Difference between halloween and day of the dead?

What Is the Difference Between Day of the Dead & Halloween?

• Answer:

  Halloween, celebrated annually on Oct. 31, is an American holiday that has roots in northern European harvest festivals. Halloween celebrations often involve ghosts, ghouls and all manner of the living dead. Dia De Los Muertos, Spanish for "Day of the Dead," is a Mexican holiday that falls at the same time of year. Though the holidays seem superficially similar, there are a few key differences. Origins Halloween's roots reach to Celtic festivals of Samhain, or "summer's end." Harvest celebrations raged, a last shindig before winter's icy grip drove people indoors for the long, dark struggle for survival. The Celts believed that the dead, some benign and some evil, came back to visit at Samhain. People left food outside to appease spirits, so they would leave the living alone. Dia de Los Muertos traditions stem from the Aztecs and other Native American cultures that worshipped ancestors. They didn't consider the dead something to fear, but to revere. They decorated festively for the visit. They erected altars at which they would leave offerings and held ceremonies honoring the deceased. Catholic Influences Romans Catholics held their own feasts involving remembrance of the dead, known as All Saints Day and All Soul's Day. As Christianity spread through northern Europe, the religion assimilated some Celtic traditions. By 9th century C.E., the church moved All Saints Day and All Souls Day to Nov. 1 and 2, respectively, where they would coincide with Samhain festivals on Oct. 31. Since All Saints Day was also known as All Hallows, the night before became All Hallow's Eve, or Hallow'een for short. In the 16th century, the Spanish invaded North America, bringing Catholicism with them. Few of the practices of indigenous people survived, but the festivals of the dead fused easily with All Soul's Day, and many native customs were assimilated, resulting in Dia de Los Muertos, a mixture of Catholicism and native traditions. Spiritual Aspects Colonists in America were mostly Protestants who ignored Catholic feasts like All Hallow's Eve. When a wave of Irish Catholic immigrants and their folk culture arrived in the mid-19th century, Halloween caught on. Spiritualism and divination were popular fads among Victorians who latched onto Halloween's old Irish folk customs, as well as any romanticized macabre rumors about the holiday's roots. Later, as interest in the occult decreased, Halloween's popularity thrived, although it became more and more secularized. By the mid-20th century, the focus was almost exclusively on costumes, candy, horror stories and fantasy creatures. In contrast, Dia de Los Muertos remains close to its religious roots, with ceremonies, prayers, veneration of saints and ancestral worship continuing to this day. Mexicans visit graves of deceased loved ones, clean and anoint tombstones, leave offerings, erect shrines, light candles and pray. Attitudes Toward Death Halloween paints death as something gruesome to be feared. Some Americans shun Halloween, seeing its ties to death as a negative -- even dangerous -- thing. Most use the holiday in the same spirit as someone who whistles while passing a graveyard; it's an attempt to acknowledge that mystery, too deeply feared to take seriously, with giggles and mockery. In contrast, Dia de Los Muertos embraces death as a part of the life cycle and a chance to reverently contemplate one's own mortality. Rather than fear it, people accept the fact of death, pay death its due respect and face it with a sense of hope.