English En120Assign04

LaTasha Johnson
AC1202306
EN120 English Composition 1
Assignment 04
October 17, 2012

Although Japan is nearly 7000 miles away from Mexico, the Halloween festivals that take place in those countries are equally important in their cultures. The people in Japan and Mexico commemorate this occasion a little differently from one another, yet have a few similarities between them. Both Japan and Mexico celebrate Halloween for three days but have different dates and names to identify the season. In Japan, the people celebrate the memory of departed souls to show that the dead is always remembered and loved. In Mexico, people speak to the departed souls and offer them food, while assuring the dead that they are loved by living relatives. Some people in Japan observe O-Bon, which means “to hang upside down” from July 13-15th, and others observe from August 13-15th; while people in Mexico proclaim October 31st-Novemeber 2nd as Day of the Dead, and some even recognize October 27th as Fiesta de las Santas Animas which means “Feast of the Holy Souls”. Both cultures kickoff the start of their traditions by visiting and cleaning the grave sites of their deceased loved ones and erecting alters in their honor. In Japan, alters are known as “tamadane”; decorating them with delicious vegetarian dishes, fruit, cakes, lanterns, and carved horse-shaped cucumbers. “Ofrendas” is what the people in Mexico call their alters, while adorning them with pine needles, flowers, bread, fruit, candy, and sometimes even alcohol and skulls. The last day consist of the families coming together and celebrating. In the Mexican culture, the people put on costumes of ghouls, mummies ghost and skeletons, walk through the town carrying coffins while local venders put flowers, fruits and candles inside as they pass. They strew a path of marigold flower petals, believing they’re guiding the departed souls home. Then finally, they light special candles that burn through the night and light bonfires, set...