La Fiesta de los Muertos.

The Party of the Dead. Notes on Mexican Death Rituals.

By Eduardo Torres.
In this short essay I will try to show how Hertz’s seminal work The Collective Representation of
Death keeps making sense and even throwing light in the context of contemporary Mexican
death rituals.
Mexican culture is noted for the unique presence of death-themes and notions and the role that
Death -as a phenomenon, as a figure, as common fate-, plays in the collective imaginary of the
Mexican people. There is an outstanding syncretism to be found in Mexican folk psychology
regarding death and death-rituals, product of hundreds of years of fusion and assimilation of pre-
Columbian heritage and post-Hispanic beliefs. One might even dare to say that only a short
number of cultures, both past and present, feel themselves as at home and as familiar with this
otherwise sinister subject as the Mexican does.
Nonetheless, it seems to me that there are patterns and motifs present and shared cross-
culturally in our collective but still very idiosyncratic representation of death. In order to
illuminate them, I will make use of Robert Hertz’s analysis as shown in his paper on The
Collective Representation of Death. Since I myself am not a social scientist but a philosophy
student, I will refrain from offering any data or statistical support to my views. I will be
appealing to the subjective, non-expert knowledge of my own culture and the intuitions I might
have about it.
I will start by applying the process or stage-scheme developed by Hertz as well as his
classification of the three headings regarding the practices of death rituals (1960, p. 29). Though
they might not fit perfectly or fail to map exactly the structure and elements of Mexican death
rituals, I believe they still make sense when applied to this particular culture.
The Intermediary Period
a) The body: Provisional burial
When someone dies in a traditional, middle-low class household in Mexico 1, the usual ritual
consists of a funeral, most likely done by specialised or professional funerary houses. There’s a
vigil for the deceased at the funeral house where the body is present, and the attendees pay
condolences to the survivors. Coffee and tea are offered, and the common ritual usually involves
silent catholic prayers. The mood is solemn and respectful. Since all of this represents a
monetary cost, funerals and burials are usually done as soon as the death occurs. Next day after
the vigil the burial will take place but not before what is called a Present Body Mass, a Catholic
mass dedicated to the deceased. Everyone who knew and cared for the dead person is welcomed
to attend and give his or her farewell. Finally, the body will be buried in a graveyard, preceded

1
I Will refer to middle-low class in the north of Mexico since it is my own socio-economical status, the one I am
most familiar with. This is worth mentioning since still nowadays Mexico is a society with a very rigid socio-
economical hierarchy, where practices vary according to each class and stratum.
by a short procession to the grave. This final stage also tends to be the most dramatic, since
public demonstrations of grieve are perhaps not expected but allowed: the closest family
members might cry out loud and yell in desperation since they are saying the final goodbyes to
the physical remains of their loved one.
b) The soul: It’s temporary stay on Earth
This phase concerns not the body of the dead person but his or her soul. It is characterised by
what is called a “Novenario”, a period of nine days where the survivors, family, friends and
loved ones, get together every evening to pray for the soul of the deceased. This prayer meetings
do not require the presence of a clerical figure; they are usually led by the family’s matriarch, the
oldest female in the family, since matters of devotion and care are more commonly carried out
by females. According to the Catholic tradition (as practiced and understood in Mexico), the soul
of a dead person rarely goes straight to Heaven unless that person was a Saint or in the path of
Sainthood. Regular people go to Purgatory, an intermediate realm where the souls attempt
purification through atonement and the help of the prayers of the living. The whole purpose of a
Novenario is to help the soul leave Purgatory and move ahead to Heaven. During this time, there
is a sense of direct communication with the parting soul: being not yet in Heaven, his soul is still
somehow close to this place, tied to our prayers and waiting for our help to purge his sins and be
welcomed with the Lord.
c) The living: mourning.
The phase of mourning starts since the moment of death and appears to have no definite end
date. There is no standardised practice for mourning in Mexico since it varies within
communities and it is considered a personal, subjective matter. It’s up to the person to keep the
mourning for as long as he or she considers it. Mourning people wear black clothes and avoid
taking part in celebrations such as birthday parties, weddings and so on. The minimal time for
mourning is taken to be the Novenary, but there are several cases where people keep their
mourning image and status for years, even for the rest of their lives.
The Final Ceremony
The phases and headings of the final ceremony are harder here to separate and identify in
isolation. I believe that the most singular feature of Mexican death rituals is its culmination, this
final ceremony, presented in the form of our most iconic festivity: Día de Muertos. 2This is a
communal festivity where people build altars to the memories of the loved ones, they present
them with offerings and presents: their favourite food and drink, the music they loved the most,
they books they were most fond of. During this day it is believed that the dead come back to the
land of the living. They dwell among us for the space of one day, sharing with us life once more.
The cemeteries become the party grounds, the night is filled with lights and music, the houses are

2
There’s a very common mistranslation and misspelling of this name: it is Day of Dead, not Day of the Dead, the
original name in Spanish prescinds the definite article “the”. And I think this is not irrelevant; precisely because of
the communal, undifferentiated character of this celebration, where both dead and living are back together, the
definiteness gets lost: there is no radical distinction anymore between those who died and those who haven’t yet
died. During the Night of Dead we are all pretty much the same.
covered with orange flowers, cempazuchitl, and skulls made of sugar, and the streets are adorned
with carved paper in the most bright, vibrant colours. The town never feels more alive than
during Day of Dead. For me, this celebration symbolises the ultimate Mexican Fiesta, the
Mexican party, in the words of poet Octavio Paz:

Pero a diferencia de lo que ocurre en otras sociedades, la fiesta mexicana no es nada más un
regreso a un estado original de indiferenciación y libertad; el mexicano no intenta regresar, sino
salir de sí mismo, sobrepasarse. Entre nosotros la fiesta es una explosión, un estallido. Muerte y
vida, júbilo y lamento, canto y aullido se alían en nuestros festejos, no para recrearse o
reconocerse, sino para entredevorarse. No hay nada más alegre que una fiesta mexicana, pero
también no hay nada más triste. La noche de fiesta es también noche de duelo.
[In contrast with what happens in other societies, the Mexican party is not only a return to an
original state of undifferentiation and freedom; the Mexican does not try to return, but to come
out of himself, to surpass himself. Among us, the party is an explosion, a blast. Death and live,
joy and lament, song and howl become allies in our festivities, not to recreate or to recognise each
other, but to devour each other. There is nothing more cheerful than a Mexican party, yet there is
nothing sadder. The night of the party is also a night of grief.] (1991, p. 28) [translation is mine].

In conclusion, this party is an abolishment of binaries and boundaries, it’s a glorious but dark
transgression, where opposites meet and momentarily mix, blend, unite. The Dead don’t reach
their final destination until they come back to us. Maybe because that is their final destination.

References:
Hertz, R. (1960). Death and the Right Hand. Illinois: The Free Press.
Paz, O. (1991). El laberinto de la soledad. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica.