National Park After Dark - Día de los Muertos: Parque Nacional Iztaccíhuatl-Popocatepetl

Episode Date: October 18, 2021

Join us this week as we head into Mexico and join one of the most famous celebration in the world, Dia de los Muertos. Many people believe that this is Mexico's version of Halloween, and although there are some parallels, this could not be farther from the truth. We discuss the love story that created the volcanoes of Parque Nactional Iztaccíhuatl. We will visit the elaborate and colorful celebrations that surround these days along with ancient beliefs of what happens after death. Today we will not mourn the dead, but honor them. For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials at:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!Thank you to this week’s partners!Prose:  Get a free in-depth hair regimen and 15% off your first custom hair care orderBetterHelp: Take charge of your mental health. NPAD listeners get 10% off their first month. For a full list of our sources, visit http://npadpodcast.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Close your eyes. Focus. Listen to work getting done with Monday.com. Relax. As AI does the manual work, while your teams are aligned on a single source of truth. Feel the sensation of an AI work platform, so flexible and intuitive, it feels like it was built just for you. Notice you're limitless.

Limitless. Now open your eyes. Go to Monday.com. Start for free and finally. Breathe. Girl, winter is so last season. And now spring's got you looking at pictures of tank tops with hungry eyes. Your algorithm is feeding you cutoffs. You're thirsty for the sun on your shoulders.

That perfect hang on the patio sundress. Those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of shopping from your couch. Done hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear open that envelope? It's time for a little in-person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. What is your relationship with death? Are you afraid to die?

Comparatively to the world around us, we're alive for a very short amount of time. What will happen to you when you die? A question we've all asked ourselves, and very few of us have the answers for. Some people believe in heaven or an afterlife. Others believe in the possibility of reincarnation. Maybe you think, this is it for you. You had your time and now you're gone. But do you know exactly what will happen to you?

after you die? What will become of your remains? Around the world there are many different practices. If you are a Buddhist in Tibet, you'll be laid on top of the mountain to be eaten by animals and decomposed by the elements. When you've become only bones, you'll be ground up and fed to the cows. If you are from Madagascar, every five to seven years after your death it is ritual to bring your body up from the crypt, wrap you up in a fresh cloth, and spray you with perfume, and then dance with you. If you are South Korean, it is custom that after you are cremated, you will be turned into beautiful colored beads and displayed in your family's home. And of course, there is the most famous custom in the world.

A tradition that dates back thousands of years in one that has deemed mourning the dead as disrespectful. Instead, death becomes a joyous celebration of life. This is a day where you can rejoin the living world long after you've passed. Dia de los Mueros Day of the Dead. Welcome to National Park After Dark. I am really excited for this episode, and I feel like I'm getting on my own nerves, because it's like your phrase. It's on my list.

It's on my list. And I'm like, I'm so excited for this episode. So I feel myself getting annoying me. No one has to say anything to me about it. But I really am excited because I remember learning about Day of the Dead back in grade school, obviously a very watered down Spark Notes version, which I'm sure we're going to get way more in depth about today. But I do know some little bits and pieces about it. Yeah, I think I'm in the same boat as you where I learned very little about it. And I was really excited to

research it, one, because I just love learning about different cultures and what they do and what they believe in. And two, we've had a lot of requests of people being like, talk about Mexico. There's so much lore and hauntings and folklore and all this ancient history that's there. You should, you should talk about it. Let's do something there. And I 100% agree. And I found this topic and it is spooky season. It's Halloween's coming up. And you can't head into spooky season without talking about Day of the dead. Well, I think it's going to be a great introduction to all the stories that I'm sure we will touch upon in Mexico at some point. But, oh yeah, this is National Park After Dark. And my name is Danielle. And I'm Cassie. Welcome. If you're new here, it's a great time to dip your toes in.

And if you're not, welcome back. Like we said before in our past episodes, we are keeping the spooky theme going for the whole entire month of October. So we were heading into more spooky theme things and what is more spooky and more Halloween spooky theme than to talk all about death. So that is what we're going into today. I love it. I can't get enough and I'm so excited that I get to sit back and you get to talk to me about it and we get to discuss it. So I want to learn. Great. Because I did do a lot of research and I have a lot of information and I'm going to tie it into national parks and we're going to talk about all the different traditions of the day. And if you don't know about Day of the Dead or what it is, it is a Mexican holiday that is a celebration of life and of death.

And while this holiday is centered around death, this isn't a time for mourning but a time of happiness, celebrations and honoring loved ones. It's a two-day holiday celebrated with bright, colors, offerings to the dead that are encouraging them to visit the living world. And they have lots of food, lots of drinks, their storytelling. It is a big tradition to tell stories of loved ones who have passed and to tell stories of hauntings and lore and legends and ancestors, which is why I want to start this episode with some ancient folklore of one of the national parks inside of Mexico. Oh, love this. this. Okay. So we are going to head to Parkate National Istatiochua Popacadal, which is also known for

short as Istapopo National Park, which I much prefer to say because that first name is really, really difficult. Doing your best, sweetie. I'm trying so hard. It was established as a national park in 1937, which makes it the oldest national park in the country. It covers 98,000, 95 acres and crosses over three state lines, Puebla, Morelos, and Estado de Mexico. This park is full of different types of ecosystems including pine forests, alpine areas, and grasslands. It is home to species like the white-tailed deer, gray foxes, lynx, coyotes, opossums, badgers, and many different types of birds. They are also home to a volcano rabbit, which is only found inside of this national park,

and are endangered of becoming extinct. This park also contains the second and third highest peaks in all of Mexico, which are two volcanoes. On a clear day in Mexico City, which is about a three hour drive from the park, you can see these peaks. The Popo Cata Pedal, standing at 17,802 feet,

and the Istichuado volcano stand at 17,160 feet. On and around this volcano are 14 ancient monasteries, which have been named World Heritage Sites. El Popo is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world and is said to be around 73,000 years old. This volcano erupts frequently and smokes, and because of all of the volcanic activity here, you're not allowed to climb this peak.

In Mexico, there are these ancient legends of these two volcanoes and why El Poco is so active today. And this is where our story of our ancient folklore starts. So many years ago, the Aztec Empire ruled over most of Central Mexican Highlands. At the height of their power, they ruled over 80,000 square miles from the Gulf Coast to the Pacific Ocean, where there were millions of people who lived there. During this ruling, it was common practice to tax their neighboring towns, which were causing poverty in a lot of those areas. A neighboring group that had never

been conquered by the Aztecs but were living around the area became enemies with the Aztecs because they were causing so much poverty from the oppression and the taxing that the chief of this group actually decided to fight for the freedom of their people. And in this war, they teamed up with Spanish conquistadors to overthrow the Aztecs. And that's kind of a whole other history lesson that we're not going to go into today, but also super interesting if it is something that you want to look up. The chief of these indigenous people had a daughter. Her name was Istituato, and she had professed her love for one of her father's warriors, Popo Cotapetal, who was the most handsome of all of the warriors.

And he was madly in love with her as well, and he soon asked her father if they could marry. Her father had happily agreed to the marriage, but only on one condition. He had to return from battle victorious, and at that point he would reward him with this huge celebration and his daughter to marry. Another warrior was very jealous of this as he wanted to marry the princess and he was very upset. And he was so upset that in fact during the battle he reached out to her and told her that Popo had been killed. The princess was absolutely devastated by this news. She was completely grief-stricken by this horrible, horrible news and she fell into this deep, deep depression.

She stopped eating, drinking. and one day her heart just stopped. She died of a broken heart. Popo then came back from war, victorious, but then he found out about her death. He was inconsolable and was said to be wandering the streets all day and night morning the loss of her. Finally one day he decided that he needed to honor her death and by doing that he would build a massive tomb and carry her body to the top. He knelt beside her with a smoking torch and watched over. her. He stayed with her until eventually he died himself. And this is kind of where the legend of this story varies from different versions, but one version that I did read said that he

went up there with her with the smoking torch and then he stabbed himself in the heart to die and be with her that way. Kind of like a Romeo and Juliet type of thing before Romeo and Juliet was a thing. Yeah, yeah, it has very Romeo and Juliet vibes. So Centuries passed and as they did the gods covered them with snow and earth until eventually the volcanoes became what you see today so the two volcanoes are named after the two of them and it is said that el popo is still so active today and erupts because of the pain that he is still in and that every time it smokes it is the warrior mourning his love the jealous lover became a volcano as well a distant volcano known as Pico de Orzaba, which is an inactive volcano, but is the highest mountain in all of Mexico at 18,491 feet,

which is the highest volcanic summit in all of North America. It faces the two volcanoes, and it is said that he is now being forced to witness their love that will live on forever. I hate to say it. Kind of deserves it for that shady move he pulled. Super shady move. Got to pay for it somehow. Now you you're now you're a volcano. What are you going to do about it? And now they're together forever. And I did read, and I'll have to look more into a photo of it, but I did read that the mountain, or the volcano that is named after her is actually shaped like a woman. Oh, that's really cool. Yeah. And then recently, on October 7, 2020, El Popo began spewing smoke, which wasn't unusual, like we've kind of said, but on this day, it caught the attention of millions of people.

In the sky, coming out of the very top of the volcano, was clear as day. The smoke was shaped like La Calavera Katrina. La Calavera Katrina, which means elegant skull, was the huge skull that became a symbol for the Dia de los Mueros Day of the Dead celebrations. Coming into sight only three weeks before Diadalos Mueros, which is celebrated on October 31st to November 2nd each year, it was thought that this was a huge reminder. of the celebration to come. And it is said that Mexican people can be very superstitious. So when they saw this symbol, they immediately put it into this has to be a sign of Day of the Dead.

And just to kind of tell you a little bit more about what this skull actually is, La Calaverara Katrina was not always the symbol of the holiday. She was actually created in the early 1900s by a Mexican cartoon illustrator, Jose Guadalupe Pasada. And she is this elegant skull that's wearing an embroidered bonnet with flowers. And this artist made her originally as a political statement because at the time, there was this obsession going on with the upper European class and being wealthy and what money meant. And what he did in making this art was he made her huge hat to be this symbol of wealth, but he made her a skeleton. And it was meant to represent that death doesn't discriminate against anyone and regardless how much money you have, you're still going to die.

I love that. I think that's really cool. So that artist's rendition was kind of adopted into Day of the Dead or Day of the Dead adopted that imagery into their celebrations. It's kind of like a symbol for it. Yeah, it became a huge symbol of it and it said partially why this ended up being a symbol of it was because she was partially based off of the Aztec goddess of death who served as the same purpose as La Katrina does today, and that's to honor and protect those who have passed and to symbolize the type of relationship that Mexican people have with death. And we'll talk about it more, but the Day of the Dead goes back thousands of years with Aztec beliefs. That's really interesting. I never knew that. I want to look up that image now.

You should, just so you have like a view of it in your head. Okay, I'm going to do it. Once you see it, you're going to be like, I've definitely seen this because it's all over all of the Day of the Dead celebrations. Okay, I'm looking right now. Oh, yeah. Okay. A thousand percent. Mm-hmm.

The first thing that comes up is like all of these Halloween costumes of her. Yeah. And you can look up the photos or the illustrations of her. She's very popular. There's murals made of her. I feel like a lot of people get this tattoo. on them. Yeah, I've definitely seen it as a tattoo. I mean, it has a really cool, like the symbolism behind it is awesome. It's a really cool image. So, yeah. All right, I got the image. I'm good.

So now that we've kind of gotten into a little bit about Day of the Dead, I want to do a deep dive into it and really talk about the traditions and everything that's going on with it. So the Day of the is a Mexican celebration, which I said before, but it is a series of three days to welcome back the souls of families of deceased relatives. And these days are believed that their souls return to earth to celebrate and to revisit their loved ones with drinks and foods and dancing and just a way to revisit their loved ones. This day has history that's backed over 2,000 years with the Aztec people. Part of what makes this holiday so unique today is because of its history of Aztec rituals along with Catholic rituals that were brought by the Spanish Conquistadors.

Around 500 years ago, when Spanish Conquistadors arrived to Mexico, they observed the rituals at the time that took place there, which were taking place over an entire month during the summer. In ancient Aztec mythology, it was believed that when a person dies, they have to go through a journey of nine different levels before they will reach their eternal resting place among the ancient Aztec mythology. the gods of death and all of these obstacles would take about four years to complete four years so these levels are somewhat involved I'm guessing yeah these levels are these levels are hard and they're taking you through a lot and we'll go into those and a lot of what these levels are to do essentially is to make your

soul ready for eternal rest so it's running you through the gauntlet essentially Yes, essentially. And part of how Day of the Dead originated was this was a way for people who are living to join the dead on their long journey because they would give them food offerings and celebrate and try to do things that would help them into their transition into the afterlife. So it all started at about four days after someone died. Their bodies would be buried and that was when they would officially start their journey into the afterlife. the afterlife. Every year for the next four years, the living would perform a ceremony at their gravesites to continue helping the souls pass through each of the nine levels to their afterlife. So they would bring them offerings of food and supplies and things that they loved and reminded them of them to help them get through the tough journeys that they were on and also to show their love and honor them. So the first stage is that you have to be able to cross this river in the dark and in your journey in the afterlife you have a dog that will help guide you and he's either

white or a vibrant scarlet red color and the color of the dog is essentially the only way that you can see so is the dog with you throughout the levels or just in this darkness level throughout all the levels okay so you have a companion with you the second stage that you pass through are mountains that crash into each other and have the possibility of these mountains being crushed together with you between them. After you make it through this obstacle, you're forced to walk down a hill that is filled with obsidian stone that is as sharp as knives and cutting you along the way. Not pleasant.

It doesn't sound pleasant. And like the first one, it's like, okay, it's dark, but you have a guide. And then now it seems to be getting progressively worse. Definitely. But it's testing you. It's all about testing you, right? Yeah, testing your limits and testing you to see if you're ready for the afterlife. So once you get through the obsidian stone, you next have to walk through eight snow-filled

mountains that are continuously covered in blizzards and strong winds. And the winds are so strong that they can just blow you away. I'm picturing eight Mount Everest's. That's what I'm picturing too. It's definitely hard. And I feel like this is a good reason why you should get your mouth. Mountaineering skills up now because if this is real, you're in for it. You're in for it.

I mean, I know I'm out. I died in the second one, probably the first one. I'm not that great of a swimmer. So, I mean, I'm already dead. The stone one would, so. With my feet. Because I'm assuming you're barefoot with the obsidian stone. That's the second one, right?

In one part of the research I was doing, it said that you're naked through it. That's also what I was picturing because I feel like you're stripped of all your earthly possession. So why we do have clothes on? Yeah. No clothes on Mount Everest. Eight Mount Everest. Eight of them. Yeah. Okay. What's next? We've passed. We've summited. We've gone through the mountains. What's next? So next, you are heading through an area where you have to dodge bow and arrows that are aimed at you. By who? Who's shooting them at you? Each of these arrows represent a person who had influence on you in your life. I was envisioning the people that you've wronged.

Like people you screwed over in life that are like shooting at you. From what I researched, it didn't sound like it was people who wronged you. It was just people who had influence on your life. And I think that could be good or bad. Okay. Then the next level comes the jaguar. Here you are expected to allow a jaguar to eat your heart, but you can avoid this and you can do this by giving the jaguar a stone that is in the shape of a heart.

The connection in this level is it supposed to be you giving up any worldly connections that you have. So I think it's like giving your heart away. Kind of cutting the cord of your physical body type of thing. Okay. And then the eighth stage is you travel through nine rivers, which is supposed to involve nine states of consciousness. So I think this is really diving into your soul at its core. And once you pass through all of these stages, it's when you head into the ninth stage

where you're greeted and accepted by the gods. Because it is at this point where you've been thought to be able to connect with everything that happened in your life and to end any suffering. And you are now at the point and you are ready for your eternal rest. I'm just wondering how many people, is it expected that you make that whole? thing? Like what happens if you don't? What happens if you fail one of the levels? I think you've gone to purgatory. Or you're stuck in that level forever? Yeah. The nine level challenge. What is it called? I just called it the nine level challenge because

I don't know if there's a specific name. It's just the nine levels to the afterlife. Okay. So the Spaniards learned of all these beliefs that the Aztecs had and they deemed it as completely barbaric and they attempted to stop all of that and to bring their Catholic beliefs onto the Aztecs and eradicate the entire ritual. But obviously that didn't happen. It's still happening today. But instead of eradicating it, they came to a compromise and actually merged their rituals and their beliefs together. So instead of it being celebrated for almost a month that it was before in the summer, it is now celebrated on November 1st and November 2nd, which is All Saints Day and All Souls Day, which are to combine the Catholic and Aztec beliefs.

Very interesting. I'm not even going to comment about the whole conversion, conquistador type of whatever that was. That's another rabbit hole. But okay, a compromise, quote unquote, was made. and now we have this beautiful tradition. Yes. And I do want to talk about Halloween and this tradition because this day is often thought of as another celebration of Halloween. People think of Day of the Dead and they think Mexican Halloween. And that is very false and they are actually very, very different from each other.

So Halloween is also known as All Hallows Eve and it has a Celtic origin from Europe. So hello is an old English word for holy and November 1st is known as All Saints Day, which is a day to remember all of the saints who have passed away. The evening of October 31st to November 1st was believed to be this time when the space between the dead and the living was at its thinest. So this was the time that the dead had a much easier opportunity to come into the living world. The veil was thin. Do you know what season of American Horror Story? Oh, first season. The murder house.

When the souls in the house that are usually trapped there all the time, the one night a year that they can go out and mix and mingle with the outside world is Halloween. Yes. I forgot about that. I haven't seen the first season of American Horror Story in so long, but I do know what you're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. And so there was this tradition. of dressing up that dates back to the ancient Celtic festivals that were going on where people

would light bonfires and wear costumes, but this was actually to deter ghosts and to deter the afterlife because the afterlife in this scenario in Halloween was thought to be of evil and evil spirits that were coming in and which is huge contrast to Day of the Dead because Day of the Dead is welcoming the afterlife. so vastly different. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, because when you said a lot of people view that don't know of the Mexican culture,

view it as just a Mexican version of our holiday of Halloween. And that's so true. It's just so different. And I think, you know, we all love Halloween. It's the best time of the year. Halloween is an awesome holiday. But if you boil it down to just the root of where the traditions came from, I think I lean more towards Day of the Dead. I think it's really cool to set aside

a number of days to celebrate your loved ones who are no longer with you and want to remember them in such a special way versus, you know, Halloween has nothing to do with that. And we don't have anything in American culture that's even close to that. No. And the more I researched the Day of the dead and learned about their traditions and how much they honored and respected and brought to life people who have passed away and really bring their memory to light every single year I thought was really beautiful and I'm with you the more I researched Day of the Dead I'm like I want to celebrate Day of the Dead this is really cool like there's so many really thoughtful and nice traditions and it's just a different way to look at death that I've never really thought of before

Yeah, and I don't want to jump the gun. I don't know if we're going to talk about this deeper into the episode or not, but just kind of thinking of the way that the Mexican culture celebrates this. I feel like, obviously, it's a huge celebration and everyone's involved. And I'm sure it's a time that you reflect on that person's life and how much, you know, you miss them, but not, like you said, in a way that's sad. Like you're not grieving and mourning the dead in the way that I think. we do in America. I mean, speaking from a from personal experience, like when my dad passed away,

it was very like it was sudden. We had his funeral and that was it. Like boom, boom, boom, one or two days and that was it. And there is no time like when I want to remember him or think about him. It's more of like a solo experience and it's something that isn't done in like a a celebratory way with tons of friends and family and having festivals. It's just kind of like a very solo and somewhat isolating experience. So to have like a whole celebration to remember your loved ones with people who also miss them. Like that's so awesome. I think it's a really beautiful way to remember people.

And also kind of what you said, it's not isolating because you're celebrating with so many of your loved ones. but you're also keeping this person alive in such a happy, memorable way, where it's almost like that person is never going to really die because they're never going to be forgotten. Yeah, and what of interesting, like, now that I'm thinking about it, it's a way to help cope and heal as someone who is still living. Because like you said, they're never truly dead. Like you have a way to honor and memorialize them

in a way that makes it feel like they're not completely gone. Like they're still of this world at least once a year, at the very least. So that's a very interesting aspect of it that I've never really put much thought into. But what an interesting way for the people who are still left here in the physical world to cope with the loss of a loved one. I agree 100%. And I want to talk a lot more in depth of all the traditions and things that they do because I think a lot of them are really beautiful and I think a lot of them are like really

comforting. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice. Off campus, L, every year after, the love hypothesis, Sterling Point and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. So just diving a little bit more into these celebrations, like I said, Halloween is celebrated to deter the afterlife from visiting and Day of the Dead is the opposite. We want all of our loved ones to come back into the living world. And these celebrations take place on November 1st and November 2nd of every year.

but the holiday actually really begins on the night of October 31st, All Hallows Eve. It is believed that at midnight, going into November 1st, that the gates of heaven open up for the spirits of children to rejoin their families for 24 hours. It is that night that children make an altar to welcome the spirits of the dead, known as Angelitos. And altars are these decorative shrines for lost loved ones. So they're typically very colorful will feature offerings to the deceased. These altars, also known as Afrendas or offerings, are placed around graves and sometimes families will keep them in their homes as well. And these altars have a huge role in the celebrations. And often before the altars are even created, families will arrive to the grave sites and clean the locations.

They'll make sure it looks beautiful. Any weeds are taken out, you know, like dust. it off, whatever it is, they make the gravesite look really beautiful before the celebration even begins. And for children in particular, these altars will often have offerings of sweets and of toys and things that children would love. So while each one of these altars are different, generally they all have the same four essential earth elements included in their offerings. So water is the first one. and typically this is represented in pictures of water, and this is to symbolize quenching the thirst of the spirits,

because they have to be thirsty. Wind, which they symbolize with these banners that they put on, these perforated paper banners, which will get more into earth, which is commonly represented in the form of bread, bread of the dead, which will also get more into. Okay. And fire. So almost every altar that you'll see will be filled with burning candles.

November 2nd is when adults can join their families for 24 hours. So you have November 1st, which is 24 hours of the spirits of children, and then November 2nd where the adults come in. And this begins midnight going into November 2nd. The altars change for adults. There's more things like tequila and food and drinks and, card games and just things that more adults would like. Okay.

And it is tradition for this night to play games with your family to dance and to celebrate with local bands playing and just to have a really good time. So these altars, there are several things that are on them that are of huge significance for bringing the dead into the living world. And one of those is the portraits of their loved ones that have passed. It is believed that their portraits and their photos help pass them into the living world. So it's a really important item to have on their altars. It is also really important to add things that were important to them in their living life.

So there are aspects that are universal, like the water, fire, bread, things like that. But then there's more personalized items when it comes to the individual that the shrine is for. So if they enjoyed soccer or football in their life, then you would have a soccer ball or a football or like something like that. Exactly. Like you customize it to that person. But that being said, there are some things that almost all of them universally have. So a very important part of these are decorating with marigold flowers, also known as Floor de Muerreto, Flowers of the Dead. These are beautiful, bright, orange-colored flowers, and these flowers bloom in Mexico around October and November.

So they're in bloom during Diodes Los Murtos. And it is believed that the scent of these flowers help attract souls to their altars. Okay, so it's kind of like a siren sound. Like, come on over here. And they're pretty. They're beautiful. They're beautiful, those bright color. They'll even lay petals down leading to their altar.

There's these huge displays of them. It's very, very beautiful. Calaveras, which are skulls, are probably one of the most recognizable symbols, which we kind of talked about before. They're often made with bright and fun designs, flower designs, and on the altars, they're actually usually made out of granulated sugar, meringue powder, and water. So they're very edible. Do people eat them, the sugar skulls? Yeah, you can eat them. Okay, because I was going to say, is that like a frowned upon? Like you don't want to eat.

No, I think a lot of this is really up for, it's just a celebration. So I think a lot of this is up for, I did read that stuff that's left over. Sometimes it'll get donated and things like that. But I think for the most part, you can eat anything. Okay. These skulls are supposed to represent the person that passed away. And the sugar is meant to symbolize the sweetness of life. So it kind of all ties in together. This is so cool. Like, I mean, I'm sure we have things in American tradition that has symbolism like this, but this is just blowing us out of the water, to be honest. It's so fun and it's so thoughtful and it's so cool. And even if you're listening to this and you're like, sugar, the sweetness of life, like, I don't really believe that or whatever, it's all the thought that's put into all of this, you know? like putting these symbols to mean this for this person that you loved.

I just think it's really beautiful and it's a really, really fun way to celebrate people. That and you're remembering somebody, but you're also at the same time, like the sweetness of life and things like that. I think a lot of this is also a reminder to the living of how short and fragile and special life is. So as a reminder to while you're living, to appreciate it and then also remember those

who have passed. Like I think it's a cool dichotomy of what's going on. I don't know. Like I just really think that this is an awesome holiday. Everyone can relate to someone dying and everyone can relate that you too will die. Yeah. Well, someone who has firsthand experience with this. us know.

Yeah, because neither of us are of Mexican descent, our family, we're not from here at all. This is all brand new research for us. But it's so interesting and we just love to learn about new cultures and new beliefs and new ways of thinking about things and it's just a lot of fun and it's so interesting. And I think the more you learn about other cultures and the more you really open your eyes to things, it gives you more of an opportunity to grow as a person. too. So I really just appreciated doing this research for my own being just because I think it's such a different way to look at life and death that I've never thought of before.

Yeah, it makes you a more empathetic or, yeah, empathetic person when you learn about different cultures and it doesn't mean you have to adopt the belief, but just to know that there are other ways of, and it sounds so elementary, like there are other people out there that think differently than you. But if you really adopt that into your way of life and opening your mind to other celebrations, even like this, like, you know, all it takes is to learn in an hour or whatever about a different culture. And there you go. But yeah, if you have first hand experience with this, if you celebrate it, if your family celebrates it, please, please let us know. We would love to hear from you. Yes, absolutely. We would love to hear your experiences with

this day and your traditions and your beliefs and everything. Well, keep going. Tell me more. Yeah, there's a lot more. Okay, all right. We just went off on a tangent. Yeah. So, Papal Picado are beautiful and vibrant perforated paper banners. And these banners are filled with different designs that hang on and around the altars and

around the areas of the celebration. So they kind of, they're not prayer flags like you see on Mount Everest, but they're all of those colors and they're perforated paper and they'll have designs of skulls or flowers or anything really that you can, you can go on Etsy and type in Papel Picado and it will pop up everywhere, especially right now because the celebration's coming up. And they're really pretty. And the belief behind this is some believe that the The holes provide gateways for the souls of the dead. But in general, the perforated paper is meant to symbolize the fragility of life.

Here we go again with the symbolism. Just like... Everything has a meaning. One after the other. After the other. And we're going to talk about the bread. You're going to talk about the bread? The bread is next.

The bread is literally my next line. Okay. In these traditions and our... offerings, food and drink play a huge role because people believe that the souls must be hungry and thirsty. So Panday Muerto, which is bread of the dead, is a very popular tradition here and it is shaped with crossbones baked into it and also a tear drop in the center and covered in sugar. Also another huge part that plays a role in Day of the Dead, which I never thought of before and I didn't realize was monarch butterflies. That's actually I don't know if I know this about this.

So monarch butterflies complete their migration to Mexico right around the first day of November. And you can often see them and find them dead on the altars. And it is believed that these butterflies are the souls of the dead visiting. So the altars are in people's homes and at their grave sites and cemeteries and things like that, they can be anywhere. Right. Okay. Well, yeah, just a place of importance. So if your loved one live there with you or at their gravesite or just a place of importance to you and your loved ones that have passed. Okay. So these are a couple of traditions that are pretty widely met within the day of the dead. But there are some rituals that differ depending on where you are located.

So in a town in the Yucatan Peninsula, an important part of celebration is bone cleaning. Here we go. I saw your eyes perk up. They just like widened to toy. I'm like, oh, bone cleaning. I put this part specifically in here for you, actually. Okay.

So this custom is that after a loved one has been deceased for three years, that their family will exhume their births, bodies. They wait three years because this is how long it takes for a person's skin and organs to decompose, and at this point, it is just their bones and their hair. In this tradition, they carefully take each bone out and they dust it and clean it off before they place it in an open wooden box. Inside of this box, they have embroidered or painted linens, and then these boxes are put on display inside the graveyard presenting the bones of their ancestors. Wow, that's love.

I read the article, and I'll see, maybe I can post some photos of it, but I read the article and they have pictures of the skulls that they've dusted off still with a head of hair, and one even had their comb that they were buried with still in their hair. Just so vastly different than anything we're accustomed to, because, like you said, they wait three years because that's how long it takes. to naturally decompose, et cetera. We have no grip on that here in the traditional way of American burial and the funerary customs here is just you get involved. Like there is no natural decomposition component to it. So can you imagine, can you imagine us doing that here? If somebody

did that here, like people would want them arrested. I was just going to say you get arrested. You can't exhum a body and then put their skull on top of their casket outside of their grave. You know, like... You would be locked right up, which is sad if you think about it because, I mean, I remember reading in one of Caitlin Dowdy's books. I forget which one. She has three. I think it's the one about death rituals around the world, which is very relevant to this

conversation. But I think she was talking about a certain case where someone passed away, because she owns a funeral practice or a mortuary in L.A. that does things differently. So she owns her own, but it's not a traditional way of, like they don't embalm and do any of that. And someone called her and said, like, you know, my loved one passed away, but I want to spend time with them. Is it illegal? And it was kind of like, she was kind of like, no, you can spend as much time as you want with them. Like that person wanted to spend a day or two with the person's body in their home before it was taken away for burial. And just the thought that like, and I have the same thought,

like if someone passed away in my house, I would feel like I have to get them away right away. And that's not the way of thinking for a lot of people and in a lot of cultures. You know, it's like that's not how it's done. I mean, when you have a different relationship with death and a different respect for it and a different way you do things, if that doesn't translate in another country or in another culture in the way that you believe that has to be really hard. Yeah. So I think I thought it was just really interesting because she made that just like little snippet of a story really illustrated just how different our thoughts are on death and what

happens afterwards. So I could just only imagine what would happen if somebody went three years later to their loved one's grave and started digging them up. So where is this? The Yucatan Peninsula, you said? Mm-hmm. Okay. In a town called Pomek.

Pomek? It's P-O-M-U-C-H. Okay. So kind of switching up the subject a little bit. While there are people who are paid tribute to your loved ones, your deceased ones, there are some special people that get tribute during this holiday that aren't necessarily loved ones. But are ghost stories.

And I couldn't do this episode without talking about the most famous ghost in all of Mexico. Do I know it? I feel like I don't. I don't know. Is it a man or a woman? It's a woman. Is it La Yerona? Yeah.

Oh! You know her? I know her. Do I know her? Yes, I do know of her. Okay. All right. Well, do you know her story?

Something about her child. and she's like wailing and upset. Yes, kind of. Okay. Tell the world, Kathy. There are several different versions of her story, but there is one aspect that holds true of all of the different versions that have been put together, and that is that she had two children with a wealthy man.

She found him cheating on her and with another woman, and she became extremely distraught, and in a fit of rage, she drowned both of their children. Immediately she regretted it and she tried to save her children but she failed to do so. And she was so upset that she then drowned herself. But because she had killed her children, she wasn't able to enter into the afterlife and she was forced into purgatory. Now she is said to roam around the waterfronts where she can be heard wailing and seen wearing her white funeral gown. And some say that she kidnaps or attacks children, while others say she attacks cheating husbands. I mean, I can see it going either way.

But either way, it's said if you hear her wailing, you should run. It's all coming back to me. It is all coming back to me. I think there's... It's all coming back to me now. Thank you. That was beautiful. Thank you.

I really think that there's... Not that I would go to see it, but I'm pretty sure there's a movie that just came out. And by just, I mean, like, within the last year... It's a horror movie. I saw it when I was research. I didn't see it. See it. but it's a horror movie that was made of her and the front cover of it is like this really scary ghost woman.

Yeah, I'm not going to watch it, but I've heard of it. Yeah, I'm probably not going to watch it either. Wait, so they'll have photos of Lawyer. Like, how is she incorporated into the altars? Or is she just spoken about? She's just spoken about that I know of. Yeah, it seems a little, I wouldn't understand the connection to have. someone with a story like that to be put on the altar of your...

She's a story of Day of the Dead and she is also thought to be a ghost that helps keep children in line. So kind of like Spearfinger where she kind of, if you know about her, your children are going to be in line and not step too far away from you kind of thing. Yeah. It's like don't go near the water. All your own is going to get you. Yeah. So for Day of the Dead, they do represent other people. people where there are big murals or even museums of people that are celebrated. And one of those people is Frida Kalo. Do you know who that is? The artist?

Yes. Oh, yes. I do. I've watched her movie with Selma Hayek or Penelope Cruz. I always get them confused. I'm so sorry. I haven't seen it, so I couldn't tell you. Yeah, it was a while ago. I watched it, but it was pretty good. So if you don't know who she is, you might recognize her. She passed away when she was 47 years old, but she used to paint self-portraits of herself. And she was famously would draw a unibrow across her for herself portraits.

And that's a big thing of what she was known for. She was also, she had a house that was called the Blue House. And she was known for painting skulls for Day of the Dead. and she would paint all different sizes and colors. And her husband, Diego, was actually a very famous artist as well because he, the famous skull that we talked about, he actually made an entire mural of her that became very, very famous. So now there is actually a museum, the blue house,

that you can go into where she lived. And she was bedridden. She was very sick. So she did all of her art from her bed. you can go into this museum and see where she created in her bed. And she is someone who is honored and remembered during Dia Delos Moritos. Interesting. I didn't know she had a connection.

And actually, have you seen the movie Coco? No. I've seen Soul, the Pixar movie, Soul. Well, Coco is another Pixar movie. And Coco, I actually watched it after I did all of this research because it just came into my head because it's a Pixar movie that is based on day. of the Dead and the celebrations of it. And it was actually really fun to watch after I researched all of this because I saw all

these connections to how they were connecting Day of the Dead to it. And one of the afterlife skeletons that they have is Frida. And she's painting and she's doing all this like fun stuff in it. And that was one of the things that I thought was really cool that they added in there. Pixar is just on a level of its own. Honestly, you don't understand how sneaky they are until you're an adult. and you realize these things. Like, as a kid, you're like, oh, that was fun.

You don't even think about it, you know? But as an adult, you're watching it with your kid or alone. And then all these little things, in all of their movies, they, like, emotionally wreck you. It's like, what are you trying to do to me? They pull up the heartstrings for sure. Yeah, up. Don't even get me started because we talked about that probably about five months ago, and I know you still haven't watched it.

Don't roll your eyes at me. It's on my list. Okay. We got to move on after you just said that. That just upset me. Well, after this episode, go watch Coco because it's a really cute movie, and it just has a lot of tie-ins to stuff that I've talked about that you'll notice in the movie, too.

And obviously, like, the people in Pixar, they incorporate Day of the Dead so well because it's about it. But it's also just a fun, light-hearted Pixar movie. I really, really liked it. I'll put it on my list and get to it next year. I don't appreciate your sass. So moving to the final day of Day of the Dead. This is when the most public celebrations happen,

and people will congregate to the cities and big areas with calavera painted on their faces. The skulls they paint will often be smiling and full of colors. They have these huge celebrations and parades in the streets. It's also really common for families to visit cemeteries on that day, and they would decorate them with the merry gold flowers, the sugar skulls, and with their loved ones who pass names on it, they'd leave gifts. It's just a really big day of celebration. So Dia de los Mueros is also a holiday that is recognized among the National Park Service. In Mexico?

In the U.S. Oh. In Mexico, I'm sure, but in the U.S. Okay. I'm tying this whole subject into national parks as much as possible. It's coming. So this is what you did. You started with a little volcano national park little intro. And now we're finishing with another one. You're tying it into a nice little bow. Yes. Thank you for noticing. I see what you did. I'm following. I'm picking up what you're putting down. So every year from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on November 2 to McCory National Historic Park

in Arizona offers a free entrance into the park where you can walk through a candlelit trail through this church and cemetery. From October 17th through November 2nd, visitors can come to the park to leave photos, gifts, tokens, toys, and other traditional items on the park's altar as offerings. So they have their own altar that visitors can bring. I love that. So for those couple weeks, you can leave your offerings, but is it just one day that you do the handle? So you come whenever, but November 2nd is when it's free. They don't charge you to come in. Oh, okay. I see. And it's in Arizona? Yeah, so it's in the upper Santa Cruz River Valley in southern Arizona. This park is home to and protects the ruins of three Spanish mission communities, which are buildings that were established as early as

1691. Wow. Historic parks are where it's at. I'm telling you. Like there are so many of them. And I think they're super underrated within the National Park Service. But as we do more research and get a deeper look into all of the rich history that all these areas have to offer, there's so many stories within them. Like, when would you have ever heard of that? I think we're getting a lot more into history in our old age, too. And also because it's just so interesting that we are more appreciative of the historic parks. Yeah, I agree. You know where it has a national park that I had no idea about? You got to give me a hint, like in the world or? I live here. Okay, Vermont. Yes. It has a national historic site. Yeah. That's actually like set up by the National Park Service and they have

Park Rangers and all of that. And I realized it because I was driving home to New Hampshire and I passed it on the highway. And it said it's called Marsh Billings Rockefeller National Historic Park, but the sign says Marsh Billings National Park. And I was like, there's a national park in Vermont. What do you mean? And then I realized it's a National Historic Park that is in Woodstock, Vermont. And I haven't been there yet. Stock, Vermont. I've been to Woodstock, but I haven't been to this National Park. And now that it's fall, I'm like, oh, I'm going to Woodstock.

I'm going to go go check out the park. Did the National Park, did you see the brown and white sign? Is that what got you? Yes. Every time I see one, I'm like, oh, my God, what is that? It catches your eye right away. You're like, where is that? What is that?

I'm going. How have I not been? Awesome. Well, you'll have to keep us updated because when are you going to be? going to go. No, no. All right. I'm going to the Adirondacks this week, so not this week. And then the week after that, you're busy because you're hanging out with me, so. Right, right, right. I have one more park. I have one more park for my team. Wait, we're in Vermont. What, what's happening? Now we're going to Big Bend National Park.

What? Yeah, we're going to Big Bend. Very, very, very short-lived, but we're going to big bend real quick. Because there is a tradition there to celebrate Diode Los Moritos. There is an old mining town named Teralingua, which has been abandoned for years. Every year at sunset on November 2nd, people meet in a historic cemetery that is located there. And here they come to make offerings to loved ones who have passed and honor old friends and family. So another national park that has ties to the day of the day. Wow. Well, that makes sense for Big Ben because it's so close to, I mean, a chair's a border with Mexico. Well, that's the same with the other one too. And Arizona. It's very southern and pretty close. Okay. Learned something new every week. Yeah.

Well, thank you for sharing all of that. That was really, really cool. I enjoyed our discussion about death rituals and how we have different and varying relationships with death and processing it and celebrating it and all of that. And I think that I've at least taken a few of their, you know, symbolisms and different views of death and maybe adopting it into the way I think about my relationship with death and how I process it. So I think that was really fun. Thank you. Yeah. And I encourage anyone listening if you're interested in the subject to really look into it more because there's so much information. There's so many stories. And there's only so much that you can fit into an episode and put in and only so many details you can put in. And,

I really, really encourage you to look more into it if this is something that you're interested in or just don't know that much about because, like we said, learning about new cultures is so fun. And especially now with COVID and everything when traveling has been a little bit more difficult, especially internationally, learning about other cultures and other countries is such a cool way to feel like you're exploring. I couldn't agree more. Well, is that all for this week? Yeah, that's everything. Okay. So we'll see you all next Monday and for more spooky season, but in the meantime, enjoy the view. But watch you are back.

Bye, everyone. Adios. Thank you so much for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale or story suggestion of your own, send us an email at np.adstories at gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at National Park After Dark and on Twitter at NPAD Podcast. Come hang out with us on Patreon for monthly bonus episodes and exclusive content. And remember, when you support our sponsors, you are supporting our show. For exclusive discount codes along with source information from today's episode, check out our show notes.

For more information on our show, our book recommendations, merch updates and more, visit our website at npadpodcast.com. And please rate, review, and subscribe from wherever you listen to podcasts. You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you may not know yet. Drivers who switch and save with Progressives save over $900 on average. Pop over to Progressive.com, answer some questions, and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by.

In fact, 99% of their auto customers earn at least one discount. Visit Progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little cash back. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $946 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. Potential savings will vary.