Dia de los Muertos

elchrist · Posted: 01 Nov 2006 08:25 AM Post subject: Dia de los Muertos

As you most likely know, Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is November 2nd and 3rd. I haven't seen any events scheduled for it in the Imperial Valley, so I was wondering if there's any type of celebration/parade in Mexicali that would be anything like those found in Oaxaca and Guanajuato with giant puppets, costumes, etc.

Is Dia de los Muertos celebrated in Mexicali in this way?

superplayer · Posted: 02 Nov 2006 09:15 PM Post subject:

This tradition rather has its roots in southern Mexico, where the ancient civilizations and their religious beliefs merged with Catholicism. In the north, nomadic tribes were not as culturally advanced to develop such a tradition so the Spanish settlers in places like Sonora and Sinaloa did not have strong ties to this celebration. They knew it was a holiday in the calendar, but did not share the pre-Columbian traditions of the south.

Most people who settled Mexicali still have their roots in Northern Mexico and this is why Dia de los muertos does not have a strong prescence in the region. A lot of people from Mexicali come from Michoacan and Guanajuato where this tradition is strong but after all, these people have assimilated to the Mexicali way of barely going to the cementeries for a couple of hours but no more than that.