before, October 31st, became the Eve of All Saints, or the Even of All Hallows, which eventually became Hallow Even--todays Halloween.

Around 900 A.D., the holiday of All Souls Day was added to November 2nd to honor those who died the previous year, and the tradition of bonfires, food, drink, and masked revelry persisted.

Representations of death and skeletons were common, and, as before, the dead were believed to join the festivities.

When the Spanish conquered the Mexica/Azteca people of Mexico in the 1520's, the removal of indigenous beliefs was crucial to rationalize their mission, and the destruction of indigenous holy sites and shrines occurred immediately after the fall of the empire. New cathedrals devoted to the Catholic tradition were in many cases built on top of these ruins.

Such is the case with the Basilica of Guadalupe on Tepeyac Hill, where the infamous image of the Virgin was believed to have magically appeared to Juan Diego in 1531. Originally a site for veneration in the Pre-Colombian era for hundreds (if not thousands) of years, the hill has a long history of attracting pilgrims and nobles from near and far to honor another mother goddess, Tonantzin.

Today, Dia de los Muertos continues to unite the living and the dead. In Mexico, the southwestern United States, and many parts of Latin America, graves are cleared of weeds and debris and the favorite food, drink, and vices of the departed are gathered and arranged on colorful elaborate altars, sugar and paper mache calaveras mock death and joyously dance the night away.

The festival at Hollywood Forever is billed as the largest and most authentic of the Dia de los Muertos celebrations in the country. Over 100 meticulously decorated altars line the road into the

cemetery. Brightly colored with marigold flowers, candles, sugar skulls, photos, bottles of booze, and religious symbols, they are built throughout the day by loved ones, fans, and artists.

For those who have passed, our family members, heroes, and friends, for the victims of crimes ranging from pointless violence to government sanctioned atrocities, improvised explosive devices or mercenary-executed civilians, we mourn all of the world's losses and celebrate most of its lives.