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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Mexican Day of the Dead	Joan	Monday, August 16, 2010
Question: Dear Brother Ignatius, Is it licit for Catholics to participate in any sort of "Day of the Dead" celebration? I was not familiar with this celebration until last year, when my son's public school asked the children in his class to build an altar and bring in pictures of deceased relatives to class. It seems that many Hispanic Catholics in my community participate in this as an "All Souls Day" celebration, but I could not find anything from the Church clearly indicating one way or the other whether this was considered an acceptable practice. Based on what I was told (see below), I informed the teacher that my child could not bring in an "offering" or participate in such a ceremony as that would violate our religious beliefs. However, I did allow my son to bring in a picture of his grandfather to share with the class. Did I do the right thing, or should I have not even allowed him to bring in the picture? The description below did not sound Christian at all. I would not be surprised if this situation comes up again this year. I would appreciate your advice and perspective so that I can be better prepared this time around. Thank you. Joan Here is an excerpt from the information we parents were given: "An essential part of this ancient Aztec tradition is laying out altars to relatives, The altars are surrounded with papel picado, flowers, crosses, food and pictures of the dead loved ones. Celebrants light candles and incenses, and place them next to the altar. Chocolate often appears, sometimes in drinks....I am planning to build an altar at the class, and maybe, on November 2nd to have chocolate and bread of the dead with the kids...The offerings placed on the altar usually consist of a washbowl, basin, razors, soap and other items the traveling spirit can use to clean-up after the journey. Personal belongings for each person and any other offerings the deceased may enjoy. Candles are used to help light the way for the spirits. Certain Dia de los Muertos dishes are also placed on the altar to help feed and nourish the traveling souls. Some of these offerings also double as the four main elements of nature — earth, wind, water, and fire. These are represented by movable or lightweight items such as tissue paper cut-outs (wind,) a bowl of water, candles (fire) and food (crops, earth.) Therefore, we will start making papel picado and flowers in the class, and I will ask to bring pictures of the dead relatives, personalities, or animals (pictures don’t have to be the originals, they can be photocopies). Also, if you can collaborate with vases and with any offerings I would really appreciate it (everything will be returned to you latter)."
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM Dear Joan: There is a legitimate "Christian" Day of the Dead celebration in Mexican culture. It is a day that celebrates life and has no relationship to Halloween (which is a day sourced in fear of the dead). This Day of the Dead has it original course going back 3000-4000 years, but in modern times is the Mexican version of All Saints Day and All Souls Day. It was during the Spanish conquest that the culture of the Aztecs became infused with the beliefs of the Catholic Church. The Church has often co-opted local cultural ritual and beliefs by Christianizing these cultural elements, and discarding those elements that cannot be Christianized, and thus making them legitimately Christian. It was, and is, a very successful evangelistic strategy. The Christmas Tree (rudiments traced to Romans), the Wedding Ring (Egyptian), the Fish symbol (Buddhist), architectural designs of Churches (Roman), the tonsure of a monk (Egyptian, Roman), the hierarchical structure of the Church (Roman), and even the Cross (Roman) are also pagan symbols originally that have been "Christianized" and now legitimate Christian symbols. The "Christian" form of the Day of the Dead includes "sugar-skulls", chocolate, and especially bread. Food is very much a part of this. In the Mexican celebration there are three requiem Masses. Then the people do their own rituals that may include "brightly decorated shrines both in their homes and at cemeteries. The shrines or altars are covered with pictures, favorite items of the deceased, flowers, candies, mescal or tequila, and food, especially loaves of decorated bread." Catholic Digest had an article about this earlier this year that stated: The Catholic Church, through the aegis of Spanish conquerors and ensuing missionaries, moved the holiday (originally celebrated in the summer) to coincide with All Saint's Day (November 1, called Dia de los Angelitos, and dedicated to children — "little angels" — who have died) and All Soul's Day (November 2, for the adult dead). Today the celebration represents a merging of pre-Colombian and Catholic beliefs. Mass, prayer vigils, and religious iconography have been incorporated into the festivities, and even in the United States, many Catholic churches with large Mexican and Mexican-American congregations — such as the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph in San Jose — host Day of the Dead observances. In Mexico today, in fact, great pains are taken to make sure that the United States' tradition of Halloween does not take over Dia de los Muertos. Gina Laczko, who helped put together many Day of the Dead celebrations for the Heard Museum in Phoenix, recalls visiting Mexico City and seeing the word Halloween in the red-circle-with-a-slash that universally means "no!" The primary problem with your child's school is that this teacher does not appear to be presenting the Christian version of the Day of the Dead (which is what most Hispanics, almost all Catholic, celebrate). Instead, it sounds like she is ignoring the Christian culture of Mexico and replacing it with pagan Aztec. This is a problem. In terms of teaching history talking about the pagan origins of the Day of the Dead is fine (as long as that history includes modern history where it became Christianized), but to replicate the pagan celebration in the classroom with the kids participating, in my view, is improper and a practice of a pagan religion. Since the pre-Christian Day of the Dead is a religious celebration then the school should not allow it if the school will not allow the kids to replicate the celebration of Christian holidays, such as the Nativity. If Christian holidays cannot be replicated, they not only should the Aztec rite be prohibited, but also the Celtic pagan holiday of Halloween. Such hypocrisy is typical in our schools. In my opinion, even if replications of religious holidays are allowed for all religions equally, I would not allow my children to participate in pagan rituals, or even be present to watch it, because of the remote possibility of demonic attachment. Since your child has already "been present" in the classroom, I would suggest you bless your child with holy water with a pray that any "attachments" that might be present be cast away. Frankly, given the ungodly nature of the schools we have, even with Catholic schools unfortunately, blessing one's child everyday after school might be a good idea in general. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Mexican Day of the Dead

Joan

Monday, August 16, 2010

Question:

Dear Brother Ignatius,

Is it licit for Catholics to participate in any sort of "Day of the Dead" celebration? I was not familiar with this celebration until last year, when my son's public school asked the children in his class to build an altar and bring in pictures of deceased relatives to class. It seems that many Hispanic Catholics in my community participate in this as an "All Souls Day" celebration, but I could not find anything from the Church clearly indicating one way or the other whether this was considered an acceptable practice.

Based on what I was told (see below), I informed the teacher that my child could not bring in an "offering" or participate in such a ceremony as that would violate our religious beliefs. However, I did allow my son to bring in a picture of his grandfather to share with the class.

Did I do the right thing, or should I have not even allowed him to bring in the picture? The description below did not sound Christian at all. I would not be surprised if this situation comes up again this year. I would appreciate your advice and perspective so that I can be better prepared this time around.

Thank you.

Joan

Here is an excerpt from the information we parents were given:

"An essential part of this ancient Aztec tradition is laying out altars to relatives, The altars are surrounded with papel picado, flowers, crosses, food and pictures of the dead loved ones. Celebrants light candles and incenses, and place them next to the altar. Chocolate often appears, sometimes in drinks....I am planning to build an altar at the class, and maybe, on November 2nd to have chocolate and bread of the dead with the kids...The offerings placed on the altar usually consist of a washbowl, basin, razors, soap and other items the traveling spirit can use to clean-up after the journey. Personal belongings for each person and any other offerings the deceased may enjoy. Candles are used to help light the way for the spirits. Certain Dia de los Muertos dishes are also placed on the altar to help feed and nourish the traveling souls. Some of these offerings also double as the four main elements of nature — earth, wind, water, and fire. These are represented by movable or lightweight items such as tissue paper cut-outs (wind,) a bowl of water, candles (fire) and food (crops, earth.) Therefore, we will start making papel picado and flowers in the class, and I will ask to bring pictures of the dead relatives, personalities, or animals (pictures don’t have to be the originals, they can be photocopies). Also, if you can collaborate with vases and with any offerings I would really appreciate it (everything will be returned to you latter)."

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Joan:

There is a legitimate "Christian" Day of the Dead celebration in Mexican culture. It is a day that celebrates life and has no relationship to Halloween (which is a day sourced in fear of the dead).

This Day of the Dead has it original course going back 3000-4000 years, but in modern times is the Mexican version of All Saints Day and All Souls Day. It was during the Spanish conquest that the culture of the Aztecs became infused with the beliefs of the Catholic Church. The Church has often co-opted local cultural ritual and beliefs by Christianizing these cultural elements, and discarding those elements that cannot be Christianized, and thus making them legitimately Christian. It was, and is, a very successful evangelistic strategy.

The Christmas Tree (rudiments traced to Romans), the Wedding Ring (Egyptian), the Fish symbol (Buddhist), architectural designs of Churches (Roman), the tonsure of a monk (Egyptian, Roman), the hierarchical structure of the Church (Roman), and even the Cross (Roman) are also pagan symbols originally that have been "Christianized" and now legitimate Christian symbols.

The "Christian" form of the Day of the Dead includes "sugar-skulls", chocolate, and especially bread. Food is very much a part of this.

In the Mexican celebration there are three requiem Masses. Then the people do their own rituals that may include "brightly decorated shrines both in their homes and at cemeteries. The shrines or altars are covered with pictures, favorite items of the deceased, flowers, candies, mescal or tequila, and food, especially loaves of decorated bread."

Catholic Digest had an article about this earlier this year that stated:

The Catholic Church, through the aegis of Spanish conquerors and ensuing missionaries, moved the holiday (originally celebrated in the summer) to coincide with All Saint's Day (November 1, called Dia de los Angelitos, and dedicated to children — "little angels" — who have died) and All Soul's Day (November 2, for the adult dead). Today the celebration represents a merging of pre-Colombian and Catholic beliefs. Mass, prayer vigils, and religious iconography have been incorporated into the festivities, and even in the United States, many Catholic churches with large Mexican and Mexican-American congregations — such as the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph in San Jose — host Day of the Dead observances.

In Mexico today, in fact, great pains are taken to make sure that the United States' tradition of Halloween does not take over Dia de los Muertos. Gina Laczko, who helped put together many Day of the Dead celebrations for the Heard Museum in Phoenix, recalls visiting Mexico City and seeing the word Halloween in the red-circle-with-a-slash that universally means "no!"

The primary problem with your child's school is that this teacher does not appear to be presenting the Christian version of the Day of the Dead (which is what most Hispanics, almost all Catholic, celebrate). Instead, it sounds like she is ignoring the Christian culture of Mexico and replacing it with pagan Aztec. This is a problem.

In terms of teaching history talking about the pagan origins of the Day of the Dead is fine (as long as that history includes modern history where it became Christianized), but to replicate the pagan celebration in the classroom with the kids participating, in my view, is improper and a practice of a pagan religion.

Since the pre-Christian Day of the Dead is a religious celebration then the school should not allow it if the school will not allow the kids to replicate the celebration of Christian holidays, such as the Nativity. If Christian holidays cannot be replicated, they not only should the Aztec rite be prohibited, but also the Celtic pagan holiday of Halloween. Such hypocrisy is typical in our schools.

In my opinion, even if replications of religious holidays are allowed for all religions equally, I would not allow my children to participate in pagan rituals, or even be present to watch it, because of the remote possibility of demonic attachment.

Since your child has already "been present" in the classroom, I would suggest you bless your child with holy water with a pray that any "attachments" that might be present be cast away.

Frankly, given the ungodly nature of the schools we have, even with Catholic schools unfortunately, blessing one's child everyday after school might be a good idea in general.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.