Have a Hoppy Halloween and Day of the Dead!
Hola Hoppers!
We are enjoying October and have loved having those of you that have made it down here this month! If you have been here at this time of year before, you may have noticed things that may remind you of Halloween. In reality not all of those decorations or things you noticed are related to Halloween, some may be associated to our annual Mexican Holiday, “Day of the Dead”.
It’s only natural to believe that Day of the Dead is the Mexican version of Halloween; though in reality that is not the case. So for all of you dear Hoppers out there, this article will focus on the differences between Halloween and Day of the Dead. Let’s hop right to it then!
Halloween in Cozumel
Now, we mentioned that Day of the Dead is very different from Halloween, but that doesn’t mean that you have to totally give up on celebrating Halloween while visiting Cozumel. This is because Cozumel, being the major vacation spot that it is, has also become somewhat multi-cultural.
So yes, there are some activities for Halloween on the island as almost every hotel and night club will have Halloween parties, with costume contests and wild decorations. If you go downtown you’ll see kids dressed up and trick-or-treating in the Main Square , and also many neighbourhoods will have house to house visits by all the little ghosts and goblins as well!
Halloween vs Day of the Dead
Halloween (also known as All Hallows Eve) is the night before All Saints day, and is a celebration of Life after Death. It is said to have some pagan roots in an ancient Celtic Festival known as Samhain, when the door to the Otherworld was opened for spirits to return to the world of the living for one night. It was Christianized as Halloween.
Some of the popular Halloween activities include dressing up in costumes of all sorts, Trick-or-treating, divinations, decorating and bobbing for apples among many other things. Trick-or-treating in costumes is one of the most awaited for activities on Halloween and is when children receive candy as they go door to door saying trick-or-treat!
Now Day of the Dead in comparison is actually very different from Halloween and has been celebrated as far back as 3,000 years. It has been linked to indigenous celebrations which honored dead relatives and ancestors.
The festival originally took place the ninth month of the Aztec calendar and even lasted the entire month. Now the Day of the Dead is a Celebrated from Oct 31 to Nov 2. Day of the Dead is a special time in Mexican Culture in which families build altars to deceased family members and pray for their deceased relatives.
Traditionally, the spirits of deceased children can return to the World of the living on Nov 1, which is All Saints Day or Day of the Innocents. The Adult spirits return on Nov 2 which is All Souls Day. Families will often go to the cementaries and decorate the graves of loved ones, and even bring their loved one’s favorite meals on the days that they are believed to be allowed to visit. So Día de los Muertos actually focuses on honoring the lives of deceased loved ones.
While Halloween is commonly represented with pumpkins, black cats, ghosts etc., Day of the Dead is represented by Marigolds and Sugar Skulls of Catrina, who is the Lady of the Dead.
So while there are some common similarities between Halloween and Day of the Dead, there are also many differences as you can see! So Hoppers, we hope that this was educational and we look forward to sharing a Hoppy Halloween with you and also a Hoppy Dia de los Muertos for those of you that will be with us this week…
See you soon!