Analysis Of Dia De Los Muertos: The Rituals Of Death
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Death is inevitable. Although many Western societies teach its citizens to fear death and look upon it as a time of remorse and grievance, many other societies perceive death as not the ending of one’s life, but the beginning of another. Because of this, many cultures celebrate death through extravagant ceremonies and rituals. Among these elaborate ceremonies are the Day of the Dead and famadihana.
Day of the Dead, also known as Dia de los Muertos, is one of the most notorious celebrations of death around the world with deep origins in Aztec and Mexican heritage. The celebrations of the Day of the Dead have survived into the modern era as a blend of ancient Aztec and Catholic traditions. These celebrations, which primarily take place in Mexico,…show more content… It is tradition for famadihana to be held every five to seven years with some variance depending on the area of Madagascar the ritual is practiced. Yet, this ancient ritual is widely only practiced for one of two reasons. The first is that the ritual is held to return a body to ancestral grounds to be preserved and buried. This reason is primary for families who move away from their native family land. The second and more important reason famadihana is practiced is to honor a particular person who has never been honored in this way before. However, since it is important to the Malagasy people that they honor all immediate ancestors, entire tombs are honored at a time. But, it is always the last person taken out of the tomb who is the main focus for the ceremony (Graeber