Culture fascinates me. And one of my favorite aspects of culture is holidays. I realize that’s a privileged thing to say but were we living among the hunter-gatherers I’d probably have ended up a shaman. In any case, I had my eye on Stanley Brandes’ Skulls to the Living, Bread to the Dead: The Day of the Dead in Mexico and Beyond for some time now. Like most observers of lugubrious culture, I’ve noticed the symbols of el Día de los Muertos creeping into Halloween displays in the United States for many years. I knew that the Day (properly Days) of the Dead was connected in some way to All Saints and All Souls days. I wanted to find out more, however. Now, I know that one source doesn’t give you all the information, but time is limited and Brandes was recommended.
This book contains a lot of information. I am, however, a worker in the publishing industry and that made me wonder a number of things. The trim size (dimensions) and cover design suggest this is a textbook. I suspect Blackwell (the publisher) wanted it so. It is, however, written for ethnographers. I’ve read enough anthropology over the years to have an idea of how this works, but inside the book it seemed that this was a toned-down academic monograph. It doesn’t use a lot of technical terms, but the writing is geared toward other ethnographers, it seemed to me. There is a bit of a dilemma here. If you’re wanting an authoritative book you generally go to academic publishers, such as Blackwell. On the other hand, sometimes you just want an overview that doesn’t get lost in the weeds.
The fault is entirely my own, I realize. And I don’t mean to criticize since I learned an awful lot from this book. Nothing is ever simple, not even holidays. Especially holidays. These are times we take from the ordinariness of daily living to find meaning, and often joy, in our lives. A safe space where work can’t reach us and we can concentrate on celebrating the occasional, the unusual. The Day of the Dead is, in the eyes of many, an unusual take on the late autumn holidays. (Halloween is also unusual, but the two holidays are distinct.) This book provides a lot of information on the culture of Mexico—information that derives from its most famous holiday. You can tell a lot indeed from looking at what people celebrate. There’s more going on than meets the eye.
