News Tip: Day of the Dead Increasingly Popular in U.S.
"Its spread has been encouraged by greater American familiarity with Mexico," says Duke's Robert Healy
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
As more and more Americans have traveled to Mexico and as Mexican immigration to the U.S. has proliferated, the Day of the Dead, celebrated Nov. 1 and 2, has become increasingly popular throughout much of the United States, says a Duke University professor.
"Mexico's Dia de Muertos, or 'Day of the Dead,' is a remarkable and colorful mix of commemoration and satire, mourning and celebration, Catholic symbolism and Aztec traditions," says Robert Healy, the former director of Duke's Center for North American Studies. "Its spread has been encouraged by greater American familiarity with Mexico."
At first found mainly along the border or in large Southwestern cities, Day of the Dead celebrations are now found in such unlikely places as Durham, N.C., where Duke is located. Part of the interest in Durham, Healy says, comes from faculty and students interested in Latin American studies; Day of the Dead activities have been celebrated at Duke for the past six years.
"Outside the university, the growing Mexican community celebrates Day of the Dead at the local Catholic church, and Hispanic stores stock sugar skulls, sweet bread decorated with 'bones' made of dough, and other necessary paraphernalia," Healy says.
Healy, who is also a professor of environmental policy at Duke, will be the faculty representative on a Duke Alumni Association tour to Oaxaca, Mexico, in January, and one of his planned talks during the trip will be "Day of the Dead in Oaxaca and in Durham."
He can be reached for additional comment at (919) 416-4543, or by e-mail.
