Latin American Culture: Dia De Los Muertos

665 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Latin American culture

Latin American Culture Paper

Latin America contains vast cultures that are all worth looking into. Mexico, in particular, has a culture of death. Though it sounds grim, Mexico finds light in death and celebrate it. Mexicans believe that death is only the start of something new. They celebrate it so much that a holiday had been created, Dia De Los Muertos, which translates to Day of the Dead.
Dia De Los Muertos happens on November 1st and 2nd, the former used to honor children who have passed and the latter for the adults. Often due to Dia De Los Muertos happening directly after Halloween, it is thought of as Mexico’s own version of Halloween. This cannot be farther from the truth. A past Spanish teacher of mine always made the comparison

Show More
Related

  • cinco de mayo

    651 Words  | 2 Pages

    The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be! And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be. Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810. And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico.

    Read More

  • Essay On Cinco De Mayo

    638 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cinco de Mayo, also known as the Anniversary of the Battle of Puebla, is a national holiday in Mexico that commemorates the 1862 Mexican victory over the French forces of Napoleon III in Puebla, Mexico. This holiday, celebrated on the fifth of May, has deep roots in Mexican culture, but in American-Mexican culture as well. Cinco de Mayo serves as a proud reminder of an unlikely victory, as well as a day to express and cherish Mexican pride and heritage.

    Read More

  • A Cultural Celebration: Las Posadas

    594 Words  | 2 Pages

    Las Posadas is a Mexican holiday that is like Christmas for the United States. It was originated in Spain and lasts for nine days. This holiday begins on December sixteenth and ends on December twenty-fourth. This is also a catholic holiday but most people in Mexico celebrate it. This holiday was thought to be started in the sixteenth century by “St. Ignatius of Loyola or Friar Pedro de Gant in Mexico.” In Mexico they have a tradition where they put a candle in a paper lampshade. Then they would take the lampshade with the candle inside it and went outside to sing a song, allowing Joseph and Mary to be recognized and allowed to enter the world. This is still a tradition today but one thing has changed from around when it was started. It, for some people, celebrated it in a church instead of the family’s home. There is a thing that is common for both the United Stated and Mexico. They both sing Christmas carols, they go along to houses or in a church and sing Christmas songs. On these days the children will break piñatas to get the candy and prizes inside. They also so another thing ...

    Read More

  • Dia de Los Muertos

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    Foreigners have more trouble understanding Dia de Los Muertos than any of Mexico's other celebrations. At first glance, they see Day of the Dead decorations which are colored paper garlands, little skeletons performing daily tasks and sugar skulls inscribed with names, which remind them of Halloween. Other tourists discover that much like Memorial or Remembrance Day in the US, families here visit, clean and decorate graves of loved ones for the November 1 and 2 holidays. Many families honor their ancestors and dead with different traditions, which I will be telling u about.

    Read More

  • How Being Mexican-American Has Made Me Who I Am Today

    523 Words  | 2 Pages

    I am familiar with both the Mexican culture and the regular American Culture. Those two cultures aren’t alike. Mexicans celebrate different holidays. In American culture, we celebrate 4th of July because of the declaration of independence. But in Mexican culture, we also celebrate Independence Day but on the 16th of September, because we won the war against the Spaniards. Also, in American culture we celebrate the holiday that all kids love, Halloween on October 31st. Halloween is a day to go trick-or-treating and have fun. In Mexico, we celebrate “El Día De Los Muertos “(Day of The Dead) on November 1st. Day of the dead is a day where we remember all the people that have died and that holiday is in honor of them. Mexicans also celebrate “El Día De Los Reyes Magos” also known as “Day Of The Three Wise Men”. This day is celebrated for the day that the three wise men took each 1 gift to the Virgin Mary’s son. Columbus Day is a holiday that is celebrated in both American and Mexican culture. But besides the holidays, Mexican food is different from the all American food that is seen everyday. From pozole, tacos, quesadillas, and so many other foods, the cultures aren’t the same.

    Read More

  • Day Of The Dead Essay

    1219 Words  | 3 Pages

    Why do people celebrate death? Many people including myself have wondered this, and when I first heard of the mexican holiday Dia De Los Muertos. Translated in english, day of the dead is a holiday where instead of mourning lost ones they remember their lost ones by making alters, decorating their graves with things they used to like or their favourite food and celebrate their life. This mexican tradition is now celebrated throughout the united states aswell and this year we decided to dedicate alters to people we lost in the battle against police brutality. We have lost so many souls in the past decade that a black lives matter movement was created. Its sad that it even had to get to this point but all we can do now is fight for change and

    Read More

  • Hispanic American Culture Essay

    1496 Words  | 3 Pages

    The increase and changing demography in the United State today, with the disparities in the health status of people from different cultural backgrounds has been a challenge for health care professionals to consider cultural diversity as a priority. It is impossible for nurses and other healthcare professionals to learn and understand theses diversity in culture, but using other approaches like an interpreter is very helpful for both nurses and patients. In this paper of a culturally appropriate care planning, I will be discussing on the Hispanic American culture because, I had come across a lot of them in my career as a nurse. The Hispanic are very diverse in terms of communication and communities and include countries like Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, South and Central America, and some of them speak and write English very well, some speaks but can’t write while some can’t communicate in English at all but Spanish.

    Read More

  • Hispanic Cultural Culture

    1030 Words  | 3 Pages

    Child rearing and family structure within the Hispanic culture is noticeably different than what is present in the mainstream Western culture of today. One apparent difference is in gender roles. There exists a vastly different expectation in Hispanic culture for males and females. The male is considered to be the independent breadwinner, and the head of the household. Accordingly, the female role is one of submission and provider of childcare. In contrast, it is more than acceptable in Western culture for a female to maintain a non-traditional role. Hispanic culture additionally differs from Western culture in the traditional makeup of the family. Within Hispanic culture the extended family plays a huge role

    Read More

  • Contrasting and Comparing Mexico and the USA

    710 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...parts of the celebration, October 31st, November 1st, and finally November 2nd. On October 31st, it is seen that the kid’s souls return. November 1st is considered the adult’s day of returning, and November 2nd is when all souls have returned from the dead and there is a big celebration. People of Mexico celebrate by making many baked goods and cooking meals, making objects such as masks and decorating papers and toy coffins to prepare for the return of the souls.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Hispanic And American Cultural Holidays

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    Easter is as big of a celebration as Christmas is. Easter in the US, is celebrated by going to church for Holy Thursday and Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and also on Easter Sunday. We recognize what happened each day leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and when he had risen from the dead. Non-religious people in the US only do Easter egg hunts and hunt for candy from the Easter bunny. This is a very common activity practiced on Easter Sunday by most families in America. Just like Christmas, Hispanic cultures really only focus on the real purpose of Holy Week and Easter. Hispanics celebrate Easter by dressing up as creatures and people from brotherhoods, and roam the streets celebrating and devoting their love towards Christ. They also celebrate by burning Judas dolls in the streets, these are made out of straw. Hispanics also go to Church to celebrate these days and to recognize them. Hispanics and the US both celebrate Easter in their own and unique

    Read More

  • Mexican American Culture: The Film Selena

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    To help me understand and analyze a different culture, I watched the film Selena. The film tells the life story of the famous singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. Not only does it just tell personal stories from her life, it also gives insight to the Mexican-American culture. Her whole life she lived in the United States, specifically in Texas, but was Hispanic and because of that both her and her family faced more struggles than white singers on the climb to her success. Even though the film is a story about a specific person, it brought understanding into the culture in which she lived. Keeping in mind that these ideas that I drew about the Mexican-American culture is very broad and do not apply to every single person in the culture, there were very obvious differences in their culture and the one that I belong. Mexican-American culture identifies with their family rather than individualized or spiritual identities and the culture has gone through significant changes because of discrimination and the changing demographics of the United States.

    Read More

  • Essay On Mexican Culture

    2406 Words  | 5 Pages

    Culture is customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group. It includes behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, values, and norms that is shared by a group of people to sustain their lives. Mexican culture is influenced by their familial ties, gender, religion, location and social class, among other factors. Today life in the cities of Mexico has become similar to that in neighboring United States and Europe, with provincial people conserving traditions more so than the Mexican living in the city. In the United States Mexican includes any person of Puerto

    Read More

  • My Mexican American Culture

    603 Words  | 2 Pages

    The customs they learned as kids have been passed on to me. We were always having barbeques in the backyard, Christmas parties, Easter egg hunting, having pan de los muertos on the Day of the Death, and celebrating Mexico’s Independence. Even though we celebrate Mexican holidays we would also celebrate American Holidays like 4th of July, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. Having to celebrate both cultures holidays was a pleasure, because it would give us time to see our family more. Also, we would be able to celebrate some holidays twice like mother's day because in Mexico it was always on the tenth of May and in America it was another

    Read More

  • Mexican American Culture Essay

    2010 Words  | 5 Pages

    The culture I was born and raised on was that of Mexican-American culture. My parents were born and raised in Mexico, and when they came to America and had kids, they instilled a hybrid of their culture, and American culture, in us. They were each raised in the Mexican culture, but wanted us to be raised as Americans also, and added this to our upbringing.

    Read More

  • Mexican Culture Essay

    594 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is culture? Many people ask themselves this question every day. The more you think about it the more confusing it is. Sometimes you start leaning to a culture and then people tell you you’re wrong or they make you feel like a different person because of your culture. I go through this almost every day. Because of the way I was raised I love Mexican rodeo but I was born and raised in Joliet. This can be very difficult trying to understand culture. I live in this huge mix of culture. Culture is personal. People can have many cultures especially in America and because of globalization. Cultural identity is not one or the other, it is not Mexican or American. Cultural identity is an individual relevant thing.

    Read More

More about Latin American Culture: Dia De Los Muertos

Open Document