Is Dia de los Muertos contrary to our Catholic faith?

[dominicansoul]

in my neck of the woods, All Souls' Day is usually usurped by a cultural tradition called Dia de los Muertos.  Peeps celebrate with face painting skeletons and having picnics at their loved ones graves.  Some leave favorite foods at the graves as well.  I'm just wondering...is this something that is contrary to our Catholic faith?  So many Mexicans down here celebrate this and most are Catholic so I'm just concerned.  It seems to me the holy souls in purgatory take a back seat to these practices...shouldn't it be Dia de los Almas??  It reminds me of that Mexican cult, where they use some elements of Catholicism  mixed with the occult!  Am I wrong?  

[CatherineM]

It is one of those things where we combined Catholicism with local beliefs.  There's a reason the Church used to do that, but that doesn't mean that it's necessarily bad.  I used to love going out with my Godparents to the cemetery.  It was like the weirdest Halloween party ever, but everyone had a really good time.  Yes we took food to their ancestors, but we ate it.  I don't think they really thought their ancestors were going to eat it instead.  They used to raid my Mom's flower beds for Mums and Marigolds.  That was the most dangerous part of the night. 

As to participating, I'm Irish.  I don't think St. Patrick evangelized Ireland so they could go drinking green beer on his feast day when they should go to church instead.  Don't get me started on Mardi Gras and Carnival either, but if I was in Rio, I'm sure I'd be dancing on the street too.  I don't see the harm in celebrating cultural traditions so long as you are doing it to celebrate the culture and not because you believe that the dead are going to join you in a picnic.  I'd love to go to Stonehenge someday for a Solstice party, not because I'm a pagan, but because it's something my ancestors did.  If I started casting rune stones and reading tarot cards, then that would be taking it too far. 

My suggestion is to go to mass on All Souls to remember what the day is about, then go have a rowdy good time.  Life is the greatest gift God has given us.  Having fun is really important.  When you give a kid a present, you want them to rip the paper off, and destroy the box in their excitement to get to that toy to play with it.  God doesn't want us to put his greatest gift on the shelf like some collector's specimen that has to remain untouched in its original packaging.  I love Halloween and costume party, any excuse to feel like a kid again.  Lots of people will disagree with me, especially the ones who think Halloween is satanic. For them, I have one of my Mom's favorite sayings, "you need to air your drawers out a bit."   I can't get a decent sugar skull here, so have one for me.

[Gabriela]

To my knowledge, Día de los Muertos is not Santería (the occult mixing with Catholicism) but just the Mexican traditional way to celebrate All Souls' Day. I think the discomfort you feel with this is cultural, not spiritual. In Mexico, this is a perfectly acceptable—Catholic—way to celebrate the day. Painting yourself like a skeleton isn't much different from smearing ashes on your forehead: It reminds you we're all going to die, so you had better pray for the dead.

So, go have fun—and remember to pray for the dead.