A5 RIHLA #19

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"Indigenous people wouldn't let 'Day of the Dead' die"

1) This is about how more than 500 years ago Spanish Conquistadors landed in Mexico and encountered natives practicing a ritual, which is now, "Day of the Dead." The ritual maintains the basic principles of the Aztec ritual, with the skulls and all that. They honor the dead and the skulls are used to show death and rebirth. So, basically in the day of the dead the Mexican people decide to celebrate for the dead and honor them.

2) In my opinion, I do not believe in this. I think it shouldn't be a holiday because the people are already dead why wouldn't they leave the dead alone and let their spirit/soul rest in peace. I also don't believe that they think that natives view death as continuation of life. I think evil spirits lurk within these celebrations and evilness as well, maybe people even get possessed, who knows. However, to each his own, so if they want to have that type of day/celebration, then they have the right to have it.

3) This connects to class because in the reading it mentioned that this celebration uses the basic rituals of the Aztecs so it connects to the Aztecs. We are learning about the Aztecs and other groups of Indians so it connects to our class. Also, these types of rituals of day of the dead have been around for ovee more than 500 years, so we are learning the beggining of the Indians, which means, this is when these type of rituals started so we learn along the way about it.

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