Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Each October, as the Day of the Dead draws near, Mexican markets overflow with decorated breads, fanciful paper cutouts, and whimsical toy skulls and skeletons. To honor deceased relatives, Mexicans decorate graves and erect home altars. Drawing on a rich array of historical and ethnographic evidence, this volume reveals the origin and changing character of this celebrated holiday. It explores the emergence of the Day of the Dead as a symbol of Mexican and Mexican-American national identity.
Skulls to the Living, Bread to the Dead poses a serious challenge to the widespread stereotype of the morbid Mexican, unafraid of death, and obsessed with dying. In fact, the Day of the Dead, as shown here, is a powerful affirmation of life and creativity. Beautifully illustrated, this book is essential for anyone interested in Mexican culture, art, and folklore, as well as contemporary globalization and identity formation.
Book Description
Come the end of October, decorated breads, fanciful paper cutouts, plastic toys playing humorously on the theme of death, and sugar candy skulls and skeletons are evident everywhere throughout Mexico. Then, from October 31 through November 2, Mexicans clean, decorate, and maintain vigil over relatives' graves. Most of the activities and artistic displays connected with this holiday are folk elaborations entirely separate from liturgical requirements. The origin of these folk practices is a source of scholarly and popular debate. What is clear is that the holiday has come to symbolize Mexico and Mexican identity. Within Mexico, it is a key symbol of national identity; in the United States, it symbolizes ethnic identity. Less informed discussions of the Day of the Dead have simply reproduced the popular image of Mexicans as unafraid of death: jocular in confronting mortality or with an intimate relationship to death. This forms an integral part of most portrayals of Mexican national character. In Skulls to the Living, Bread to the Dead, we learn that the ultimate paradox is that the very holiday responsible for producing a stereotype of the stoic Mexican, longing for death, is actually a powerful affirmation of life and creativity. Brandes examines these themes and others bearing on the ethnographic content and symbolic meanings of this holiday. Beautifully illustrated with both black-and-white and color photographs, this book will be required reading for anyone interested in Mexican culture, art, and folklore as well as contemporary globalization and identity politics.
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