by Pa Rock
Movie Fan
This week I took time out from my busy retirement schedule to watch a children's movie. "Coco," by Disney/Pixar, was something that I had been intending to view since the movie's release in 2017. I finally caught it on Netflix, better late than never one must suppose.
The movie deals with the Mexican holiday that is popularly known as Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. It is a two-day event which falls on November 1st and 2nd, bumping up against the day on which people in the United States celebrate Halloween. Like Halloween, Day of the Dead involves people dressing in costumes and behaving as other beings. But while Halloween may feature people dressed as witches, and bums, and fairies, and pirates, and all manner of creatures and even objects, participants in the Day of the Dead celebrations are paying homage to their ancestors - as skeletal dead people! In most respects it is more akin to the American Memorial Day than it is to Halloween.
The Day of the Dead celebrations originated several thousand years ago in the Aztec civilization. Today it is commonly celebrated across Mexico, particularly in the central and southern regions of the country. Skeletal Day of the Dead figurines and decorations can also be found in gift shops across the southwestern United States.
The movie, "Coco," tells the story of a young Mexican boy, Miguel, who lives in a traditional Mexican village with his parents, his maternal grandmother, and "Coco," his maternal great-grandmother. Miguel often goes to the town's plaza where he shines shoes for a living and listens to the local musicians. He has an intense interest in playing guitar and singing, but is not allowed to pursue that interest because his family, under the firm control of the grandmother, will not allow music in the home. Her anger is based on the fact that Coco's father, an itinerant musician, left home when Coco was very young to perform his music for the world - and never returned.
Miguel becomes convinced that his missing g-g-grandfather was Ernesto de la Cruz, the most famous singer in all of Mexico, and on the Day of the Dead when ancestors traditionally return from the land of the dead to celebrate life with their living relatives, Miguel somehow manages to cross the bridge between the two worlds and winds up in the land of the dead. There he meets Ernesto de la Cruz as well as another man, Hector, who proves to be an important person in Miguel's lineage - and he solves a couple of family mysteries.
"Coco" is a very well scripted presentation about a holiday that is rich in significance to much of North America. It is presented as an engaging story wrapped in tradition and history - and it offers a cultural education in a manner that is easy to absorb. I regard it as a "must see" for people who want their children to grow up with open minds and accepting hearts.
Our better selves - and our futures - are rooted in our past.
Movie Fan
This week I took time out from my busy retirement schedule to watch a children's movie. "Coco," by Disney/Pixar, was something that I had been intending to view since the movie's release in 2017. I finally caught it on Netflix, better late than never one must suppose.
The movie deals with the Mexican holiday that is popularly known as Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. It is a two-day event which falls on November 1st and 2nd, bumping up against the day on which people in the United States celebrate Halloween. Like Halloween, Day of the Dead involves people dressing in costumes and behaving as other beings. But while Halloween may feature people dressed as witches, and bums, and fairies, and pirates, and all manner of creatures and even objects, participants in the Day of the Dead celebrations are paying homage to their ancestors - as skeletal dead people! In most respects it is more akin to the American Memorial Day than it is to Halloween.
The Day of the Dead celebrations originated several thousand years ago in the Aztec civilization. Today it is commonly celebrated across Mexico, particularly in the central and southern regions of the country. Skeletal Day of the Dead figurines and decorations can also be found in gift shops across the southwestern United States.
The movie, "Coco," tells the story of a young Mexican boy, Miguel, who lives in a traditional Mexican village with his parents, his maternal grandmother, and "Coco," his maternal great-grandmother. Miguel often goes to the town's plaza where he shines shoes for a living and listens to the local musicians. He has an intense interest in playing guitar and singing, but is not allowed to pursue that interest because his family, under the firm control of the grandmother, will not allow music in the home. Her anger is based on the fact that Coco's father, an itinerant musician, left home when Coco was very young to perform his music for the world - and never returned.
Miguel becomes convinced that his missing g-g-grandfather was Ernesto de la Cruz, the most famous singer in all of Mexico, and on the Day of the Dead when ancestors traditionally return from the land of the dead to celebrate life with their living relatives, Miguel somehow manages to cross the bridge between the two worlds and winds up in the land of the dead. There he meets Ernesto de la Cruz as well as another man, Hector, who proves to be an important person in Miguel's lineage - and he solves a couple of family mysteries.
"Coco" is a very well scripted presentation about a holiday that is rich in significance to much of North America. It is presented as an engaging story wrapped in tradition and history - and it offers a cultural education in a manner that is easy to absorb. I regard it as a "must see" for people who want their children to grow up with open minds and accepting hearts.
Our better selves - and our futures - are rooted in our past.
1 comment:
There are three distinctive consecutive days that are known together as "Allhallowtide" All Hallows refers to the All Saints (hallows means saint). So Halloween is All Hallows Eve which always falls on October 31st. There is an Episcopal service for All Hallows' Eve that includes prayers and readings such as "The Witch of Endor," which is a story from the Bible (1 Samuel 28: 3-25).
All Saints Day is November 1st and is one of the four principal days appropriate for Baptism, the other days are the First Sunday after Epiphany, the Easter Vigil, and Pentecost.
All Saints Day has been celebrated since as early as the Fourth Century. Pope Gregory III dedicated a chapel in Rome to all saints on November 1, and Pope Gregory IV officially declared its general observance in the year 837.
All Souls Day is November 2 and is the commemoration of All Faithful Departed, sometimes called All Souls' Day. It is a day when faithful Christians who have died are remembered.
While in the New Testament “saints” refers to the entire Christian community, it has come to mean people of “heroic sanctity” whose holy deeds are remembered by Christians. Beginning in the tenth century, the church began to remember all departed Christians on November 2. Many remember their loved ones who have died on this day.
El Día de los Muertos, or “Day of the Dead,” is an ancient Aztec tradition dating back about 3,000 years and those who celebrate it believe that at midnight on October 31, the souls of all deceased children come down from heaven and reunite with their families on November 1, and the souls of deceased adults come visit on November 2.
The Aztec tradition meshed well with Allhallowtide and can be seen being observed in Christian Churches serving Mexican-American communities in the United States.
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