The Day Of The Dead Essays - Mexican Culture, Mexican Art, Halloween

The Day Of The Dead Day of the Dead Imagine yourself in a cemetery, commemorating your great-grandpa. Dia De Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) is celebrated in Mexico on November 2nd. The Day of the Dead is one of Mexico's traditional holidays reuniting and honoring beloved ancestors, family, and friends. To begin, the historical roots of this celebration date back to the pre-Hispanic cultures of Meso-America of the indigenous people, especially the Nahua (Aztecs, Mayans, Toltecas, Tlaxcaltec, Chichimec, Tecpanec) and others native to Mexico more than 3,000 years ago. Life was seen as a dream. It was believed that only in dying, a human being was truly awake. Death was not a mysterious and fearful presence but a realistic recognizable character as much a part of life as life itself. When Christianity was introduced in the 16th century, religion and its symbols became part of the altars we now find in Mexico today. November 1st, All Saints Day, is when the spirits of the children, called los angelitos (little angels), are expected to return. Traditionally, it is a time when family members share memorable stories that would commemorate their lives together. Secondly, there are many items that people do to celebrate the Day of the Dead. On November 2, family members clean and perhaps paint the headstones, arrange flowers, and lighting candles. Mexican families construct special home altars dedicated to the spirits of their deceased loved ones. The altars range from simple to the very elaborate and are usually filled with objects that provided pleasure to the departed person in life, including favorite food and drink. Altars dedicated to the spirits of deceased children often include toys, candy and other sweets. I think that building alters for the dead is a good concept. They teach the younger generations about the past, as well as commemorate the dead. No matter what kind of a person was, everyone leaves behind a legend. Some books, for example, are biographies, praising and telling about a person in the past or present. Like a book, the alters tell the history of a person. The alters tell a ?story? of the dead individual. Alters tell the age, their likes, and many other interesting facts about the dead individual's life. I think that these alters compensate the work of an earlier generation. The altars or ofrendas as they are called, also usually contain objects made from sugar or sugar sculpture known as alfenique. These objects may be small animals, such as lambs, miniature plates of food (enchiladas with mole), small coffins, often with pop-up skeletons, and of course, the sugar skull or calavera. The skulls are made by pouring a mixture of boiling water, confectioner's sugar and lime into clay molds, which have been previously soaked in water. The calaveras are decorated with paper foil for eyes and a kind of colored icing for hair. Names can be added to the skull and Mexican children often exchange named skulls with their friends. I think that the skeleton represents the spirit still living after it has left it's flesh on this earth. The spirit of an individual lives on forever. Ofrendas often include papel picado or Mexican cut-paper. Papel picado has a long folk tradition in Mexico and the little town of San Salvador Huixcolotla, in the state of Puebla, is known for its fine cut paper. Although papel picado is used as a decoration for many festive occasions such as weddings and baptisms, papel picado with themes relating to Day of the Dead is also very popular. The Mexican papel picado is similar to origami. Although origami is folded, it too has spiritual meaning. In conclusion, I think that Dias De Los Muertos is important for the family to maintain good relationships with the dead for it is they who intercede and bring food fortune to the living. It is a time to come to terms with our mortality and become aware of cycle of life and death. The Day of the Dead is a day for honoring are beloved ones.

Pearl Harbor essays

Pearl Harbor essays On Dec. 7th, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. To retaliate to this act of war, the U.S. dropped A-bombs on Japan. The attack on Pearl harbor was a greater wrong than the A- bombing on Japan. The sneak attack by the Japanese violated core democratic values such as Public/Common Good and The Rule of Law. On the other side, The A-bombing on Japan by the U.S is supported by Core Democratic values such as Justice and Pursuit of Happiness. In the past, it has been clearly visible that when a nation has tried to attack a country for no logical reason, it has faced many problems. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a greater wrong and should not have been conducted. There are many core democratic values that are against the attack on Pearl Harbor. One of them is Common Good. The attack caused many problems. In the 110 minutes of the attack on Pearl Harbor, 2,403 soldiers were killed, 1,178 soldiers were wounded in action and 640 soldiers were never found. Furthermore, 188 planes were lost, 158 were damaged, and every battleship of the Pacific Fleet was either crippled or sunk. The American people faced an emotional situation. Another Core Democratic value against the attack is The Rule of Law. The Japanese Imperial had not declared war against the U.S. They just attacked without any warning. The attack on Pearl Harbor violates both these Core Democratic Values. The A-bombing on Hiroshima by the U.S. is supported by a few Core Democratic Values. One of them is Justice. The U.S. bombed Japan in order to retaliate. There was a justified reason. It is no surprise that the U.S. A- bombed the Japanese as they were attacked without any war declaration. Another Core Democratic Value that supports the retaliation of the U.S. is The Pursuit of Happiness. After the attack, the damage that was done filled many Americans with rage and anger. The only thing that was going to calm them down was attacking the Japanese. ...