A Loss Special Tradition

     There is something special that most Mexicans celebrate regardless of where they are. I have lived in Chicago for three years, and I have never seen something similar to this tradition. Americans celebrate Halloween at the end of October, which is not similar to what Mexicans celebrate. Halloween it is more to have fun with friends, and the Day of the Dead is more to celebrate ancestors. The Day of the Dead is celebrated on September 2nd by Mexicans. It is part of the culture to go to the churche, and main part of the holiday is go to the cemetery, to visit family or friends that passed away. In Chicago, it is not the same feeling because my family is not buried in Chicago or maybe it is just because it is just not Mexico, the place that I came from. Chicago tradition for this day is wearing make-up and going outside to get some candy. It is strange that people in Chicago do not visit the cemetery on this day because Americans have the same day to celebrate, but people visit the cemetery in a different day. Day of the Dead is about celebrating special people. It is common to take flowers to people, create altars and make a mass. However, the tradition of going to the cemetery and honoring ancestors has been lost for me since I moved to Chicago.
     One of the traditions is taking flowers to people to demonstrate how much their family missed that person. I have lived in Chicago for three years, and Mexican-Americans do not have this culture because they feel more American. For example, I have cousins in Chicago and I have never seen them taking flowers, to a special friend that passed away because they have their family buried in Mexico. In my case, I celebrate this with my family. I go to the cemetery, and then I put the special flower that is just for this day. The flower is called Cempasuchil, which is an orange flower with a really strong smell as the incense of the church. In addition, there are some places in Chicago that make this celebration in a different way. People usually dress like the Catrina or they just create a parade, but honestly this is a different way to celebrate because this day is to celebrate ancestors. Catrina is a skeleton woman that represents death. People usually wear make-up with the shape of the skeleton. This is something different because people wear this on October 31st before celebrating people that we loved.
      Moreover, Mexicans create a type of altar to represent some of the things that the person loved. On the altars, people usually put some of the favorite foods, drinks, and a picture of the person, and people decorate this altar with a special tissue paper. People usually make some shapes that represent the dead and people put some of the favorite food or drink of this special person. In Chicago, I’ve never seen an altar in a school. In Mexico, usually schools decorate the rooms with altars and the students bring a special picture of the person that they miss. Mexico have had a big motivate to celebrate this day because they want to feel closer to the person.
     In addition, the mass is a spiritual way to feel connected with those who have passed away. In Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco where I was born, my uncle Pepe set aside a horary in the church that it is near at my home, and all my family and friends of the person go to the church to listen the priest giving the special ceremony. Most of the time my uncle set aside a time on the next day because sometimes the churches are full. In Chicago people cannot set aside a specific horary because there are more people, and they need to wait some days or just get the mass with different people. I prefer not attend to mass in Chicago because it feels strange because I was accustomed to the small familiar mass.
     In conclusion, I cannot celebrate this day in Chicago because the meaning of this day is to celebrate the ancestors where they were buried. All my ancestors are in Mexico, so they are buried there. I know there are different traditions but I would like to celebrate this again in my beautiful Mexico. It is more special because I can feel myself more connected with my family because I know that I’m going to visit them. I know this tradition changed when I moved to Chicago. I cannot go to the cemetery to honor my ancestors because I lost that opportunity when I decided to stay in Chicago.