The celebration of death for the ancients was not only an onomastic for the fallen, but an opportunity to give life in death to those who had left their mark and admiration among the living.
Robert Diaz. Peninsula 360 Press.
The Day of the Dead is a tradition that has maintained its validity and currently has a new boom worldwide. The vision that the dead continue to have a decisive influence on the destiny of the living and that is why it is important to pay our respects to them, is a tradition that various ancient cultures practiced.
The Nahua continued to call people who had been important to their community and had died a dignified death, such as those who were overcome by old age or were sacrificed in the name of their gods. There were four places where the dead went:
Mictlan or "place of the dead". This place was reached after passing multiple obstacles: two mountains that closed when the deceased passed by, while being threatened by a snake, a place guarded by a lizard called "the lizard of the dead". XochitonalAfter passing through seven hills and seven moors, until they reached a place where the wind blew with obsidian knives. They had to pass guided by a dog that had to be red and they were left in front of the ChiconaumictlánThere, in front of Mictlantecuhlti they offered him papers and clothes, in "the place without chimneys", Atlecallocánthe "place of the fleshless", the "place of the fleshless", the Ximoayan.
Tlalocánplace of Tlaloc. The equivalent of paradise, there is no sorrow and everyone eats corncobs, pumpkins, green bell pepper, tomatoes, there are always vegetables and summer. Those who arrive there were killed by lightning or drowned, the lepers, buboes, mangy, gouty and drowned. Those who were torn away by the gods from human suffering went there. There reigns Tlalocatecutlitogether with their priests the Tlaloques and the elder sister of these, the Goddess ChalchiuhtlicueThe goddess of water, the one who had the power over the sea and the rivers, the one who had the power to create whirlwinds and storms in the water. There she dwells. Side of the Ahuizotl a being the size of a dog that submerged and attacked those who had the misfortune of peering into the water near its abode.
Tonatiuh ichánthe "house of the sun". Abode of HuitzilopochtliThe warriors, those who died for the obsidian and also those who were sacrificed, went to this place. The women who died in childbirth, considered defeated warriors, went to this place, to whom it was attributed that after expiring they became demigoddesses, Cihuateteo. Those who remained there lived in a beautiful plain where they became birds, hummingbirds, sacred yellow birds with black feathers that whistled the earth, looking towards the flowers.
Cincalcothe "house of corn". Governed by Huémacthe place where the children who die in early childhood and who were buried near the barns go to dwell, cuetzcomatlThe corn was then used to yield its vital energy to the maize.
At the King's funeral Ahuitzotl who died after enjoying a great feast, once he had laid down his legs. mourners with their lamentations, they dedicated themselves to shouting and sobbing. They rubbed the body and wept in front of the crowd to heighten the tragic sense of loss. Shortly before shrouding the body, a lock of hair would be placed in its shroud, the piochtlicut on the day of his death together with another lock of hair cut on the day of his birth and specially kept for this day in the same little carved box where his ashes would be placed. Torquemada assured that this ritual was done because in the part of the lock is where the soul was found, which should be reunited with the body, the bone, that is to say, the ashes. The piochitl for the Nahuatl Indians, it contained the vital principle of every individual: his or her tonal.
After being neatly washed and wrapped in blankets, they were placed on carved mats, and a jade stone was placed in the mouth of the deceased, ChalchÃhuitland a speech was made to him. Afterwards, he was taken to his tomb where he was cremated or buried according to his social condition; at the end of the funeral, the jade stone that was believed to keep the Tonal was collected and from that moment on it was called "the Tonal". Chitontalgiaand kept as a symbol opposite to ash, a sign of regeneration.
After the death of the personage, his domestic servants had to be sacrificed so that they would help his lord in the mishaps he would have to go through in the afterlife. With them, his red-haired dog was also sacrificed to help him cross the waters and ravines he encountered on his way.
Once buried, a ceremony was held for four years, each year a ceremony was held where the mourners wore, in addition to the mourning of not bathing and much less changing, figurines made with ocote and paper.
The festivities that would be celebrated for each person corresponded, again, according to the manner of their death. While those who were to enter the Mictlan a figurine made of ocote was made for them, those who went to the TlalocánThe local people were intimately related to the mountains and streams where they took roscas of flowers and grass.
For the warriors, who were going to the house of the sun, Tonatiuh ichánThe celebration was much more provocative and particular, since it is known that they raised a very high pole where one person remained. From below with some ropes other people tried to pull the one who was at the top of the pole. The tamales were eaten at the bottom of the pole, teoucallebread of God. What followed was a butcher's shop where men were skinned and ritually roasted.
Finally, the children who went to the cincalcoIn the house of corn, they were punctured as part of the celebration of the coming feast. They were pricked with thorns in their ears, tongue and lips to prepare them for the next feast, that is to say, the feast of the older dead.
