Remember Me: How Mexican Parents Teach Children About Death and Caring for Their Ancestors

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Integrative Statement

Death is an inevitable part of life. However, the way death is approached may vary based on religious and/or cultural context. The present study addressed how young children in and around the cities of Cholula and Puebla, Mexico are socialized with respect to death by focusing on death-related practices including the celebration for “día de muertos”. This study is part of a larger program of research investigating the socialization of death in various sociocultural groups (Rosengren et al., 2014).

The sample for this study consisted of 61 Mexican pre-school children (age range = 3.5-6.9 years) along with their families (mothers, n = 50; fathers, n = 4; grandmothers, n = 6). The study used ethnographic interviews with parents and children to explore how children are socialized about death by focusing on parents’ beliefs and practices with respect to death (e.g., funeral rituals, celebration for “día de muertos”), parents’ attitudes regarding their children’s involvement in death-related practices, and children’s perspectives on death in relation to local meanings and practices.

Findings for the study indicate that the celebration for “día de muertos” is integral to children’s socialization regarding death as most parents (92.5%) discussed having participated in this celebration as children and continuing to celebrate this tradition in the same manner (83.0%). In addition, parents reported how their children also participate in the celebration (90.6%) with two thirds of parents (66.0%) stating that their children helped set-up the “ofrenda” while more than half (54.7%) mentioned that their children visited the cemetery during the celebration. These findings go in line with children’s reports as most children in the sample (88.5%) reported having celebrated “día de muertos” with their families the previous year.

In addition to the celebration for “día de muertos,” most parents (73.6%) reported attending their first death-related ritual between the ages of 5 and 10 (e.g., attending a wake at the deceased’s home or at a funeral parlor, going to the funeral/burial, participating in the rosaries). Similarly, more than half of the parents (58.5%) reported their children have attended some ritual related to death (not including “día de muertos”). When asked what age they thought it would be appropriate for children to attend funeral rituals, about half of parents (54.6%) reported it would be appropriate some time before the age of 12 while another 24.5% stated that they felt it appropriate for children to attend rituals related to death at any age.

As indicated through the interviews, young Mexican children are directly socialized about death generation after generation. This study revealed how they are active participants in all the rituals surrounding death, allowing them the opportunity to learn how death is an essential part of their national heritage and to take pride in what they are doing (Carmichael & Sayer, 1991). It is expected that in the years ahead, at least during “día de muertos,” these children will continue their parents’ cultural traditions, providing for them (deceased parents) in the way they provided for their own departed relatives (Brandes, 2006).

Author

• Isabel T. Gutiérrez, Raritan Valley Community College
  Presenting Author