Is it true that the parade in honor of the Day of the Dead in Mexico appeared after the film about James Bond?

There is a version that a colorful parade with platforms, carnival costumes and the decoration of the whole city, which the Mexicans spend on November 1 and 2, appeared only after such a festival was shown in the film about James Bond 007: Spectrum. We decided to check if this is so.

Like in Media, and in tourist brochures They write that the spectacular parade, running along the streets of Mexico City in early November, is a retaining and began to be held only after the release of the film about James Bond. It is claimed that the municipality of the capital was impressed by the beauty of the festival invented by the scriptwriters and decided take advantage of it in order to attract tourists.

As in any culture, the Mexicans have a special day to revere their dead. This is November 1 and 2, and the 1st recall children and babies, and the 2nd-all adults. The tradition of celebration was formed back in the days of the Aztecs and Maya. In their calendars was Allotted A whole month of honoring the goddess of death Miktlanciuatl. It was portrayed as a woman with a skull instead of a face and most often in a skirt from snakes. In the external image, it is close to modern Santa Murte or Catherine.

In Mexico City at the beginning of the 20th century, the holiday lost popularity and was considered more as folklore, preserved only in the province. In the 70s, the culture of American Halloween penetrates Mexico, but did not meet understanding among the intelligentsia. Journalist Maria Louise Mendoza so Describes This holiday: “The Gring Fiesta (Gringo is the slang name of the US citizens) with witches on the shafts and in pointed hats, with cats and pumpkins, which are pleasant to read in detectives, but which have no connection with our culture.” She contrasts the children of the Mexicans from poor quarters who are ready for any black work to make money, and those who "allows their children to go home in ridiculous outfits and ask for the alms that they will certainly receive."

Scientist Claudio Lomnitsa He thinksWhich, in contrast to Halloween, revived the traditional rite of the Day of the Dead, which "became the main guideline for national self -determination." Moreover, the holiday began to be a protest in nature, because it made it possible to mourn those about whom it was not accepted to grieve publicly-sex workers, representatives of LGBT, as well as those who died in an attempt 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 Pas: He He wrotethat Europeans and Americans “burn their lips”, if they say the word “death” many times, while “the Mexican visits it, jokes over it, caresses it, sleeps with it, entertains it? This is one of his favorite toys and the longest love. ”

Important attributes The holidays are 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, dear and beloved during life, and lay them out on a special altar - offrend.

Back in 2008, UNESCO Included The tradition of celebrating the dead Day in the list of intangible cultural heritage, including local festivals.

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

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

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What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Caitlin Dauti "Leave beautifully. Amazing funeral rites of different countries "
2. Anton Dunnenberg "Cults Santa Muerte: a new religious movement or a folk Catholic tradition?"
3. Karina Abdusalamova "In search of holy death"