Dia De Los Muertos

Dia de los Muertos, also known as “Day of the Dead” is a two day national Mexican holiday that celebrates and remembers the death of loved ones. This holiday has a rich history that involves more then dressing up in costumes and going trick-or-treating. This is the countries largest celebration of the year, that is now celebrated in countries around the world well beyond Guatemala, Brazil, Spain, and Mexican-American communities in the United States. Dia de los Muertos is observed November 1st and 2nd . November 1st is used to honor the deceased youth known as Dia de Los Inocentes or Dia de los Angelitos also known as Day of the Little Angels. The adults for Dia de los Muertos are honored on November 2nd. In some other beliefs the Day of the Dead is a three-day holiday that begins on October 31st, when some believe the souls of young children arise at midnight on Halloween eve.

On Dia de los Muertos, families gather to celebrate and remember those who have passed on as well as build an altar in their homes to pay respect to the deceased. The dead are honored with sugar skulls, chocolate, marigolds which are the Mexican flower of death, sweetbreads and trinkets. Families also deliver ofrendas, or “offerings” to the grave sites of their relatives and hold vigils with candles along with photos.

Dia de los Muertos is traced all the way back to the Aztecs who celebrated with a festival for the goddess of the underworld known as, Mictecacihuatle, and the Catholic Spanish conquistadors “All Saints’ and All Souls’ days. Many Scholars have associated Dia de los Muertos with the native cultures of Mexico honoring the Lady of the Dead, the modern La Catrina which many recognize today as the skeleton woman wearing a fancy hat. According to the legend, La Catrina was a selfish, greedy rich woman who did nothing to help the poor. She is now mocked by many people every year by dressing in ornate garb, painting their faces white and detailing features to look like a caricature of a beautiful skeleton. 

Dia de los Muertos has become a modern phenomenon that influences the fashion world. We see the notorious sugar skulls portrayed through extravagant makeup. All different colors and designs are painted on the face to express the person's creativity. We see this makeup statement meshed with the Halloween tradition put into full on costumes! Ultimately, the root of the skull trend rooted from this tradition. Skulls are created within nail polish designs, clothes, accessories, and even shoes... Alexander McQueen being a prime example! Skulls are becoming more and more elaborate and detailed by the seasons!

Ageism and the Politics of Beauty

Our article, discusses the struggles between age and beauty. Older women perceive aging to be a deficiency and not so pleasant stage of life. The reason they feel this way is  because men "have filled our minds  with an extensive literature and imagery of disgust, which includes a kind of voyeuristic fascination with what they see as the obscurity of female aging. Men's disgust for old women's bodies with its language of content (shriveled, sagging, dragging, wizened, ravaged, liver spots, crows feet, old bag etc) is so familiar to us that it feels like home." Being only human, we read into literature and take it  as it and relate it to the modern life. The fact of the matter is, aging is inevitable and we should not fear discontenting men, but more so, taking care of our bodies. Men are known to go for the "virginal inexperienced" type of gals to please merely their bodies. Old women take this to account that they are not needed nor wanted if they are infertile. 

                                   

The article goes into the argument that the older we get the more useless and irrelevant we are in society. This mindset can take a toll on a aging women's self-esteem and confidence. If one is told that are don't matter because of their age, they take it to account that their voice and their mind is also unimportant. "But most women find that the more our bodies are perceived as old, the more our minds are dismissed as irrelevant. And if we are more than our bodies, we also are our bodies." When we choose to live above the opinions and superficial, shallow people, we are our full selves; our bodies. Our bodies are just a physically portrayal of who we are, but it is our character that defines we are.

In the Fashion world, older women tend to dress unlike their age only because they think that is what is expected and attractive to the male figures. Older women should dress how they want to and what they feel comfortable in. When you try to dress for someone else, you lose yourself and not dressing for yourself. Aging is a natural part of life and should be embraced with open arms. 

Northampton Confronts a Crime, Cruelty

This article accentuates the everyday issues involving hate crimes, teasing, and hazing. At a  high school in Northampton called Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, Matthew Santoni a normal 15 year old student was a victim of bullying because of his eyeliner and earrings. His choice in style and image portrayed something different then every other ordinary high school student. Santoni got so fed up with the everyday taunting of his lifestyle that he allegedly stabbed Jeffrey LaMothe a 16 year old to death. This was Matthew's way of letting his feelings go since he was the type of person who kept all of his feelings bottled up inside.

This is not the only incident that has occurred in high schools, everyday something like this occurs starting from a young age in middle school. Today bullying is known as the number one killer for many middle school through high schoolers. Taunting and teasing have been in the high school culture and define the meaning of high school just as clearly as prom, geeks, and jocks does. Bullying is so common in todays society that in some ways it has become a lifestyle in our teenager years. Some people that get bullied are so used to it that they put up with the torture without trying to make a change and put a stop to every name calling tactic heard throughout the school hallways. 

Bullying is done sometimes for absolutely no reason at all, sometime it is just for the smallest reason of jealousy, the feeling of empowerment, or even just because. People who bully do not take the time to get to know their victim, they are simply just judging a book by its cover. Just because someone does not look like you on the outside doesn't mean they aren't just as sweet or even sweeter then you are. Dress comes into play because there is different subcultures and if you do not look like that specific subculture people automatically start judging you before they get to know you. For example, Lady GaGa who is admired by millions of people world wide gets bullied on a daily basis because of her unique style and image. So no matter how famous or how much money you have you are still going to get looked down upon for being different. This happens everyday, at every age, and in every country.