Did You Know Series (41): Dia de Los Muertos- (The Day of the Dead) themed round issues - 31.10.2017:

Did You Know Series (41):  "Dia de Los Muertos" - (The Day of the Dead) themed round issues minted by the Choice Mint - 31.10.2017:

On  31st October every year the Mexicans celebrate a holiday called "Dia de los Muertos" (meaning - "The Day of the Dead").

The above round has been minted by Choice Mint and has been inspired by Mexican Art and Culture

"Dia de los Muertos" is a holiday traditionally held in reverence of the departed souls and celebrating their memory. Dia de los Muertos is a rather formal remembrance of the ancestors.

The origins of the holiday for visiting/remembering the dead:

It is believed in some traditions that the ancestors are a repository of the collective memory over the ages and that on certain designated days, the spirits of the dead ancestors come down to Earth and roam grave-yards and revisit their descendants.

As such "consultation"  with the ancestors ("necromancy" in some wisdom) on certain designated days is done for one or all of the following beliefs:

- Divining or gaining prophetic insight from them about the future

- regaining lost knowledge accumulated over centuries

- accessing ancestral wisdom by oracular means

- discovering ancestral precedents for the way forward.

- reconnecting one spiritual tradition with another

- gaining healing or revelation by proximity to an ancestral tomb 

- sharing personal stories/experiences with the ancestors

In Celtic tradition, the ancient Gaelic harvest festival Samhain marks the Celtic New Year and the beginning of the Agricultural  year.

This festival is celebrated with great fervour. In ancient times, all the fires of Ireland were extinguished and relighted from a fire kindled upon the hill of Tlachtgo. This festival is a long surviving one, not only has it survived as a popular folk custom, within the Celtic countries, it has spread to the USA as "Trick or Treat" and boosted the festival to a "commercial pitch".

It is also believed that such festivals  have pagan roots; and that Samhain itself was Christianized as Halloween by the early Church.

This Celtic festival of "consulting/honouring the dead ancestors" was also adopted as the basis for the Christian festival of "All Souls". St. Odilio of Cluny adopted it in 998 AD and this usage has spread to the rest of the Christian world, as an indirect result of the pastoral influence of Celtic monks who converted much of Europe. 

Many Catholic countries still observe the "Day of All Souls" in some form or the other, notably in Mexico where the "Dia de Los Muertos" ("Day of the Dead") is observed by the living by visiting family graves to bring offerings, candles and songs and to give family news to the departed.

On 31st October, "All Hallows Eve", children make a children's altar to invite the "Angelitos" ("spirits of dead children") to come back for a visit.

On 2nd November is "All Souls Day", when families go to the cemetery to decorate the graves and tombs of their relatives.

The three day fiesta is filled with marigolds (the "flowers of the dead"); "muertos" ( the "bread of the dead"); sugar skulls made of candy or clay; cardboard skeletons; tissue paper decorations; fruit and nuts, incense and other traditional foods and decorations.

The Aztec mythology connection:

The  "Dia de Los Muertos" festival also connects with the Aztec legends. In Aztec mythology, Mictēcacihuātl (pronounced mik.te:.ka.'si. watl, meaning "Lady of the Dead") is   Queen of  Mictlan, the Underworld, ruling over the  Afterlife with Mictlantecuhtli , another deity  who is her husband.

Her role is to watch over the bones of the dead and preside over the ancient festivals of the dead. These festivals evolved from Aztec traditions into the modern Day of the Dead after synthesis with Spanish traditions. She now presides over the contemporary festival as well.

She is known as the "Lady of the Dead", since it is believed that she was born, then sacrificed as an infant. Mictecacihuatl was represented with a defleshed body and with jaw agape to swallow the stars during the day.

Vigil over the dead:

Keeping vigil for the dead is still observed in folk customs throughout the Celtic/Christian World on Halloween, candles are placed in windows to light the way for the departed spirits to visit their old homes/descendants (and to ward off malignant ones and (dis)guisers going out in masks and costumes to join the mayhem and mischief of the night).

On All Soul's Day (2nd November), the "Soulers" of places like Chesire and Shropshire in the British Isles,  still ride the country-side on their hobby horse, the original "nightmare", which bears away the dead souls who are visiting their living descendants once again upon her back.

The old custom of soul-caking (giving a spiced cake in payment for prayers for the dead, recalls the ancient honour once shown to the departed ancestors).

Not only the living descendants, but the ancestors who have gone by and their graves/memorial stones are not known/erected, also come down to visit, for example King Arthur who is constantly watching over the well-being and prosperity of Great Britain.

On the Obverse of the round  is seen a traditional Mexican "sugar skull" that is wreathed by nine roses. The inscription at the bottom reads ' " "DIA DE LOS MUERTOS".

The round resembles the design of the cursed Aztec gold as seen in the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. 

On the Reverse of the round  is seen an Eagle holding a Serpent in its claws. The Eagle is a symbol of the Sun and a representation of the  God Huitzilopochtli (Huitzilopochtli was one of the most important Aztec gods. He was the sun god as well as the god of war. His name means "Hummingbird of the Left." The Aztecs believed that warriors who were killed in battle returned to life as hummingbirds).

The snake is a symbol of the earth and in pre-Hispanic traditions, it is a representation of Coatlicue, (the personification of Earth and the mother of Huitzilopotchtli).

The specifications of the round are:

Metallic composition:.999 fine silver; Diameter/size: 47.0 mm;  Weight: 2 Oz; Mintage: 10,000 ; Round Quality: Proof-like; Year of issue: 2017; Mint: Choice Mint. Remarks: Each round is minted in high relief and packaged in a protective capsule.

Links:

1) The Evolution of Mexican Coinage

2) The Travels of a Mexican silver Peso struck in 1898; Restruck for the chinese Government in 1949.

3) Foreign Mints which have minted coins for India

4) Dios de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) themed Round issues: 31.10 2017

Links to some other interesting posts on South American countries & Mexico:

1) The Travels of a silver Mexican Peso struck in 1898 and restruck in 1949 for the Chinese Government

2) Brazilian Currency: Brazilian Real

3) The 31st Summer Olympics 2015 or Rio-2016 - Brazil

4) Currency and Coinage of Guatemala

5) Currency and Coinage of the Republic of Chile (Part I)

6) Currency and Coinage of the Republic of Chile (Part II)

7) Banknotes and Coinage of Colombia (Part I)

8) Banknotes and Coinage of Colombia (Part II)

9) Currency and Coinage of Mexico - Pesos and Centavos (Part I)

10) Currency and Coinage of Mexico - Pesos and Centavos (Part II)

11) Evita or Eva Peron - A Commemorative/Circulating 100 Pesos Banknote issued on her in 2012

12) Currency and Coinage of Peru: Nuevo Sol and Centavo (Part I)

13) Currency and Coinage of Peru: Nuevo Sol and Centavo (Part II)

14) Currency and Coinage of Peru: Nuevo Sol and Centavo (Part III)

15) 2014 FIFA World Cup held at Brazil