This Mexican holiday honors the dead. It shouldn’t be commercialized like Halloween

Say it ain’t so!

Agencia EFE reported that in the southern city of San Cristóbal de las Casas, founded in 1528, “hundreds of skulls, ghosts and monsters paraded through the main street … to celebrate the mixture of the traditional Día de Muertos and Halloween.”

José Guadalupe Posada — credited with the modern image of La Catrina that was later refined by Diego Rivera as the face (skull?) of Day of the Dead — must be spinning in his grave!

Mixing a sugar skull with a trick-or-treat sweet was bound to happen. The Mexican tradition of honoring the dead continues to gain popularity in the United States, while wearing Halloween costumes has become increasingly popular in México.

Plus, the dates are neighbors: Halloween falls on Oct. 31, while Day of the Dead spans Nov. 1-2.

But as Fresno Bee reporter Laura S. Díaz stressed in a report on where to celebrate the Mexican holiday, Halloween should not be confused with the former.

Until recently, this wasn’t an issue.

When Fresno artist F. John Sierra organized the first Day of the Dead procession from St. John’s Cathedral to Arte Américas 35 years ago, you couldn’t find sugar skulls, Catrina costumes or cempoalxóchitl flowers (marigolds) used to adorn altars in memory of our dead at local stores.

Now, Target, Walmart and other big retailers offer everything you need to make your own altar in memory of Tío Juan or Abuela María.

That is good, but commercialization of a holiday meant to honor the dead is not.

“El Día de los Muertos es amar su cultura, es celebrar a los que se fueron, es una reunión de corazón con los que no están con nosotros”, summarized Lety ‘La Catrina de Visalia’ Valencia. “Day of the Dead is loving your culture, celebrating those who have left, a meeting of the heart with those who are no longer with us.”

She should know. Valencia spearheaded the ‘La Añoranza/The Longing’ Day of the Dead exhibit at Arte Américas. She and husband Claudio Martínez have invested 13 years promoting the reason behind Day of the Dead.

If you want a real feel of Day of the Dead, you can visit the exhibit through Dec. 1. You won’t find costumed ghosts or monsters, just an almost-real graveyard in subdued lighting that replicates what you would see if you visited a grave site in Oaxaca, México.

The only sweets you’d discover would be chocolates, or something that the dead relative relished, like a glass bottle of Coca Cola or a can of Modelo beer.

For example, an ofrenda (altar) to my dad, Juan Jiménez Esparza, would include a saxophone (he led a Tejano band on weekends), toys made of wood (he was a wood craftsman and worked decades at a furniture factory), and, Old Spice (you could smell him hours after he left).

Must-have items in an altar to my mom, Josefina Shockley, would include Elvis Presley albums (no explanation needed), a restaurant receipt book (she worked as a waitress for many years), Avon products (yes, she sold Avon), and, stuffed bell peppers (no one made them better!)

Memories flood back. The great times, their best traits, smiles, tears, love, picnics, jigsaw puzzles, drive-in movies, gutting catfish, church, divorces (my parents married and divorced each other twice), frying corn tortillas for tacos, picking grapes, swimming in irrigation ditches, lime sherbet and much more.

You’re supposed to feel Day of the Dead, not go out and party in a costume.

Be like Miguel in the movie “Coco” and explore your family background. You’d be surprised how little of it was commercialized.