Teaching in Mexico…. Halloween and Day of the Dead

Halloween, as it is celebrated in the United States, is a holiday, which derived from the Druids, a learned and priestly class that existed in Roman times.  Little is known about these people except that they were an elaborate political and religious organization, and that they worshiped many gods.  The day of Saman was one of those celebrations.  On that day, the Druids believed that the Lord of Death called together the souls of the wicked who had died during that past year.

In the United States, Halloween, as many other holidays, has become so commercialized that most people are not really aware of the history behind it.  Mexico’s Day of the Dead has remained much more traditional, though Halloween is often celebrated here now as well.  Both holidays are centered around death, and both are influenced by each particular country’s view on death.  I have included below two poems about death that were written by one of my ninth grade students, Federico Berrueto.