Is it true that the Day of the Dead Parade in Mexico originated from the James Bond film?

There is a version that the colorful parade with floats, carnival costumes and decoration of the entire city, which Mexicans hold on November 1 and 2, appeared only after such a festival was shown in the James Bond film “007: Spectre”. We decided to check if this is true.

As in Media, and in tourist brochures they write that the spectacular parade that takes place through the streets of Mexico City in early November is a new thing and began to be held only after the release of the James Bond film. It is alleged that the capital's municipality was impressed by the beauty of the holiday invented by the scriptwriters and decided use it to attract tourists.

Like any culture, Mexicans have a special day to honor their dead. These are November 1 and 2, with children and babies remembered on the 1st, and all adults on the 2nd. The tradition of celebration was formed during the times of the Aztecs and Mayans. On their calendars there was allotted a whole month of worshiping the goddess of death Mictlancihuatl. She was depicted as a woman with a skull instead of a face and most often wearing a skirt made of snakes. In appearance, she is close to modern Santa Muerte or Katrina.

In Mexico City at the beginning of the 20th century, the holiday lost popularity and was viewed more as folklore, preserved only in the provinces. In the 70s, the culture of American Halloween penetrated into Mexico, but did not meet with understanding among the intelligentsia. Journalist Maria Luisa Mendoza describes this holiday: “A gringa fiesta (gringo is slang for US citizens) with witches on brooms and pointy hats, with cats and pumpkins, which are nice to read about in detective stories, but which have no connection with our culture.” She contrasts the children of Mexicans from poor neighborhoods who are willing to do any menial job to earn money, and those who “allow their children to go from house to house in ridiculous outfits and beg for alms, which they will certainly receive.”

Scientist Claudio Lomnitz believes, that in contrast to Halloween, the traditional rite of the Day of the Dead was revived, which “became the main guideline for national self-determination.” Moreover, the holiday began to have a protest character, because it made it possible to mourn those for whom it was not customary to mourn publicly - sex workers, LGBT people, and those who died trying to cross the border with the United States. The importance of the holiday as a point of self-determination was emphasized by the Mexican poet Octavio Paz: he wrotethat Europeans and Americans would “burn their lips” if they uttered the word “death” too many times, while “the Mexican visits her, makes fun of her, caresses her, sleeps with her, entertains her; this is one of his favorite toys and his longest love.”

Important attributes The holiday includes golden marigolds flor de muerto (“flowers of the dead”) and traditional bread - pan de muerto (“bread of the dead”). They begin to prepare for the holiday in advance: they select things that were dear and loved by the dead during their lifetime, and lay them out on a special altar - an ofrenda.

Back in 2008, UNESCO included the tradition of celebrating the Day of the Dead to the list of intangible cultural heritage, including local festivals.

It can be assumed that the creators of the James Bond film were familiar with all this cultural diversity around the holiday, but offered the audience their own interpretation of folk festivities, taking the carnival tradition of Europe and Latin America as a basis. On the screens they showed quite a lot of stylistically correct elements: special makeup, traditional masks and costumes, and even a cross decorated with golden marigolds, but they diversified the celebration with a parade with people marching through the streets and the movement of decorated floats. The Mexicans were not offended by the free interpretation, but, on the contrary, were inspired by it and the next year they held a real, not staged, parade, which not only pleased the locals, but also attracted a flow of tourists to Mexico City.

Therefore, it would be correct to say that the Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City really appeared thanks to the James Bond film, but the festival traditions of this holiday are rooted in the rituals of the Aztecs and Mayans, who inhabited these lands long before the arrival of Europeans in America.

Mostly true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Caitlin Doughty “Leaving gracefully.” Amazing funeral rites from different countries"
2. Anton Dannenberg “The Cult of Santa Muerte: a new religious movement or a folk Catholic tradition?”
3. Karina Abdusalamova “In Search of Holy Death”