"Days of the Dead": Celebrating Los Dias de Muertos
Written: Mar 09 '05 (Updated Dec 22 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Interesting story, awesome photographs, a nice look at a longstanding tradition.
Cons: Gets a bit wordy at times, slightly depressing.
The Bottom Line: Ever wonder about "the day of the dead" or how it is celebrated? This book gives you a nice look at the somewhat macabre holiday.
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| Freak369's Full Review: Kathryn Lasky - Days of the Dead |
I have lot of books about death, that might sound bizarre but it's something that I find fascinating. Death is a part of life, it's something that you can never escape or run from and the grim reaper is always on the look out for some fresh kills. Over the years my friends have start buying me books about Halloween, how it is celebrated in other cultures and the historical aspects of it. They ran out of cute cuddly Halloween stuff animals, decorations and tacky lawn ornaments so they all moved on to books. I have my sister to thank for this book, she saw it online a few years ago and thought it would be "perfect" for me. She's the prim and proper one; I'm the one that chose to walk on the stranger path of life. When I first got the book I wasn't sure that it would be interesting, it starts off slow with the history of one family in Mexico but branches out to cover all facets of the holiday they call Los Dias de Muertos, loosely translated - the days of the dead. This book celebrates the lives of those who have passed on, not by mourning them but by welcoming their spirits back and spending time remembering them in a good light.
Days of the Dead
The story starts with a look at Juan de Jesus and his wife Domatilla; they are looking for a place to start up a farm, raise their family and eek out an existence in the heart of Mexico. While the beginning of the book moves along slowly and you are tempted to pass over the first few pages, doing this really robs you of the whole family experience and essentially why this holiday is so important to them. Even after Juan and Domatilla passed away, some of their children and grandchildren still live in the same small log house, raising animals, planting crops and waiting for the men to come back from jobs in Mexico City. The story shows a common family; some may view them as poor or well below the poverty level but they seem happy with the life that they have created. To them they are rich; they remember their ancestors and celebrate their memories and welcome their spirits back for a visit. One of the most endearing parts of the book is when they enter the cemetery and start to clear off the plots; you don't see lavish tombstones or monuments, instead you see small wooden crosses. The whole family joins in singing, telling stories about their departed family members and making it a time to rejoice instead of a time to mourn. Even when they come across the grave of a child, they don't remember the bad times, only the good.
Through the book you are shown how this one family commemorates and observes their loved ones but it also shows you the lighter side. The kids dressed up in costumes, "Pan De Los Muertos" [bread in the shape of bones], marzipan coffins, chocolate shaped skulls and dancing skeleton marionettes. I knew a good bit about the ‘day of the dead’ before I started reading this book but I did learn a thing or two about the more intimate side of it, the strong bond between family members that draws them back to the small towns and hillsides year after year. This family allowed the author and photographer to chronicle how they choose to remember their deceased family members but you also get a taste of how others in the area celebrate the holiday. Some of the foreign words are shown in italics and most of them can be found in the back of the book in the glossary, a nice touch for those who don’t speak Spanish.
When we would go to Mexico around the time of the 'day of the dead' the streets were a little busier than usual and kids were out and about selling little trinkets but nothing we saw compared to what is featured in the book. For this type of experience I guess you have to venture beyond the boarder towns and into the small cities. To us it was a time to kick back, have a few beers, watch some of the events and buy sweets. I guess that’s what happens when you stay in the main areas, but seeing the photographs in the book you get a good feel of what this holiday really means to the young and the old. You see young children dancing around asking for treats but you also see them in the cemeteries cleaning off graves and planting flowers. The book also includes a few pages about how others celebrate All Souls Day, Samhain, Osiris, monarch butterflies and other aspects of the end of October and the beginning of November. The author, Kathryn Lasky, did a great job presenting the story of the Jesus family and Christopher G. Knight's photographs add a lot of impact to the book.
The Bottom Line
This book is a great read for those who are interested in learning more about this interesting and somewhat unusual holiday. Although I'd never classify this is 'unusual' most of the people who have seen this book on the coffee table or on a shelf has commented that it's "weird" to celebrate the dead in this manner but when you stop and think about it, it's the same as visiting a cemetery on holidays, lighting candles in a church or offering up prayers at church only they carry the celebration and festivities over for a few days instead of a few hours. This could be a great read for students wishing to learn more about how this day is celebrated and can kill two birds with one stone for homeschoolers since it explores both historical and cultural values. I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did but I found it interesting and something that I highly recommend to anyone that wants to know more about this holiday.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2005 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
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