We often think of the physical ritual of the tradition: what to say or do, maybe even what to wear. However, we tend to forget about one of the most prevalent aspect of tradition and its historical implications: the colors. In my work with The Humanities Collaborative at UTEP-EPCC as an Undergraduate Research Affiliate, I have been assigned to work on Humanities Collaborative Faculty Fellow and El Paso Community College (EPCC) Professor Zoe Spiliotis’s color project. Our team's humanities project is to create a color palette that will incorporate a variety of colors that represent the City of El Paso. Our research is ongoing, but one of my main focuses has been to explore the meaning and history of behind the colors of a tradition that has had a longstanding meaning to the Borderland region: Día de los Muertos.
Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a colorful culture-based celebration that is honored among Mexico and Latin American countries. This celebration is to commemorate the life of those who have parted to the next life. A misconception about this day is that it is meant to be mournful, when in fact it is a lively celebration expressed through a variety of colors. Día de los Muertos is a mix of Roman Catholic religious influence and Aztec traditions: the Aztecs had a festival that honored their dead and a ritual to honor Mictecacihuatl and Mictlantecuhtli, the “Lady and Lord of the Dead” who watched over the bones of the deceased. They believed in death that a person’s soul would travel to the underworld but were allowed to return to visit family one day each year in November. When Spain took rule of the region of what is now Mexico, they required the indigenous people to follow the Roman Catholic religion. Because of this, Día de los Muertos is now bears a resemblance with Catholicism and Aztec traditions of having the dearly departed visit their families once a year (Prairie View A&M University 2021).
On every November 1, the celebration begins at midnight; it is the Day of the Little Angels also recognized as All Saints' Day. Altars are made for the departed children with hoary stock and gypsophila flowers. Here, we begin to see the importance of color in the ritual of the tradition. The flowers themselves have more than just a basic aesthetic quality of having a pleasant appearance; their colors take on a specific meaning crucial to the memorial: their white and purple colors symbolize the purity of the children’s souls. Furthermore, golden, marigold petals are placed nearby like guiding flames serving as a pathway for the souls to find their way to their altar and, ultimately, to their families. These marigold flowers (Cempazucbitl) are thus called “flowers of the dead, their fragrance and vibrant color said to attract the souls of the dead. Each altar must have three sections of offerings that are specifically chosen to welcome their departed. The offerings that are placed must include food, sugar skulls, atole (corn-based hot drink), fruits, candies, toys, and pan de muerto (sweet yeast bread coated with sugar resembling skull and crossbones). The altars must also include a picture of the departed, marigolds, papel picado (multicolored, chiseled paper), the personal belongings of or specific items of interest to the departed family member, salt, candles, and a glass of water (its clarity and lack of color resembling purity).
The celebration continues throughout the day until midnight. One November 2, the children’s elements on the altar are either eaten or removed to now honor the adults, as it is now All Saints' Day (Día de los Fieles Difuntos). The altars are still decorated in the same manner, but the offerings are slightly different. These altars have most of the offerings as the children’s altar; however, these altars also have favorite dishes, coffee, and alcohol. Music is also an offering that is said to attract the souls to their families. By noon, the public celebration begins with music and parades. The community dresses up like calaveras (skeleton costumes with face painting) for the entire day to show that the living is waiting for their arrival be among each other. Cemeteries are filled with families that clean and decorate tombstones, creating a celebration of life and death that is full of significance and beauty.
There are significant symbols used to represent different elements of this celebration. Altars, as mentioned before, are made to welcome the souls. They represent all the cherished memories of the deceased. Sugar skulls are decorated with the name of the departed on the forehead of the skull to represent the skull of the departed individual. Another symbol is the monarch butterfly to represent the souls of the dead that annually visit their families, and here again we see colors playing a crucial part of the tradition. At the time when Día de los Muertos occurs, millions of monarch butterflies migrate from the U.S and Canada to the State of Michuacan (West-Central Mexico), and upon their arrival, the beautiful insects arrive with a touch of black and brilliant orange colors on their wings. A group of Indigenous people called Purepecha have recorded this arrival at the same time each year, and they strongly believed that the souls of the deceased do not die but are in fact reincarnated into Monarch butterflies.
As we can see, the beauty of Día de los Muertos is not only seen through the physical actions and rituals in its traditions and history but is also shown in the use of specific colors and their significance behind each element. The colors have their origin of meaning derived from nature and religion. There are five primary colors used to symbolize this celebration of the dead. The color of purple signifies pain, suffering, grief, and mourning and is used to acknowledge the loss of loved ones. One can see purple used in this fashion in the Catholic Church, especially during the season of Lent when it is used to show sorrow and suffering. Pink, on the other hand, is the color of celebration, signifying a tribute to the deceased, while purity and hope are represented by the color white—white thought to bring new beginnings for the souls who have gone to the next life. Red is representative of blood, a link that the dead once shared with the living, and, lastly, orange, or yellow in the use of marigolds symbolize the pathway that the souls of the departed will follow, the color of the glowing sun that illuminates their path and so they can be untied with their families.
Most residents in the El Paso, Texas, region are Hispanic and many keep the traditions of their culture, and Día de los Muertos is one of the traditions that is kept alive in the Borderland as indicated during a 2018 a collaboration between the El Paso Museum of Art and the Consulate General of Mexico in El Paso created the celebration of Día de los Muertos in El Paso. This collaboration was created to keep the traditions alive and show an important part of the region's culture. I had the honor of attending the first ceremony and witnessed the many sculptures, works of art, history and, of course, numerous colors behind the tradition.
It is not only important to remember traditions like Día de los Muertos but to also to understand the meanings and history of its various components. Each component has a story and a function, and understanding that enables us to celebrate these traditions in a deeper, more relevant sense. Día de los Muertos is a wonderful part of the culture of the El Paso region, and I, for one, am honored to have this examination of history and commemoration as part of our regional color palette project for The Humanities Collaborative at EPCC-UTEP.
Written by Ashley Y. Garcia, Undergraduate Research Fellow
El Paso Community College, The Humanities Collaborative at EPCC-UTEP
Banner image courtesy of Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofrenda#/media/File:Altardediademuertos.jpg)
