Day of the Dead

Task for September 24th:

Write a short essay summarizing the article 'Day of the Dead', compare practises in article with mourning pactises done in this country (Argentina) and give your personal opinion about both practises: Which do you like better? Why?

Teacher's answer: 9 One of your best!

Death is accepted in very different ways all over the world. Some contries process it in a dramatic, horrible way, while others throw parties and celebrate. I am going to comapre and contrast these cultural differences between countries and give my opinion about them.

In Mexico, people don't take death dramatically, they celebrate it! They have a festive day called 'Day of the Dead' in which they celebrate by honouring the dead. In rural Mexico, for example, people go to the cementery, decorate gravesites and take gifts for their loved ones. And in cities, people build altars in their homes, which are decorated with candles, flowers and pictures of the dead.

In Argentina, on the other hand, people take death in a more dramatic and pesimistic way. When somebody dies, they have sad funerals in which they dress all in black, while in Mexico there are a lot of colours. Argentinian ceremonies are more depressing than Mexican because they believe they lose someone when he or she dies, but Mexicans just honour and welcome the souls back to earth.

In my opinion, Mexican celebrations are the best ones, because they don't encourage people to be sad or cry about death but to be happy because their loved ones have reached the continuation of life, which death is believed to be. I am also against sad funerals because I believe it's no use crying over spilt milk; that what's done is done, and by crying we are not going to bring someone back.

As you can see, death is celebrated and honoured, and suffered and cried over as well. And although I was born here, I agree more with the Mexican belief. I think we'd better keep on living without worrying about that and, instead of being sad, honouring our loved people as Mexicans do. Death doesn't have to be a drastic thing, after all.

Note from the author: I just found this essay in a pile of disorganised papers while I was looking for something to post in this blog. It's funny I found particularly this one now, because three days ago (exactly Wednesday 24th of December, at about 2:30 PM) my beloved grandpa died. It's funny I found this essay about mournings and funerals right now, because I've attended to my first funeral-like ceremony two days ago, and I think crying and wasting time on the dead isn't worth it, that we have to honour the dead by living our lives and being happy, because if I died, I would want the people I love to be happy in spite of it, not to be sad and depressed. Nevertheless, I understand the pain of the loss.