[act-ma] Come to a Pena commemorating the Dia de los Muertos

[Charlie Welch]

 Come to a Pena commemorating the Dia de los Muertos

When: Sat. Nov. 9th
Time 7-10pm
Where: @ Community Church of Boston 565 Boylston St (across from Copley Sq.)

T: Copley on Green Line and Back Bay Station on the Orange Line
Refreshments will be provided
Suggested donation: $5
No one will be turned away.

https://www.facebook.com/events/923808802952833

Throughout recorded history, humankind has often instituted ways to honor
friends and family who are no longer among us. As in many cultures around
the world, Mexicans honor their loved ones with an “Altar de Muertos”. The
roots of the Day of the Dead go back some 3,000 years. The rituals honoring
the dead in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica held a cyclical view of the universe,
and saw death as an integral, ever-present part of life and continuity.

Spanish conquistador invaders tried to convert the population to
Catholicism and change the Day of the Dead to the holiday, "All Saints
Day", but they were
unsuccessful, instead it got fused with Christianity to create today’s Día
de los Muertos. The spiritual holiday was originally intended to celebrate
the Deity of the Dead, Mictēcacihuātl, Lady of Mictlān (the underworld) and
guardian of the bones of the Dead.
Nowadays the Catrina is a symbol around the world for the Mexican Day of
the Dead. Cartoons by Guadalupe Posada expressed a social criticism of
Mexico in the years prior to the Mexican Revolution. The original name of
the Catrina was the ‘Chick Pea Skull’ (Calavera Garbancera) a reference to
individuals selling chickpeas; those who, having indigenous blood,
pretended to be European (Spanish or French), denying their own race,
heritage and culture.
Every ‘ofrenda’ also includes the four elements: water, wind, earth and
fire. Water is left in a pitcher so that the spirits can quench their
thirst, marigold flowers for the wind. Earth is represented by corn.
Candles are often left in the form of a cross to represent the four
cardinal directions, so the spirits
can find their way. In today’s altars are added ‘papel picado’, or
traditional paper banners, photographs of past loved ones, paper mâché
figures, pan de muerto, sugar skulls, the favorite foods of the departed.